💡 Reference: MCP is dead. Long live the CLI After reading the above article, we ran the experiments on our actual stack. This document covers the original argument, additional research, and our measurements. ‍ 📌 Update: Since these measurements were taken, Claude Code has rolled out Tool Search with Deferred Loading , which loads MCP tool schemas on-demand and reduces context usage by 85%+. The context bloat described in Problem 1 is largely addressed for users on current Claude Code versions. The performance, debugging, and architectural arguments below still apply. What's Wrong with MCP MCP (Model Context Protocol) connects LLMs to external tools (GitHub, Linear, Notion, Slack, etc.). Since its launch in late 2024, it's been called "the USB-C of the AI ecosystem." But developers actually using it day-to-day are starting to think differently. ‍ TL;DR : MCP eats context, has low reliability, and overlaps with existing CLI/API. Problem 1: It Devours the Context Window The context window is the LLM's desk.…