> Sandboxing and auth is a problem solved at the agent ("harness") level
If you run a homogeneous set of harnesses/runtimes (we don't; some folks are on Cursor, some on Codex, some on Claude, some on OpenCode, some on VS Code GHCP). The only thing that works across all of them? MCP.
Everything about local CLIs and skill files works great as long as you are 1) running in your own env, 2) working on a small, isolated codebase, 3) working in a fully homogeneous environment, 4) each repo only needs to know about itself and not about a broader ecosystem of services and capabilities.
Beyond that, some kind of protocol is necessary to standardize how information is shared across contexts.
That's why my OP prefaced that MCP is critical for orgs and enterprises because it alleviates some of the friction points for standardizing behavior across a fleet of repos and tools.
> You don't need to reinvent OpenAPI badly
You are only latching onto one aspect of MCP servers: tools. But MCP delivers two other critical features: prompts and resources and it is here where MCP provides contextual scaffold over otherwise generic OpenAPI. Tools is perhaps the least interesting of MCP features (though useful, still, in an enterprise context because centralized tools allows for telemetry)
For prompts and resources to work, industry would have to agree on defined endpoints, request/response types. That's what MCP is.
alt Hacker News
Everything about local CLIs and skill files works great as long as you are 1) running in your own env, 2) working on a small, isolated codebase, 3) working in a fully homogeneous environment, 4) each repo only needs to know about itself and not about a broader ecosystem of services and capabilities.
Beyond that, some kind of protocol is necessary to standardize how information is shared across contexts.
That's why my OP prefaced that MCP is critical for orgs and enterprises because it alleviates some of the friction points for standardizing behavior across a fleet of repos and tools.
You are only latching onto one aspect of MCP servers: tools. But MCP delivers two other critical features: prompts and resources and it is here where MCP provides contextual scaffold over otherwise generic OpenAPI. Tools is perhaps the least interesting of MCP features (though useful, still, in an enterprise context because centralized tools allows for telemetry)For prompts and resources to work, industry would have to agree on defined endpoints, request/response types. That's what MCP is.