Module 2 of 7Lesson 2 of 2~17 min
Local or remote - transports and authorization
An MCP server running on your machine and a hosted one do not carry the same risks. This lesson teaches you to tell them apart, infer which communication channel is used and understand how a remote server verifies who its users are. You then classify your own servers.
Lesson objective
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to say whether an MCP server is local or remote, deduce its transport (stdio or Streamable HTTP) and its risks, and explain how a remote server authenticates its users with OAuth.
Topics covered
- stdio transport
- Streamable HTTP
- OAuth
- remote MCP server
Where it fits
What MCP standardizes
Who talks to whom in MCP, what flows between them, and how is access controlled?
Lessons in this module
- What MCP standardizes, and what it does not
- Local or remote - transports and authorization (this lesson)
What you will learn in this module
This lesson is part of the course Connect AI to your tools and data with MCP
- Explain what MCP standardizes (host, client, server; tools, resources, prompts; transports; authorization) and what each element implies for a product.
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