The MCP Era Feels Like Déjà Vu

In the article, the author reflects on the current trend of creating Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers and tools, highlighting that the development is essentially a repackaging of existing functionalities found in libraries and SDKs, such as those provided by Stripe and GitHub. The tools are described as nothing more than functions enhanced with metadata, wrapped in JSON Schemas, and served over a protocol for AI agents to use. This approach is critiqued for being redundant, merely recreating existing software ecosystems with an added layer of complexity. The author argues that the real issue lies in poor documentation of libraries, which MCP inadvertently addresses by forcing more explicit documentation. They suggest that instead of continuing to develop MCP tools, efforts should be redirected towards creating well-documented libraries and enhancing function-level search capabilities, allowing for better discovery and usage without the need for MCP's protocol overhead. The article concludes that focusing on improving the documentation and discoverability of libraries would be more beneficial than building new protocols that essentially duplicate existing functionalities.