Ask HN: Why do we need MCP?

#1

Post by jwally » Sat, Aug 29, 2026, 10:26 AM UTC

Why not just publish your API docs and let the client's bot chain together what calls need to be made.

You could even repurpose the MCP so you only ever produce the API documentation as EVERY response. No LLM necessary.

Re: Ask HN: Why do we need MCP?

#2

Post by jwally » Sat, Aug 29, 2026, 10:28 AM UTC

Probably covers most use cases and is a lot cheaper and safer.

Re: Ask HN: Why do we need MCP?

#3

Post by laruss5 » Sat, Aug 29, 2026, 10:40 AM UTC

[flagged]

Re: Ask HN: Why do we need MCP?

#4

Post by legalwarrior » Sat, Aug 29, 2026, 10:50 AM UTC

Whats an mcp ? Mcp connectors Iv heard of

Re: Ask HN: Why do we need MCP?

#5

Post by vpk11 » Sat, Aug 29, 2026, 10:53 AM UTC

I use CLI tools for Git, Atlassian (ACLI), and Metabase, plus custom SigNoz shell scripts to drive API calls instead of an MCP server. This setup works very well at the moment for me.

Re: Ask HN: Why do we need MCP?

#6

Post by Antolius » Sat, Aug 29, 2026, 10:53 AM UTC

jwally wrote: post #2

Probably covers most use cases and is a lot cheaper and safer.

Having a dedicated spec makes it easier for MCP client apps to implement some nice features out of the LLM loop (e.g. OAuth flow or elicitation ), some handy user facing features (e.g. prompts and resource), and some more advanced use-cases (like server sent notifications).

But yeah, a lot of it (including tools) maps well to HTTP semantics. In fact, at work we implement our features as HTTP APIs, and we’ve built a framework that exposes them as MCP servers.

Re: Ask HN: Why do we need MCP?

#7

Post by owebmaster » Sat, Aug 29, 2026, 10:56 AM UTC

Is anyone forcing you to use MCP? You don't need it. If you can't see the benefit of it, don't use it.

Re: Ask HN: Why do we need MCP?

#8

Post by jwally » Sat, Aug 29, 2026, 11:02 AM UTC

owebmaster wrote: post #7

Is anyone forcing you to use MCP? You don't need it. If you can't see the benefit of it, don't use it.

It's why I asked the question. Maybe I missed something.

Re: Ask HN: Why do we need MCP?

#9

Post by AznHisoka » Sat, Aug 29, 2026, 11:09 AM UTC

owebmaster wrote: post #7

Is anyone forcing you to use MCP? You don't need it. If you can't see the benefit of it, don't use it.

What’s the harm in being curious and seeing what you might be missing?

Re: Ask HN: Why do we need MCP?

#10

Post by owebmaster » Sat, Aug 29, 2026, 11:14 AM UTC

AznHisoka wrote: post #9

owebmaster wrote: post #7

Is anyone forcing you to use MCP? You don't need it. If you can't see the benefit of it, don't use it.

What’s the harm in being curious and seeing what you might be missing?

There's no harm in being curious but why frame it like the thing you don't know how to use is not useful? That's harmful.