Standards used in this guide
The recipes use published standards wherever one exists. Where the World Bank's Development Data Group operates an implementation, the guide uses it as the reference.
Protocol and implementations
| Standard or resource | Use | World Bank use | In this guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Model Context Protocol | Open protocol for connecting AI applications to tools, resources, and prompts over JSON-RPC 2.0; the current specification is dated 2026-07-28 | The Data360 MCP server and NADA AI, the MCP server over NADA catalogs | Every chapter |
| MCP Python SDK | Reference implementation (MCPServer in version 2, FastMCP in version 1) | The dissemination cookbook's server example | Chapters 2 and 9 |
| Data360 MCP server | A server in operation over the Data360 API with discovery, metadata, data, analysis, and visualization tools and guidance resources; MIT licence with the World Bank IGO rider | Chapters 1, 2, 4, 6, and 9 | |
| NADA and NADA AI | Catalog with a REST API and schema.org markup; NADA AI, being integrated into NADA, serves it over MCP with semantic search | Runs the Microdata Library | Chapter 2 |
| Model Context Protocol for statistics | The program's description of a statistics server's architecture and tools | Chapters 1 and 2 |
Data and metadata
| Standard | Use | World Bank use | In this guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| SDMX cross-domain concepts | Field names for values (SERIES, REF_AREA, TIME_PERIOD, OBS_VALUE, OBS_STATUS, UNIT_MEASURE) and the observation status code list | The WDI SDMX API | Chapters 2 and 4 |
| World Bank metadata schemas | Field names for series records (idno, name, definition_long, measurement_unit, series_break, citation_requirement) | The Development Data Group's catalogs | Chapters 2 and 4 |
| JSON Schema | Input and output schemas of tools (2020-12 by default in MCP) | Chapter 2 | |
| OpenAPI | Description of the API the server wraps | The Data360 API | Chapters 1 and 2 |
| Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 | Licence returned with data | The default for World Bank datasets | Chapter 4 |
Safety and operation
| Standard | Use | In this guide |
|---|---|---|
| MCP authorization (OAuth 2.1, RFC 9728, RFC 8707) | Authorization for HTTP transports where user-level access is required | |
| MCP resources and prompts | Context beyond the tools: guidance, code lists, calendars, prompt templates | |
| MCP registry server.json | Listing format for servers | |
| MCP security requirements | Servers validate inputs, implement access controls, rate-limit, and sanitize outputs; clients keep a human in the loop and treat annotations as untrusted | Chapter 6 |
| COUNTER Code of Practice for Research Data | Counting machine access separately from regular access | Chapter 9 |
| Semantic Versioning | Versioning the server and its tools | Chapter 9 |
| Proof-Carrying Numbers | Verification of numbers in answers against the record | Chapters 4 and 7 |
Corrections
Standards change versions and URLs. If a reference here is wrong or out of date, open an issue with the row and the corrected source.