MCP is more than is more than tools. Tools is one of three major features: prompts[0] and resources[1] being the other two.
Prompts are effectively "server delivered skills" which are are quite powerful because it solves a distribution and synchronization problem. It also allows server materialization and dynamic construction of skills.
MCP also has a few other under utilized mechanisms: elicitation[2] on the client side and completions on the server side[3]. It is an API of sorts, but specialized for agent harness <-> server interactions.
alt Hacker News
MCP is more than is more than tools. Tools is one of three major features: prompts[0] and resources[1] being the other two.
Prompts are effectively "server delivered skills" which are are quite powerful because it solves a distribution and synchronization problem. It also allows server materialization and dynamic construction of skills.
MCP also has a few other under utilized mechanisms: elicitation[2] on the client side and completions on the server side[3]. It is an API of sorts, but specialized for agent harness <-> server interactions.
[0] https://modelcontextprotocol.info/docs/concepts/prompts/
[1] https://modelcontextprotocol.info/docs/concepts/resources/
[2] https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/2025-11-25/cli...
[3] https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/2025-11-25/ser...