This glossary covers the key terms and concepts used throughout the Zoho MCP documentation. Familiarising yourself with these definitions will help you navigate the platform more effectively, whether you are configuring your first connection, troubleshooting an integration, or discussing architecture with your team.
An operational mode in which an LLM or AI model is given a set of tools, permitted to determine how and when to use them, adapts to changing conditions, and produces synthesised conclusions from tool output. In Zoho MCP contexts, this allows clients to autonomously chain multiple tool calls across servers to complete end-to-end workflows.
A sequence of actions that is planned and executed autonomously by an AI agent to reach a complex goal. Agentic workflows give AI systems the ability to reason, learn, and adapt independently when orchestrating enterprise-level tasks.
A software programme that applies its own intelligence to complete instructed actions or achieve a desired outcome without requiring step-by-step human direction. Examples include Claude.ai, OpenAI, CrewAI, CoPilot, and Cursor.
The process of verifying identity to ensure secure and authorised access between an MCP Client and an MCP Server. Zoho MCP supports two authentication methods: Authorization on Demand and Authorization via Connection.
The default authorisation method for Zoho MCP. Each individual user authenticates using their own credentials based on their account, so access is tied directly to the person making the request.
An optional, organisation-level authorisation approach in which a Super Admin shares their OAuth Access and Refresh Tokens with trusted members of the organisation, allowing those members to act on behalf of the Super Admin within defined limits.
The information extracted from a user's natural language prompt that an MCP Client uses to decide which tools to invoke and what operations to carry out in connected services.
The environment or application that runs and manages one or more MCP Clients. The host is responsible for establishing and maintaining connections between clients and servers.
The message serialisation format that MCP uses to encode and transmit messages between MCP Clients and MCP Servers. All messages must use UTF-8 encoding.
A type of AI model trained on large volumes of text data, capable of understanding and generating human-like responses. LLMs form the core reasoning capability behind AI agents that interact with Zoho MCP.
An open protocol developed by Anthropic that standardises how AI agents connect to and interact with external tools, data sources, and services. Zoho MCP implements this protocol to make the Zoho application suite accessible to AI clients.
The AI agent or application through which a user provides a prompt to begin a required workflow. Examples of MCP Clients that work with Zoho MCP include Claude, OpenAI, Cursor, and Windsurf.
A server that handles all backend operations required for MCP Clients to act within configured services. Responsibilities include managing connections, processing context from prompts, exposing tools, and enforcing access control.
A specific function or capability that an MCP Server exposes for an MCP Client to invoke. Each tool performs a defined action in a target service, such as GetRecords or SearchRecords in Zoho CRM.
The access URL provided to an MCP Client to establish a connection to a specific MCP Server and invoke its available tools.
An open standard authorisation framework that allows secure delegated access to resources without sharing credentials directly. Zoho MCP's Authorization via Connection method uses OAuth to enable controlled access sharing between administrators and team members.
A natural language instruction provided by a user to an MCP Client to initiate a desired workflow or action across connected services.
A pre-defined prompt structure provided by an MCP Server to guide the MCP Client when performing specific tasks in a service. Templates ensure consistent, reliable tool invocations for common operations.
Data or content that an MCP Server exposes for an MCP Client to read or reference when carrying out operations in a connected service.
The target application in which the MCP Client performs actions via the MCP Server. Zoho CRM is an example of a service that Zoho MCP can connect to.
An earlier transport mechanism used in MCP that allowed a server to push real-time updates to a client over HTTP. SSE has largely been superseded by Streamable HTTP in modern MCP implementations.
The modern HTTP transport introduced in MCP in early 2025 to handle streaming interactions between clients and servers. It operates as an independent process using HTTP POST and GET requests.
The act of an MCP Client invoking a specific tool on an MCP Server to complete a task or retrieve information from a connected service.
The process by which an MCP Client automatically identifies and retrieves the list of tools exposed by a connected MCP Server. Tool Discovery enables the client to understand what actions are available before any user prompt is processed.
The communication method used to send and receive messages between an MCP Client and an MCP Server. The two standard transport mechanisms supported by MCP are stdio and Streamable HTTP.