{"slug": "ask-hn-why-do-we-need-mcp", "title": "Ask HN: Why do we need MCP?", "summary": "A Hacker News user questioned the necessity of the Model Context Protocol (MCP), suggesting that publishing API documentation and letting a client's bot chain together calls could cover most use cases more cheaply and safely. The user proposed repurposing MCP to produce API documentation as every response, eliminating the need for an LLM.", "body_md": "Hacker News\nnew\n | \npast\n | \ncomments\n | \nask\n | \nshow\n | \njobs\n | \nsubmit\nlogin\nAsk HN: Why do we need MCP?\n3 points\n by \njwally\n \n20 minutes ago\n \n | \nhide\n | \npast\n | \nfavorite\n | \n1 comment\nWhy not just publish your API docs and let the client's bot chain together what calls need to be made.\nYou could even repurpose the MCP so you only ever produce the API documentation as EVERY response. No LLM necessary.\n\njwally\n \n18 minutes ago\n \n | \nnext\n \n[–]\n\nProbably covers most use cases and is a lot cheaper and safer.\nreply\n\nGuidelines\n | \nFAQ\n | \nLists\n | \nAPI\n | \nSecurity\n | \nLegal\n | \nApply to YC\n | \nContact", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ask-hn-why-do-we-need-mcp", "canonical_source": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49488654", "published_at": "2026-08-29 10:26:48+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-29 10:48:43.104215+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-tools", "developer-tools"], "entities": ["Hacker News", "MCP"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ask-hn-why-do-we-need-mcp", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ask-hn-why-do-we-need-mcp.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ask-hn-why-do-we-need-mcp.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ask-hn-why-do-we-need-mcp.jsonld"}}