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> What other alternatives exist in place of MCP? Arbitrary code via curl/sdks to call a remote endpoint?

cli?

for example aws cli. It's a full interface to aws API. Why would you need mcp for that?

and if you have any doubts, agents use it with a great effect even without any relevant skill. "aws help" is fully discoverable.

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yes, but clis thus need self-service commands to provide guidance, and their responses need to be optimized for consumption by agents. in a sense, this is the same sort of context tax that MCP servers incur. so in my view cli and MCP are complementary tools; one is not strictly superior over the other.

> yes, but clis thus need self-service commands to provide guidance, and their responses need to be optimized for consumption by agents.

MCP vs Agent Skills:

MCPs once configured cost you tokens even when they are not used. Unlike MCPs, skills use progressive disclosure. The AI agent does not load up the entire context, if the skill is not being used.

MCPs will die off mostly for this reason alone.

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