I work at a public company with strong datasets and a successful product built on top of this data. There’s currently a push to standardize all of our APIs behind MCPs before wiring them into our Agent platform.
To me, this feels like unnecessary overhead. We already have a robust API gateway with well-defined conventions. Agents or tools can integrate directly with our APIs without needing the MCP proxy layer. Instead, I see developers spending time maintaining this proxy, dealing with data-marshaling bugs and constantly tuning tool descriptions) only to have the Agent layer consume the MCP as plain REST and override most of those hints in the prompt anyway.
The only rationale I can see for us to do this is to “dogfood” the MCPs we might sell externally. But even then, I question the value. I don’t see many customers asking for MCPs. My view is we’d be better off focusing on Agents (A2A), where the differentiation and monetization potential is much higher. Customers who want flexibility can already consume our APIs directly.
Am I missing the point of MCP standardization within an org? Has anyone here adopted MCPs internally and actually seen clear benefits?
0 comments
—
Ask HN: Is standardizing on MCPs over APIs within an org an anti-pattern? · HackerTrans
To me, this feels like unnecessary overhead. We already have a robust API gateway with well-defined conventions. Agents or tools can integrate directly with our APIs without needing the MCP proxy layer. Instead, I see developers spending time maintaining this proxy, dealing with data-marshaling bugs and constantly tuning tool descriptions) only to have the Agent layer consume the MCP as plain REST and override most of those hints in the prompt anyway.
The only rationale I can see for us to do this is to “dogfood” the MCPs we might sell externally. But even then, I question the value. I don’t see many customers asking for MCPs. My view is we’d be better off focusing on Agents (A2A), where the differentiation and monetization potential is much higher. Customers who want flexibility can already consume our APIs directly.
Am I missing the point of MCP standardization within an org? Has anyone here adopted MCPs internally and actually seen clear benefits?