When converting an existing REST API to the Model Context Protocol, what should you consider? What anti-patterns should you avoid to keep an AI agent’s context clean? This week on the show, Kyle Stratis returns to discuss his upcoming book, “AI Agents with MCP”. Kyle has been busy since he last appeared on the show in 2020. He’s taken his experience working in machine learning startups and started his own consultancy, Stratis Data Labs. He’s been documenting his explorations working with LLMs and MCP on his blog, The Signal Path. Kyle is also writing a book about building MCP clients, services, and end-to-end agents. We discuss a recent article he wrote about the hazards of using an automated tool to convert a REST API into an MCP server. He shares his personal experiences with building MCP tools and provides additional resources for you to learn more about the topic. This episode is sponsored by InfluxData. Spotlight: Python for Beginners: Code With Confidence – Real Python Learn Programming Fundamentals and Pythonic Coding in Eight Weeks—With a Structured Course Topics: 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:02:41 – Updates on career 00:04:36 – The Signal Path - newsletter 00:07:15 – Moving into consulting 00:12:35 – Recent projects 00:14:51 – Need for data skills with MCP 00:16:49 – Describing the differences between REST APIs and MCP 00:19:59 – Interaction model differences 00:27:29 – Sponsor: InfluxData 00:28:21 – Agent stories 00:32:58 – Going through a simple example of MCP server 00:37:50 – Defining client and server 00:40:19 – Examples of servers currently 00:51:44 – Announcement: Python for Beginners: Code with Confidence 01:02:07 – Resources for further study 01:05:07 – Breaking down advice on moving an API to MCP 01:08:04 – What are you excited about in the world of Python? 01:18:20 – What do you want to learn next? 01:21:35 – How can people follow your work online? 01:22:46 – Thanks and goodbye Show Links: AI Agents with MCP - Book Episode #10: Python Job Hunting in a Pandemic Stop Converting Your REST APIs to MCP Stop Generating MCP Servers from REST APIs! Context7 - Up-to-date documentation for LLMs and AI code editors Anthropic What is the Model Context Protocol (MCP)? - Model Context Protocol github-mcp-server: GitHub’s official MCP Server Model Context Protocol (/MCP) - Reddit modelcontextprotocol/servers: Model Context Protocol Servers Browse All MCP Servers - MCP Market Welcome to FastMCP 2.0! - FastMCP Agent Memory: How to Build Agents that Learn and Remember - Letta