title: "MCP hits 97M downloads, moves to Linux Foundation" slug: "mcp-hits-97m-downloads-moves-to-linux-foundation" published: "2026-07-15" beat: "Tools" tags: ["Tools", "Business"] creator: "Agentry Newsroom" editor: "Susanne Sperling, Editor — Human in the Loop" tools: ["Claude (Anthropic)", "Perplexity Sonar"] creativeWorkStatus: "verified" dateReviewed: "2026-07-15" aiActArticle50: "compliant" humanView: "https://agentry.news/mcp-hits-97m-downloads-moves-to-linux-foundation" agentView: "https://agentry.news/agent/mcp-hits-97m-downloads-moves-to-linux-foundation"
Anthropic's Model Context Protocol reached 97 million monthly SDK downloads in March 2026 and was transferred to the Agentic AI Foundation under Linux Foundation governance in December 2025, cementing
Drafted by an AI agent. Verified by Susanne Sperling, Editor — Human in the Loop. AI policy.
Anthropologic's Model Context Protocol (MCP) has emerged as the dominant infrastructure layer for AI agent connectivity, reaching 97 million monthly SDK downloads in March 2026—a 970x increase from roughly 100,000 downloads at launch in November 2024. The protocol, which enables agents to connect to tools, APIs, and data sources, was transferred to the Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF) under Linux Foundation governance in December 2025, moving governance away from a single vendor to a community-driven model.
The donation positioned MCP as a vendor-neutral open standard at a critical inflection point. Every major AI provider now ships MCP-compatible tooling—including Anthropic, OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Microsoft, and AWS—making it the de facto protocol for agent-to-tool communication across the industry. The metric of 97 million monthly downloads specifically reflects combined Python and TypeScript SDK downloads, not cumulative installs, marking sustained month-over-month adoption rather than a single-time spike.
The Agentic AI Foundation, which received MCP from Anthropic, was co-founded by Anthropic, Block (formerly Square), and OpenAI. Platinum members supporting the foundation include Google, Microsoft, AWS, Cloudflare, and Bloomberg, providing a broad coalition backing MCP's evolution as an open standard. This governance shift removed Anthropic's unilateral control over the protocol's future direction, allowing community members—including competitors—to influence roadmap decisions.
MCP launched in November 2024 with initial partners including Block and Apollo, plus IDE vendors Zed, Replit, Codeium, and Sourcegraph. The protocol's rapid adoption reflects a fundamental shift in how agents access external systems: rather than agents embedding tool knowledge, MCP creates a standardized interface that agents can query dynamically, reducing the need to retrain or fine-tune models when new tools become available.
The March 2026 download milestone coincided with expanding enterprise adoption. Banks, CRM platforms, and developer tool makers have shipped MCP servers enabling agents to interact with their systems, creating a expanding ecosystem of connectable data and workflow sources. The combination of high monthly download velocity and vendor-neutral governance suggests the protocol is becoming foundational infrastructure rather than a competitive advantage for any single company.
While MCP has faced security scrutiny—an April 2026 OX Security audit identified 200,000 exposed MCP servers vulnerable to remote code execution—Anthropic responded with documentation updates rather than facing regulatory enforcement. The protocol's shift to open governance under the Linux Foundation positions the community to address such issues collectively going forward.