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MCP Apps: Extending servers with interactive user interfaces

blog.modelcontextprotocol.io

31–40 of 124 posts

Re: MCP Apps: Extending servers with interactive user interfaces

#31
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how long it'll take you to figure out that you're trying to reinvent deterministic APIs.

MCP is already deterministic. What's huge about it is that it has automatic API discovery and integration built-in. It's a bit rough yet but I think we will only see how it's getting improved more and more.

> automatic API discovery and integration

So, WSDL?

Re: MCP Apps: Extending servers with interactive user interfaces

#32

Disclosure: I work at Anthropic, have worked on MCP I also think this is pretty big. I think a problem we collectively have right now is that getting MCP closer to real user flows is pretty hard and requires a lot of handholding. Ideally, most users of MCP wouldn't even know that MCP is a thing - the same way your average user of the web has no idea about DNS/HTTP/WebSockets. They just know that the browser helps the…

I want to try and understand what you guys see as the win from MCP. It's objectively inferior to code/clis across a ton of dimensions. The main value I see from it is as a single point to "sandbox" what your agents can do, but it seems a little awkward for that use case.

Re: MCP Apps: Extending servers with interactive user interfaces

#33
I am a pretty big proponent of MCP, and I think this at least for now is not a move in a good direction.

The whole surface of the MCP specification is already pretty big, and barely any server implements anything beyond the core parts.

With elicitation there was already a lightweight version of this in place in the standard, and I'm not sure I've ever encountered a server or client implementation of it in the wild, and elicitation is an order of magnitude simpler to integrate on a conceptional level.

I fear that this has a significant risk of splintering the MCP ecosystem further (it's already pretty strained due to the transport protocol iterations), and there isn't really a reason to create a official extension (yet), that may worst case also require multiple iterations to get things right.

Re: MCP Apps: Extending servers with interactive user interfaces

#34

I dont think people realize how important this is. If one of the vendors manages to get their protocol to become the target platform (eg oai and app sdk), that is essentially their vendor lock in to become the next iOS/Android. Private API’s or EEE strategies are gonna be something to keep an eye for and i wish regulators would step in to prevent them before its too late.

This is so backwards it's scary.

Having a chatbot that drives websites inside of it is such an attempted monopolist play. Having a system agent that can interact with apps via API without being connected to the app is the pattern that's both elegant and preserves freedom.

Re: MCP Apps: Extending servers with interactive user interfaces

#35

Looks like OpenAI, Anthropic, and the MCP-UI team actually worked together on a common standard for MCP Apps: https://blog.modelcontextprotocol.io/posts/2025-11-21-mcp-ap... Honestly, I think the biggest friction for MCP adoption has been how un-userfriendly it is. It’s great for devs, but not the average users. Users don't always want to chat, sometimes they just want to click a button or adjust a slider. This feels…

Who wants a button that has indeterministic actions?

> button that has indeterministic actions

google.com (1998-present)

    [I'm feeling lucky]

Re: MCP Apps: Extending servers with interactive user interfaces

#36
My fear is that even for consumer apps, MCP (or successor) will outgrow UIs, becoming the only way to interact with an app or certain feature - placing machines wholly in the center instead of humans. Human software should retain the understandability and atomicity of each step taken.

Re: MCP Apps: Extending servers with interactive user interfaces

#38
In my current personal development workflow with Claude Code, I've switched entirely to using CLI tools and scripts over MCP as the experience is much more deterministic and flexible.

A great example is Github, it's a significantly better dev experience having CC call out to the gh cli for actions than trying to invoke the MCP.

Re: MCP Apps: Extending servers with interactive user interfaces

#39

I dont think people realize how important this is. If one of the vendors manages to get their protocol to become the target platform (eg oai and app sdk), that is essentially their vendor lock in to become the next iOS/Android. Private API’s or EEE strategies are gonna be something to keep an eye for and i wish regulators would step in to prevent them before its too late.

How is it any better if instead of _one_ vendor, _two_ vendors push an immature version of a standards extension that mainly caters to their needs and give it the official stamp of approval under the MCP umbrella?

Re: MCP Apps: Extending servers with interactive user interfaces

#40
post #31
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MCP is already deterministic. What's huge about it is that it has automatic API discovery and integration built-in. It's a bit rough yet but I think we will only see how it's getting improved more and more.

> automatic API discovery and integration So, WSDL?

no, thank you
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