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Inside Stainless: The Developer Tools Startup Anthropic Just Bought for $300 Million

Overview

Shownote

Highlights

Transcript

Chapters

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Inside Stainless: The Developer Tools Startup Anthropic Just Bought for $300 Million

AI & I

1 DAYS AGO

Inside Stainless: The Developer Tools Startup Anthropic Just Bought for $300 Million

Inside Stainless: The Developer Tools Startup Anthropic Just Bought for $300 Million

AI & I

AI & I

1 DAYS AGO

Overview Shownote Highlights Transcript Chapters Pins

Shownote

If your MCP server has dozens of tools, it's probably built wrong. You need tools that are specific and clear for each use case—but you also can't have too many. This creates an almost impossible tradeoff that most companies don't know how to solve. That's...

Highlights

This podcast features Alex Rattray, founder of Stainless, discussing the Model Context Protocol (MCP) for connecting AI to the internet. He explores the challenges of designing effective MCP servers, including tool selection, security, and the balance between specificity and scalability. The conversation also covers practical applications of MCP for business operations and the future of AI-native software development.

00:00

MCP connects AI to the internet

01:16

Running barefoot builds toughness

05:11

APIs are the connections enabling computer-to-computer communication

13:58

Exposing all API endpoints exhausts context windows

17:21

Handcrafting tools for LLMs is necessary but difficult.

20:24

Keep the number of tools small and precise.

33:10

AI as cyborgs combining LLMs with traditional code

40:59

Security at the API layer using OAuth with granular scopes

44:50

Taking risks early often leads to faster adoption.

Chapters

MCP connects AI to the internet

00:00

Introduction

01:15

APIs and MCP, the connectors of the new internet

05:09

Why MCP exists

11:00

Why MCP servers are hard to get right

17:15

Design principles for reliable MCP servers

20:24

Using MCP for business ops at Stainless

25:06

Alex's take on the security model for MCP

40:57

How one-off AI actions become permanent production software

44:42

Transcript

Dan Shipper: The internet runs on computers talking to each other, but its entire architecture was built for a pre-AI world. Now we're trying to hook AI up to the internet. With MCP, Model Context Protocol, which turns any website or web service into a set...