Anannya Roy Chowdhury

My Agents broke APIs - Fixing Multi-Agent Systems with MCP

Modern AI agents struggle not because of reasoning limits, but because of interaction with tools on interfaces designed for humans. In agentic systems, this mismatch leads to incorrect tool selection, redundant calls, increased latency, & weak workflows that fail under real-world conditions. As MCP emerges as a standard for how models connect with tools & applications, it provides a path to move from heuristic interactions to structured, contract-driven systems. Taking a real-world use case, this talk explores how the MCP redefines agent-tool interaction through schema-based contracts, enabling deterministic execution & reducing ambiguity. We’ll dive into MCP architectures & demonstrate how standardized tool definitions improve reliability & efficiency in agent workflows. We’ll compare a traditional API-driven approach with an MCP-based design, highlighting measurable improvements in latency, cost, & system behavior.