Manthan Patel’s Post

2025 is the Year of Anthropic's MCP and Google's A2A. Everyone's talking about AI agents, but few understand the protocols that power them. 2025 is witnessing two pivotal protocols with two outstanding standards that aren't competitors, but complementary layers in the AI infrastructure: 𝗠𝗖𝗣 (𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗼𝗹) by Anthropic • Creates vertical connections between applications and AI models • Flow: Application → Model → External Tools/Data • Solves context window limitations and standardizes tool access • Think of it as the nervous system connecting your brain to your body's tools 𝗔𝟮𝗔 (𝗔𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁-𝘁𝗼-𝗔𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗼𝗹) by Google • Enables horizontal communication between independent AI agents • Flow: Agent ↔ Agent (peer-to-peer) • Solves agent interoperability and complex multi-specialist workflows • Think of it as the language that lets different experts collaborate on your behalf Beyond technicality, each protocol has its core strengths. 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗠𝗖𝗣: • Building document Q&A systems • Creating code assistance tools • Developing personal data assistants • Needing fine-grained control over context 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗔𝟮𝗔: • Orchestrating multi-agent workflows • Automating cross-department processes • Creating agent marketplaces • Building distributed problem-solving systems Both protocols are gaining significant traction: 𝗠𝗖𝗣 𝗘𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺: • Backed by major LLM providers (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google) • Strong developer tooling and SDKs • Focus on model-tool integration • Open-source with growing community support 𝗔𝟮𝗔 𝗘𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺: • 50+ enterprise partners at launch • Emphasis on business workflow integration • Strong multimodal capabilities • Built for enterprise-grade applications Top AI solutions integrate both MCP and A2A to maximize their potential. • Use MCP to give your models access to tools and data • Use A2A to orchestrate collaboration between specialized agents • Think in layers: model-tool integration AND agent-agent communication Over to you: What tasks for AI agent do you think would benefit the most for A2A Protocol over MCP?