MCP stands for Model Context Protocol, a standard for connecting AI models to tools and data. It also stands for whatever else those three letters abbreviate. Five applications ask for .mcp, and they split along exactly that line. All five are in ICANN contention set 151.
As a community: Google
Charleston Road Registry Inc., which declares Alphabet Inc. as ultimate control Q108, files .mcp as a community TLD Q131. It is the only community application among Google's 39.
The definition is specific:
Q118The applied-for string, 'mcp', is an acronym for the Model Context Protocol, an open source standard that enables secure, standardised context integration between artificial intelligence models and data sources.
The community it names is the "Model Context Protocol (MCP) community of open-source contributors, developers, operators, and organisations in the Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF)" Q132. Registration would be limited to four kinds of registrant: project contributors with a "documented history of contributions", operators of "an active MCP Server", owners of a server "listed in the official MCP registry", and "members in good standing of the Agentic AI Foundation" Q151.1.
On support, the filing names three endorsers Q156:
- the Agentic AI Foundation, described as "a directed fund of The Linux Foundation";
- LF Projects, LLC, described as the trademark owner;
- Anthropic: "Anthropic, which created the Model Context Protocol and released it as an open standard in 2024, has provided a letter of support for CRR’s application."
The letters are attachments. ICANN does not publish attachments, so what we can read is the applicant's description of them, not the letters.
Google also says what it wants the namespace for: names such as "weather.mcp or postgres.mcp", in "a preloaded HSTS namespace", so that hosts and agents can check a server before talking to it Q135.
As an open namespace: OpenAI
OPENAI OPCO, LLC gives the same meaning to the letters: "MCP means Model Context Protocol, an open standard for connecting artificial intelligence systems with external systems, tools, data, and services." Q118
The model is the opposite one: ".mcp will operate on an open registration model, available to any registrant without eligibility restrictions and without conditions tied to any particular company, industry, technology, platform, or use." And further: "The namespace does not depend on any particular implementation, model, platform, provider, or use case." Q133
It is a standard application: not a community TLD, not a brand TLD, no Code of Conduct exemption requested Q185.
As three letters: the registries
The three other applicants file many strings in this round (ShortDot 40, Radix 46; Tidal Case is one of the 28 applicant names that declare Ethos Capital as ultimate control). None of them ties the string to the protocol alone.
ShortDot (Ireland) Limited Q118:
An initialism used in technology and professional contexts, including Model Context Protocol.
Radix Technologies Inc SEZC Q118:
"MCP" is an initialism with multiple expansions, used across technology, business and other fields as a concise identifier for organizations, products and initiatives whose names abbreviate to MCP.
Tidal Case, LLC, which declares Ethos Capital Digital Infrastructure UGP LLC as ultimate control Q108 Q118:
MCP commonly refers to a broadly recognized term used across a wide range of contexts.
All three declared a replacement string, and all three replacements were deactivated on 7 October.
What the filings show, and what they do not
They show two AI companies asking for the same string with opposite registration models, and the company that created the protocol named as a supporter of one of them, as that applicant reports it. They do not show the letters, any agreement between the parties, or why each chose its route. Google itself notes that the acronym is "used by unrelated third parties in other fields" Q157, which is the reading the three registries filed.
Sources
- The five published filings for .mcp, ICANN APS, snapshot of 8 October 2026: side by side.
- ICANN contention sets published on 7 October 2026 (set 151).
- ICANN Reveal Day export of 7 October 2026 for replacement strings and their status.