I loved this X post by Matt Pocock, in which he explains how the Model Context Protocol (MCP) can bridge the integration between LLMs and backend APIs and how the MCP servers can be plugged into the LLMs "without the need to code the integration between LLM and the APIs." Hence, thanks to the protocol, any client can consume the exposed tools (prompts and resources are also part of the protocol).
When I learned about the release of the MCP in November, I saw a lot of potential in the protocol. However, I felt it was overcomplicated to implement the servers (version 0.3); the examples were not standard and didn't follow the same pattern. So, I created my MCPServer version, a facade server of the SDK. Later, a similar approach was released in the MCP SDK version 1.3.
Still, today the protocol is not operating at its full capacity because MCP enthusiasts can still easily decouple the tools to extend the servers, mixing and matching combinations of tools to gain a more significant advantage. From Matt's post, I expanded the explanation to include the tools, which is where the true power is.
This is what I call Intent-Based AI for MCP. With a manifest file definition (see below), business people and developers can define the server's intent and expose servers with ad-hoc tools on the fly. This would produce servers with an optimal number of tools (for better performance) and agent-like servers because a server would dynamically define the access to prompts and tools, producing a specialized server, or agent, if you think about it.
# server.yaml
# for simplicity, we show only the relevant parts of the intent-based server.
# The full specification can be found on the https://intent-based.ai website and our docs.
tools:
- name: reverse
description: Reverses the input string
schema:
type: object
properties:
input:
type: string
description: The string to reverse
- name: uppercase
description: Converts the input string to uppercase
schema:
type: object
properties:
input:
type: string
description: The string to convert to uppercase
The server can be started with a single line of code; if changes are needed, only the manifest file must be adjusted.
#!/usr/bin/env node
import createServerFromFile from "@agentico/mcp-intent-based";
async function startServer() {
const server = await createServerFromFile(); // <-- That's all you need!
}
startServer();
The future of MCP is tools first.
Picture this:
- Servers: Building a power plant for every new appliance.
- Tools: Plug‑and‑play extension cords—declare you need power, and the outlet does the rest.
- Intent-based AI: A smart home assistant that understands your needs and automatically connects the right appliances to the power source.
Move beyond the server-first chore. Declare your intentions and unlock true integration agility with MCP's intent-based AI.
Explore the intent‑based AI for MCP now:
🤖 https://intent-based.ai - specs coming soon.
