> REST (Representational State Transfer) is a software architectural style

italics mine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REST

also REST is less about communicating, more about the high level user interface and the underlying implementations to arrive at that (although one could argue that’s a form of communicating).

the style does detail a series of constraints. but it’s not really a formal standard, which can get pretty low level.

—

standards often include things like MUST, SHOULD, CAN points to indicate what is optional; or they can be listed as a table of entries as in ASCII

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASCII

dictionary definition of a standard:

> standard (noun): An acknowledged measure of comparison for quantitative or qualitative value; a criterion

note that a synonym is ideal — fully implementing a standard is not necessary. the OAuth standard isn’t usually fully covered by most OAuth providers, as an example.

—

> The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard and open-source framework

again, italics mine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_Context_Protocol

MCP, the technology/framework, is like Django REST framework. it’s an implementation of what the authors think is a good way to get to RESTful webpages.

MCP, the standard, is closer to REST, but it’s more like someone sat down with a pen and paper and wrote a standards document for REST.

They aren’t the same, but the have some similarities in their goals albeit focussed on separate domains, i.e. designing an interface for interoperability and navigation/usage… which is probably what you were really asking (but using the word protocol waaaaaaay too many times).