Unpacking MCP
Exploring the evolution of open source software and its impact on the Tech landscape.
In our latest Open Source Ready podcast episode, I sat down with Steve Manuel, Co-Founder and CEO of Dylibso, to discuss the Model Context Protocol (MCP) – the latest acronym taking the AI world by storm.
If you've just gotten comfortable with RAG and LLMs, there's a new protocol that's changing how we interact with AI systems. MCP enables large language models to seamlessly use external tools and functions without the fragmentation that has plagued the AI ecosystem.
"MCP broadly is like a plugin system for your AI. It gives an LLM, any kind of model that can do function calling the ability to understand tools and then execute those tools just by reading data from an MCP server." — Steve Manuel, CEO of Dylibso
Steve explains how his team leveraged WebAssembly to create portable, secure MCP implementations that run everywhere from browsers to Android devices. The conversation covers why Anthropic chose JSON-RPC for the protocol, how authentication works, and why MCP might become the universal standard for AI function calling.
Whether you're a developer or just AI-curious, this episode offers valuable insights into a technology that's seeing massive adoption just months after its release.
[Listen to the full episode →]
READS
TypeScript's Go Rewrite
https://www.totaltypescript.com/typescript-announces-go-rewrite
The TypeScript team recently announced plans to rewrite their compiler in Go, with performance improvements expected as soon as November 2025. This move has sparked discussion in the developer community about the implications for performance, developer experience, and the future of the TypeScript ecosystem.
Steve Manuel: this is more of a port than a complete rewrite. John: "I think importantly it's a port, I guess maybe not quite a rewrite. Like they're not going to be exactly like rewriting, you know, github.com/microsoft/typescript or whatever."
The choice of Go as the implementation language seems strategic. "Go is an excellent choice for this. You know, I've been on Go Teams and you can move really fast on stuff like this without having to deal with some of the low level crap that you get in Rust."
Steve Manuel: Highlighted some interesting possibilities this rewrite could enable: "I would love to see this actually because it's in Go also compiled to WebAssembly... my Ruby app that needs for some reason compile TypeScript code can do so leveraging the go version of TSC implemented and run as Wasm inside the Ruby process."
This move by the TypeScript team could have far-reaching implications for build performance and cross-platform compatibility. As the TypeScript ecosystem continues to evolve, this Go rewrite may represent a significant shift in how we interact with the language and its tooling.
The decision reflects broader industry trends toward optimizing developer tooling for performance, while maintaining the accessibility that has made TypeScript so popular among developers.
Why Layoffs Don't Work
https://thehustle.co/originals/why-layoffs-dont-work
A recent article from The Hustle explores the counterintuitive reality that corporate layoffs often fail to deliver the intended benefits. Research shows they frequently don't improve financial performance, damage company culture, and reduce innovation while increasing workloads for remaining employees. Even more surprising, companies often end up rehiring for the same positions within a year.
John: "This was something that I saw on 'Hacker News,' had had, you know, a couple hundred up votes and a bunch of people getting wax poetic in the comments going back and forth... at the beginning of the article they talk about how, you know, in 2001 when there was 9/11 and the .com bubble burst, a bunch of the airlines did these huge layoffs, but Southwest was one of the only ones that didn't do these layoffs."
John's perspective on the corporate trend was clear: "I like to believe that layoffs maybe aren't as efficient and effective as, you know, big tech CEOs and billionaires would like us to believe."
Brian: I offered a more nuanced view based on his background in finance: "I think when you're managed... when the company's managed well, like you can get ahead of this... Actually at my last managing role at GitHub it was said, hey, if you get a bonus, congratulations. You did a great job. If you get equity as part of your bonus, it means we want you to stick around for four more years."
I emphasized the importance of understanding business fundamentals: "I love reading business books and I love these case studies and like history sometimes repeats itself... But it's good to know like historical reasons and why things happen so that way as a manager you can do better."
The article supports what many in the tech industry have witnessed firsthand: quick cost-cutting through layoffs often creates more problems than it solves, and the best companies find alternatives to maintain both their culture and their talent pool during challenging times.