MCP servers go mainstream: Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Gemini all ship native support

Model Context Protocol started as an Anthropic spec in December 2024 with a few demo servers. By May 2026 it's native in Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Cursor, Windsurf, and Claude Code. This is the closest thing the AI tools space has produced to USB-C: a single integration standard everyone supports. For founders shipping a SaaS, the takeaway is binary. Write one MCP server (Python or TypeScript, two to four days for a small team) and your product becomes reachable from every AI assistant founders use. The awesome-mcp-servers repository now has 400+ entries; the most-starred cover Slack, Notion, Linear, Postgres, and GitHub.