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0x696C6961yesterday at 1:25 PM1 replyview on HN

How does the agent know what clis/tools it has available? If there's an `mcpcli --help` that dumps the tool calls, we've just moved the problem.

The composition argument is compelling though. Instead of clis though, what if the agent could write code where the tools are made available as functions?

   tools.get_foo(tools.get_bar())

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philipp-gayretyesterday at 3:32 PM

> what if the agent could write code where the tools are made available as functions?

Exactly, that would be of great help.

> If there's an `mcpcli --help` that dumps the tool calls, we've just moved the problem.

I see I worded my comment completely wrong... My bad. Indeed MCP tool definitions should probably be in context. What I dislike about MCP is that the IO immediately goes into context for the AI Agents I've seen.

Example: Very early on when Cursor just received beta MCP support I tried a Google Maps MCP from somewhere on the net; asked Cursor "Find me boxing gyms in Amsterdam". The MCP call then dumped a HATEOAS-annotated massive JSON causing Cursor to run out of context immediately. If it had been a CLI tool instead, Cursor could have wrapped it in say a `jq` to keep the context clean(er).

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