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I am more interested in how MCP can change human interaction with software. Practical example: there exists an MCP server for Jira. Connect that MCP server to

by giamma 10mo ago

I am more interested in how MCP can change human interaction with software. Practical example: there exists an MCP server for Jira. Connect that MCP server to e.g. Claude and then you can write prompts like this: "Produce a release notes document for project XYZ based on the Epics associated to version 1.2.3" or "Export to CSV all tickets with worklog related to project XYZ and version 1.2.3. Make sure the CSV includes these columns ....." Especially the second example totally removes the need for the CSV export functionality in Jira. Now imagine a scenario in which your favourite AI is connected via MCP to different services. You can mix and match information from all of them. Alibaba for example is making MCP servers for all of its user-facing services (alibaba mail, cloud drive, etc etc) A chat UI powered by the appropriate MCP servers can provide a lot of value to regular end users and make it possible for people to use their own data easily in ways that earlier would require dedicated software solutions (exports, reports). People could use software for use cases that the original authors didn't even imagine.

yard2010 10mo ago
I bet it would work the same with REST API and any kind of specs, be it OpenAPI or even text files. From my humble experience.
- theshrike79 10mo ago
  It would, but the point of MCP is that it's discoverable by an AI. You can just go change it and it'll know how to use it immediately If you go and change the parameters of a REST API, you need to modify every client that connects to it or they'll just plain not work. (Or you'll have a mess of legacy endpoints in your API) Not a fan, I like the "give an LLM a virtual environment and let it code stuff" approach, but MCP is here to stay as far as I can see.
  - BerislavLopac 10mo ago
    > the point of MCP is that it's discoverable by an AI What exactly makes it more discoverable than, say, pointing the AI to an OpenAPI spec?
  - yencabulator 10mo ago
    Not hugely different from any other API standard that has a "schema" document, like OpenAPI! https://learn.openapis.org/examples/v3.0/petstore.html https://learn.openapis.org/examples/v3.0/petstore.html
JambalayaJimbo 10mo ago
How does it remove the need for CSV export? The LLM can make mistakes right? Wouldn’t you want the LLM calling the deterministic csv export tool rather than trying to create a csv on its own?
- whattheheckheck 10mo ago
  That's what it's doing

by giamma 10mo ago

yard2010 10mo ago

I bet it would work the same with REST API and any kind of specs, be it OpenAPI or even text files. From my humble experience.

theshrike79 10mo ago
It would, but the point of MCP is that it's discoverable by an AI. You can just go change it and it'll know how to use it immediately If you go and change the parameters of a REST API, you need to modify every client that connects to it or they'll just plain not work. (Or you'll have a mess of legacy endpoints in your API) Not a fan, I like the "give an LLM a virtual environment and let it code stuff" approach, but MCP is here to stay as far as I can see.
- BerislavLopac 10mo ago
  > the point of MCP is that it's discoverable by an AI What exactly makes it more discoverable than, say, pointing the AI to an OpenAPI spec?
- yencabulator 10mo ago
  Not hugely different from any other API standard that has a "schema" document, like OpenAPI! https://learn.openapis.org/examples/v3.0/petstore.html https://learn.openapis.org/examples/v3.0/petstore.html

JambalayaJimbo 10mo ago

How does it remove the need for CSV export? The LLM can make mistakes right? Wouldn’t you want the LLM calling the deterministic csv export tool rather than trying to create a csv on its own?

whattheheckheck 10mo ago
That's what it's doing