Notes on agent-controllable software, the MCP-first architecture pattern, and how to build and audit MCP servers.https://mcp-first.ai/enhttps://mcp-first.ai/blog/introducing-mcp-first/https://mcp-first.ai/blog/introducing-mcp-first/Why the next generation of software should be built as a secure, fully controllable capability layer first, and why screens are no longer the product.Thu, 11 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTMCP-firstArchitecturehttps://mcp-first.ai/blog/llm-cost-optimization/https://mcp-first.ai/blog/llm-cost-optimization/Practical levers to shrink inference spend without hurting quality, prompt caching, model routing, context discipline, and capability-level budgets.Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTLLM OpsCosthttps://mcp-first.ai/blog/api-first-vs-mcp-first/https://mcp-first.ai/blog/api-first-vs-mcp-first/API-first was a real step forward, but it answers a different question. Here is what MCP-first adds on top, and why it matters for agent-ready software.Tue, 09 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTAPI-firstAgentsArchitecturehttps://mcp-first.ai/blog/choosing-llm-models/https://mcp-first.ai/blog/choosing-llm-models/A vendor-neutral framework for picking and switching models, define your eval tasks, weigh cost/latency/quality, run your own evals, and keep models swappable.Mon, 08 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTModelsLLM Opshttps://mcp-first.ai/blog/on-device-vs-cloud-models/https://mcp-first.ai/blog/on-device-vs-cloud-models/A decision framework for splitting AI workloads between local and cloud models, privacy, latency, cost, and capability, plus how sensitivity should route the data.Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTModelsArchitecturehttps://mcp-first.ai/blog/agents-mcp-slm-2026/https://mcp-first.ai/blog/agents-mcp-slm-2026/Three durable shifts reshaping how software gets built, agents moving into production, tool/context protocols standardizing, and small models getting good and cheap.Sat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTTrendsAgentsMCPhttps://mcp-first.ai/blog/audit-your-mcp-server/https://mcp-first.ai/blog/audit-your-mcp-server/There is a machine-readable, normative edition of the MCP-first manifest. Point an LLM at it and get a 40-rule conformance audit of any MCP server in minutes.Sat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTSecurityAuditToolshttps://mcp-first.ai/blog/long-horizon-agent-patterns/https://mcp-first.ai/blog/long-horizon-agent-patterns/Patterns that keep multi-step, long-running agents reliable, task decomposition, sub-agent delegation, checkpoints and recovery, self-verification, budgets, and human gates.Fri, 05 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTAgentsArchitecturehttps://mcp-first.ai/blog/prompting-long-horizon-reasoning/https://mcp-first.ai/blog/prompting-long-horizon-reasoning/Techniques that make models reliable on long, multi-step tasks, decomposition, explicit effort budgets, scratchpads, and self-verification passes.Thu, 04 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTPromptingAgentshttps://mcp-first.ai/blog/loop-engineering-agent-systems/https://mcp-first.ai/blog/loop-engineering-agent-systems/The model is only half the system. The other half is the loop around it, observe, plan, act, verify, retry, stop, and the guardrails that keep it honest.Wed, 03 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTAgentsEngineeringhttps://mcp-first.ai/blog/llm-code-migrations/https://mcp-first.ai/blog/llm-code-migrations/How to run a framework upgrade or codebase-wide refactor with agents, discovery, per-file transforms, verification, isolation, and review gates that keep it safe.Tue, 02 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTAgentsEngineeringhttps://mcp-first.ai/blog/self-hosting-open-models/https://mcp-first.ai/blog/self-hosting-open-models/When local inference makes sense, and how quantization and right-sizing let capable open-weight models run on modest hardware, with the tradeoffs spelled out.Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTModelsSelf-hostinghttps://mcp-first.ai/blog/ai-data-retention-compliance/https://mcp-first.ai/blog/ai-data-retention-compliance/A practical guide to handling personal and sensitive data in AI systems, minimization, retention, redaction, audit trails, and the data-subject rights you must honor.Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTSecurityCompliancehttps://mcp-first.ai/blog/browser-using-agents/https://mcp-first.ai/blog/browser-using-agents/Agents that drive a real browser can do almost anything a user can, which is exactly why they need capabilities, confirmation, and audit, not a free hand.Tue, 17 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTAgentsSecurityhttps://mcp-first.ai/blog/multi-agent-systems/https://mcp-first.ai/blog/multi-agent-systems/Orchestrator/worker patterns, specialization, and shared context, plus the failure modes (cost blowups, loops, compounding errors) and how to contain them.Tue, 24 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTAgentsArchitecturehttps://mcp-first.ai/blog/ai-guardrails-safe-by-design/https://mcp-first.ai/blog/ai-guardrails-safe-by-design/Model-level alignment is not enough. Real safety comes from the system around the model, input/output checks, permissions, confirmation, and audit.Tue, 03 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTSecuritySafetyhttps://mcp-first.ai/blog/vector-databases-embeddings/https://mcp-first.ai/blog/vector-databases-embeddings/What embeddings are, how similarity search works, and how to choose and operate a vector store without over-engineering it.Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTInfraRAGhttps://mcp-first.ai/blog/rag-context-for-models/https://mcp-first.ai/blog/rag-context-for-models/Retrieval-augmented generation explained, chunking, embedding, retrieval, and the discipline of feeding a model only the context a task actually needs.Tue, 09 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMTContextRAGhttps://mcp-first.ai/blog/function-calling-tool-use/https://mcp-first.ai/blog/function-calling-tool-use/How models go from text to action through typed tool definitions, and why the quality of your tool schemas decides how reliable your agent is.Tue, 18 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMTAgentsTools