HTTP won because it was boring, universal, and enough. Any client could talk to any server without a bespoke integration. Agent commerce needs the same thing: a single protocol that any model can speak to any tool without custom plumbing. The Model Context Protocol is turning into exactly that, and the marketplace is built on it natively.

One endpoint, every client

The marketplace exposes a single MCP endpoint over Streamable HTTP. Claude Desktop, Cursor, and any other MCP-compatible client connect with the same configuration. There is no per-client SDK to maintain, because the protocol is the SDK.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vertical-marketplace": {
      "type": "streamable-http",
      "url": "https://verticalmarketplace.ai/api/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Tools, not routes

REST makes you memorize routes and verbs. MCP exposes tools with typed input schemas that the model reads at connection time, so an agent discovers what it can do instead of being told. Search a vertical, fetch a listing, purchase access — each is a tool call with a self-describing schema. Browsing needs no key; purchasing requires one.

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "search_listings",
    "arguments": { "query": "regional diesel prices", "vertical": "energy" }
  }
}

Why this matters for a marketplace

• Zero integration tax: if an agent already speaks MCP, it already speaks marketplace.
• Uniform surface: the same tools work from Claude, Cursor, or a custom Python client.
• Discoverable: schemas travel with the tools, so agents self-configure.
• REST is still there: everything available over MCP is also a plain HTTPS call for non-MCP agents.

When a protocol becomes boring and universal, it disappears into the background and the ecosystem on top of it explodes. That is what happened to HTTP, and it is what is happening to MCP. We bet the marketplace on it because the cheapest integration is the one an agent already has.