Thread

1. simonw · 1789935881 · focus · HN ↗

   This article entirely misses the value that MCP brings today.

   Sure, there's almost no reason to use MCPs if you are running a full-blown terminal agent (Claude Code, Codex, Meta Muse, OpenClaw etc) with unfettered internet access - just let it call APIs directly.

   If you want to operate something that's less YOLO than that, you'll find yourself wanting:

   1. Control over exactly which external services it can access

   2. A way to handle authentication that doesn't allow the agent to directly access API keys

   3. A sensible UI to allow users to connect and authenticate further services

   4. Strong audit logging for what's going on

   MCP makes all of that so much easier to provide.

   Thinking MCP is obsolete because full coding agents don't need it misses out on all of the other things we might want to build.

   1. 0x696C6961 · 1789936974 · focus · HN ↗

      Even if your agent has internet access, why waste tokens having it re-discover and re-implement its own API client each time? It doesn't make any sense.

      1. marcelo-earth · 1789963681 · focus · HN ↗

         This is my favorite position, the advantage of an MCP tends to lie more in token optimization.

         1. deadbabe · 1789985125 · focus · HN ↗

            On the contrary, you burn more tokens with MCP.

            1. 0x696C6961 · 1789994030 · focus · HN ↗

               This is not true.

               1. cowmix · 1789995624 · focus · HN ↗

                  I guess it depends on the implementations.

                  When I use the Atlassian CLI vs their MCP server, I tend to see something like half the token burn with the CLI with more accurate results.

                  That could be an Atlassian issue but that's the results I'm seeing.

                  1. dnautics · 1790010317 · focus · HN ↗

                     yeah MCP contains a provision for some blocktext for instructions. If your MCP has walls of text in those instructions, it will burn more tokens that a terse MCP.
               2. dnautics · 1789996306 · focus · HN ↗

                  How do you think the LLM becomes aware of which mcps are available? Vibes?

                  1. 0x696C6961 · 1790005406 · focus · HN ↗

                     It depends on the harness. But most use a tool_search tool.

                     1. dnautics · 1790010230 · focus · HN ↗

                        yes and using that tool does what with tokens?

                        1. [deleted] · 1790013821 · focus · HN ↗

                           [deleted]

                        2. 0x696C6961 · 1790027760 · focus · HN ↗

                           You seem confused.

                           1. dnautics · 1790088797 · focus · HN ↗

                              I'm not. You can build an MCP and throw a ton of junk in there and bloat the shit out of its token cost. So, really, "it depends".

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.