The Protobox Blog
Notes from building, hosting, and scaling MCP servers in production. Practical writing for developers.
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42 articles · Page 2 of 4
50 Tools, Zero Memory. The Biggest Gap in AI Agents Today
AI agents can call 50 APIs but can't remember what you said yesterday. The tool layer is years ahead of the memory layer, and developers are paying the price.
How AI agents discover your MCP server automatically
A practical guide to publishing .well-known/mcp.json and DNS TXT records so any AI agent can find and connect to your MCP server without manual configuration.
Why MCP Exists: Tool Calling Shouldn't Need Adapter Code
OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google all implement function calling differently. MCP is emerging as the standard that saves developers from writing adapter code for every provider.
MCP tasks: how async tool calls fix your agent's timeout problem
The November 2025 MCP spec introduced Tasks: a call-now, fetch-later primitive that lets agents kick off slow operations without blocking. Here's how it works and how to build with it.
What the July 28 MCP spec means for your stateful agents
The July 28 MCP spec is the largest protocol revision since launch. Sessions are removed. Stateless request handling replaces the initialization handshake. Here's what breaks and how to fix it before the deadline.
How to Migrate Your MCP Server to Stateless Mode
The MCP 2026 release candidate makes stateless the recommended default. Your MCP server can now scale behind any load balancer without sticky routing. Here's how to migrate and use the new Tasks extension for async work.
The MCP registry: managing a fleet of agent tools
When you have more than 3 MCP servers, you need a registry. Here's the architecture Pinterest and Cloudflare use to manage fleets of domain-specific tool servers at scale.
Four protocols that power every AI agent
MCP handles tools, A2A handles agent delegation, ACP routes across enterprise frameworks, and ANP crosses org boundaries. Here's how the four protocols divide the work and when each belongs in your stack.
Stop Loading All Your MCP Tools at Once
Loading 50 MCP tools burns 72K tokens before your agent says a word. Progressive tool discovery fixes that: smaller context, sharper decisions, real code patterns.
MCP's 2026 spec changes what your tools can do
The MCP spec RC is out with Extensions, Tasks, MCP Apps, and OAuth hardening. Here's what changes for AI agent builders before the July 28 final.
9 in 10 MCP Servers Skip OAuth. The July 28 Spec Just Landed.
Only 8.5% of MCP servers use OAuth. The July 28 spec landed, and it doesn't make auth mandatory. Here's what it actually requires and what to fix first.
MCP Without a Gateway Is a Production Liability
Raw MCP is great for prototyping. But production agents need audit trails, per-user identity, tool-level RBAC, and rate limiting, none of which the spec provides. Here's the gateway pattern that fills the gap.
MCP changelog and dev notes
Short, occasional updates on the MCP spec, new Protobox features, and patterns we've seen in production. No marketing fluff.
