DAMA Philadelphia - All things Data since 1992

𝗔𝗣𝗜 𝘃𝘀 𝗠𝗖𝗣 - 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲? APIs route requests through gateways to backends. MCP connects AI clients directly to resources. The difference matters if you're building AI systems. 𝗔𝗣𝗜 (𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲): - Built for software-to-software communication - Client → API Gateway → Service → Backend - Each service needs its own endpoint, docs, and integration - Standard patterns: REST, GraphQL, gRPC 𝗠𝗖𝗣 (𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗼𝗹): - Built for AI-to-resource communication - Client (Agent/IDE/LLM) → MCP Host → MCP Server → Backend - One protocol for all: resources, tools, prompts - Self-describing, no external docs needed - Access via HTTP, SQL, and File I/O through a standard interface APIs excel at predefined workflows. You know what you need; you call the correct endpoint. MCP excels at dynamic access. The AI decides what it needs, discovers available resources, and executes. Think of it this way: APIs are like calling specific phone numbers. MCP is like having an intelligent assistant who knows the entire directory. The question isn't if MCP will replace APIs. It won't, not for traditional integrations. The question is whether your AI systems need the flexibility MCP provides or the stability APIs deliver.