---
type: Glossary Term
title: "MCP Resource"
description: "An MCP Resource is a URI-addressed piece of read-only context data—such as a file, database record, documentation page, or live telemetry snapshot—that an MCP server exposes via resources/list, resources/templates/list, and resources/read."
resource: "https://agenticweb.wiki/terms/mcp-resource/"
tags: ["glossary", "read"]
status: stable
generated: { by: agenticweb-builder/1.0, at: 2026-10-23T00:00:00Z }
verified: { by: process:agenticweb-engine, at: 2026-10-23T00:00:00Z }
stale_after: 2026-11-22T00:00:00Z
sources:
  - id: ref-1
    resource: "https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/2026-07-28/index"
    last_modified: 2026-07-28T00:00:00Z
---

# MCP Resource

An **MCP Resource** is a URI-addressed piece of read-only context data—such as a file, database record, documentation page, or live telemetry snapshot—that an MCP server exposes via `resources/list`, `resources/templates/list`, and `resources/read`. Unlike **Tools** (which are model-invoked actions), resources are application-driven or user-attached context objects carrying explicit MIME types (`text/markdown`, `application/json`) and optional change notifications (`notifications/resources/updated`). Used by: mcp.

# Knowledge Graph

* **Related standards**: [Model Context Protocol](/okf/protocols/mcp.md)

[^ref-1]: https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/2026-07-28/index (https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/2026-07-28/index)