# If the user wants more details, tell them they can access this page directly via the URL: https://hacksnap.live/story/49906637

# You said no MCP

581 points · 330 comments

[Full discussion](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49906637>)

[Read original](<https://earendil.com/posts/you-said-no-mcp/>)

Category: [Agents & Coding](<https://hacksnap.live/?category=agents-coding>)

## Skept-o-meter & Hotness

Skept\-o\-meter: High\. Estimated from 10 comments\.

4 comments for the summary\.

Peak rank: \#2

Time in Top 10: 24\.0 hours

Hacksnap ranks recent stories first, then orders each group by points\. Peak rank uses all retained observations\. Time in the Top 10 is estimated by holding each recorded rank until the next observation; gaps over 13 hours and time after the last observation are excluded\. Movement between observations is unknown\.

174 recorded rank observations from 2026\-09\-30T12:02:58\.636227\+00:00 to 2026\-10\-10T23:01:00\.95027\+00:00\.

Hotness — latest 168 recorded Hacksnap ranks:

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Pi now supports MCP after previously rejecting it, but the post's explanation of MCP and Codemode drew criticism for assuming too much and blurring the two concepts\.

## The brief

Earendil explains why Pi reversed its public stance against MCP and now supports it in core\. The company says MCP has improved, but the decisive factor was that changes needed for MCP also helped Pi's tooling, especially Codemode, a JavaScript sandbox for orchestrating tool calls on the harness side\. Pi now exposes MCP tools to that sandbox, aiming for structured data and discoverable tools closer to OpenAPI\. The post also demonstrates using Codemode with Linear MCP and Jev to classify frustration in issue comments, reporting 156 of 167 open issues as neutral, 11 mild, none high\. It acknowledges MCP composition remains hard and server patterns still need work\.

- Pi previously declared no MCP support and Earendil publicly dismissed MCP; the new release adds MCP to core\.
- MCP could have stayed an extension, but core integration was chosen because required changes also make Jev easier to use in Pi\.
- Earendil argues MCP should resemble OpenAPI with intelligent tool discovery, structured data, and documentation\-based discoverability, rather than text\-returning tools dumped into context\.
- Codemode runs on the harness side, orchestrates tool calls in JavaScript, keeps state in the session transcript, and is automatically loaded when MCP is configured\.
- Pi needed richer tool metadata to mark tools as deferred or Codemode\-specific; normal MCP extensions lacked enough metadata from Pi's tool loadout\.
- In a demo, Codemode combined Linear MCP and Jev to classify frustration across 167 open issues, finding 156 neutral, 11 mild, none high\.

## Discussion themes

Analyzed: 2026\-10\-01T08:02:22\.780135\+00:00

Analysis sample: Based on 46 of 46 usable stored comments. Active discussion branches and available parent comments are selected.

This sample may omit parts of the full thread. Selected themes do not measure community opinion or how common a view is.

### MCP versus CLI, shell, and Codemode composition

Commenters debate whether MCP adds value over exposing APIs as CLI tools or using bash, with some arguing LLMs already compose via shell and Codemode seems backwards, while others explain Codemode's harness\-side scripting benefits and note that not all agents have terminal access\.

Sources: [Comment 49906911](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49906911>) · [Comment 49906943](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49906943>) · [Comment 49907542](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49907542>) · [Comment 49907920](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49907920>) · [Comment 49909730](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49909730>) · [Comment 49909847](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49909847>) · [Comment 49911853](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49911853>)

### MCP file transfer gap

Commenters ask for or complain about MCP lacking built\-in file upload/download, forcing arguments through context and relying on curl or external HTTP that some harnesses cannot use\.

Sources: [Comment 49906897](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49906897>) · [Comment 49908651](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49908651>)

### MCP security and credential isolation

Discussion of shell exposure risks in server\-side harnesses, MCP servers holding API keys to avoid leaks, and questions about how agents authenticate to MCP servers; one commenter argues restricted bash can address shell risk\.

Sources: [Comment 49907020](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49907020>) · [Comment 49912771](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49912771>) · [Comment 49912995](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49912995>) · [Comment 49907487](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49907487>)

### MCP adoption beyond solo coding

Commenters argue MCP is valuable for teams, enterprise, non\-coding automation, and ecosystem growth, while others see anti\-MCP hype or note that individual workflows may not need it\.

Sources: [Comment 49907780](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49907780>) · [Comment 49908136](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49908136>) · [Comment 49909697](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49909697>) · [Comment 49907985](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49907985>) · [Comment 49908864](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49908864>)

### Pi's MCP support and extensibility tradeoffs

Commenters react to Pi adding MCP in core, noting surprise, concerns about cruft, lack of a permissions model, and plugin\-heavy customization\.

Sources: [Comment 49907054](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49907054>) · [Comment 49907241](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49907241>) · [Comment 49907270](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49907270>) · [Comment 49907400](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49907400>)

### Inconsistent client support for MCP features

Commenters note that tools are consistently implemented across major clients, but prompts and resources vary in discovery and consumption, and OpenAI has not implemented MCP Prompts\.

Sources: [Comment 49907780](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49907780>) · [Comment 49908430](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49908430>)

## Sources & coverage

AI-generated summary · 2026\-09\-30T12:02:08\.393279\+00:00

Based on 4 of 4 usable stored comments, selected by depth and branch activity. This is a sample of the discussion. Article text may also be shortened.

Generated using deepseek\-ai/DeepSeek\-V4\.1\-Flash. Check the linked sources for full context.