MCP is dead. Long live the CLI

Re:MCP is dead. Long live the CLI by bonoboTP on Sunday March 01, 2026 @08:22PM (#47212739)

Even if the help isn't great, good coding agents can try out the cli for a few minutes and write up a skill, or read the sources or online docs and write up a skill. That takes the spot of the --help if needed. I found that I can spare quite a lot of time, I don't have to type up how to use it, if there is available info about it on the web, in man pages, in help pages, or the source is available, it can figure it out. I've had Claude download the sources of ffmpeg and blender to obtain deeper understanding of certain things that aren't much documented. Recent LLMs are great at quickly finding where a feature is implemented, how it works based on the code, testing the hypothesis, writing it up so it's not lost, and moving on with the work with much more grounding and fewer guessing and assumptions.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:MCP is dead. Long live the CLI by bspammer on Monday March 02, 2026 @04:07AM (#47215477)

Downloading source code and asking questions about poorly documented features is my favourite thing that LLMs make possible. There are so many little annoyances that I’ve been able to patch and, thanks to NixOS, have the patched software permanently available to me.

In fact NixOS + LLMs feels like the full promise of open source software is finally available to me. Everything is within reach. If you don’t like something, patch it out. If you want to change a default, patch that in.

You don’t need to know the language, the weird build process, or the custom tooling. Idea to working binary in minutes. I love it so much.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:MCP is dead. Long live the CLI by bonoboTP on Monday March 02, 2026 @06:11AM (#47216456)

Yes, the idea that you can meaningfully modify the program for your own purposes (one of Stallman's four freedoms) was quite unrealistic except for the most skilled and invested among users. LLMs change this. I mean, as long as you use open models. I fear that in the future, corporate models may start to refuse building software like this that is inconvenient for them. Like possible future-Gemini saying, "oh I see you're patching chromium to continue working with adblockers, this is harmful activity, I cannot help you and reported your account to Google. Cease and desist from these plans or you lose your Gmail!"

Today is the honeymoon phase, enshittification will come later when the pie stops growing and the aspect of control comes more into focus.

It's just too good to be true. Most people still don't know that you can now do what you just described. Once people in the suits understand this, the propaganda will start about how unsafe this all is and that platforms must be locked down at the hardware level, subscriptions cut off if building unapproved software etc.

[ Parent | on HN ]