4 ms·

> But even after a few hours of reading about what MCP is and working through an example , it can be confusing to follow exactly what is happening when and whe

> But even after a few hours of reading about what MCP is and working through an example , it can be confusing to follow exactly what is happening when and where. What does the LLM do? What does the MCP server do? What does the MCP client do? Where does data flow, and where are choices made? Yeah MCP is the worst documented technology I have ever encountered. I understand APIs for calling LLMs, I understand tool calling APIs. Yet I have read so much about MCP and have zero fucking clue except vague marketing speak. Or code that has zero explanation. What an amateur effort. I've given up, I don't care about MCP. I'll use tool calling APIs as I currently do.

nylonstrung 1y ago
MCP is a kitchen sink of anti-patterns. There's no way it's not forgotten in a year, just like Langchain will be
- auggierose 1y ago
  The super power of MCP is that it allows you to hook up arbitrary tools using a flatrate like Claude Pro. That alone will make sure it stays.
- synergy20 1y ago
  what's the problem with Langchain? still super hot to me though I did not use it myself, yet.
  - owebmaster 1y ago
    > still super hot to me though I did not use it myself, yet. try it and you'll figure out
- quotemstr 1y ago
  Since when in the history of computing has the former implied the latter?
- 12345hn6789 1y ago
  Langchain has been on the out to be forgotten for 3 years now
- vidro3 1y ago
  whats wrong with langchain?
bandoti 1y ago
I find the opposite after reading the spec. Did you read the spec? I mean the actual spec. not Python API documentation and such. :) It’s just JSON RPC between a client, one or more servers. The AI agent interaction is not part of what the protocol is designed for except for re-prompting requests made by tools. It has to be AI agnostic. For tool call workflow: (a) client requests the list of tools from the known servers, then it forwards those (possibly after translating to API calls like OpenAI toolcall API) to any AI agents it wants; when the AI then wants to call a tool (b) it returns a request that needs to be forwarded to the MCP server for handling; and (c) return the result back to the AI. The spec is actually so simple no SDK is even necessary you could just write a script in anything with an HTTP client library.
- epistasis 1y ago
  Oh, there's a spec! Something concrete, with definitions?! I'm starting to read now, and for the first time I understand something concrete, even if it's still somewhat verbose. I've spent so much time clicking through pages and reading and not understanding, but without finding the spec. Thanks so much!
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
  - lolinder 1y ago
    It's a pretty bad spec that has a lot of artifacts of having been generated by an LLM. But at least it exists!
    - owebmaster 1y ago
      Yeah it is not a well thought spec. There is a big confusion about what is a MCP Client and what is a MCP Host. Which is a useless separation as what they call in the spec a client is just a connection to a server while MCP host is what is a real client (the apps using MCP like claude desktop, cli tools, etc).

nylonstrung 1y ago

MCP is a kitchen sink of anti-patterns. There's no way it's not forgotten in a year, just like Langchain will be

auggierose 1y ago
The super power of MCP is that it allows you to hook up arbitrary tools using a flatrate like Claude Pro. That alone will make sure it stays.
synergy20 1y ago
what's the problem with Langchain? still super hot to me though I did not use it myself, yet.
- owebmaster 1y ago
  > still super hot to me though I did not use it myself, yet. try it and you'll figure out
quotemstr 1y ago
Since when in the history of computing has the former implied the latter?
12345hn6789 1y ago
Langchain has been on the out to be forgotten for 3 years now
vidro3 1y ago
whats wrong with langchain?

bandoti 1y ago

I find the opposite after reading the spec. Did you read the spec? I mean the actual spec. not Python API documentation and such. :) It’s just JSON RPC between a client, one or more servers. The AI agent interaction is not part of what the protocol is designed for except for re-prompting requests made by tools. It has to be AI agnostic. For tool call workflow: (a) client requests the list of tools from the known servers, then it forwards those (possibly after translating to API calls like OpenAI toolcall API) to any AI agents it wants; when the AI then wants to call a tool (b) it returns a request that needs to be forwarded to the MCP server for handling; and (c) return the result back to the AI. The spec is actually so simple no SDK is even necessary you could just write a script in anything with an HTTP client library.

epistasis 1y ago
Oh, there's a spec! Something concrete, with definitions?! I'm starting to read now, and for the first time I understand something concrete, even if it's still somewhat verbose. I've spent so much time clicking through pages and reading and not understanding, but without finding the spec. Thanks so much!
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- lolinder 1y ago
  It's a pretty bad spec that has a lot of artifacts of having been generated by an LLM. But at least it exists!
  - owebmaster 1y ago
    Yeah it is not a well thought spec. There is a big confusion about what is a MCP Client and what is a MCP Host. Which is a useless separation as what they call in the spec a client is just a connection to a server while MCP host is what is a real client (the apps using MCP like claude desktop, cli tools, etc).