Why it matters

Resources are what turn MCP into a data integration standard. Files, DBs, APIs all become uniform. Understanding shapes design.

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The architecture

list_resources: server returns list with URI, name, description.

get_resource: client requests specific URI; server returns content.

MCP resource flowlist_resourcesdiscoveryget_resourcefetch by URIContent typestext / binary / etcResources for read-only data; tools for actions with side effects
Resource retrieval flow.
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How it works end to end

URI schemes: server-defined. Common: file://, db://, custom.

Content types: text (parsed as UTF-8), blob (base64-encoded binary), structured.

Templates: URI templates like 'file://{path}' with parameters. Client fills in.

Subscriptions: subscribe to resource updates. Server notifies on change.