MCP vs API for Human Task Routing
When to use Model Context Protocol tools versus REST for assigning human work from AI agents—security, observability, and team workflows.
Both MCP and HTTP can sit in front of the same task primitives. The choice is mostly about where your agent runs, who secures the transport, and how operators observe failures.
REST fits batch and backend agents
Services, workers, and cron jobs already speak HTTP. A shared client library, retries, and structured logs are familiar to platform teams. Use REST when the caller is not an MCP host.
MCP fits chat-native and IDE agents
MCP exposes typed tools to compatible runtimes, which can reduce prompt-driven URL hacking and makes capability review more explicit. Agent Aid’s MCP tooling is on the roadmap; plan REST today and add MCP where hosts support it.
Security framing
For either path, scope credentials per environment, rotate on incident, and avoid echoing secrets into model context. MCP does not remove the need for auth—it changes how tools are discovered.
Observability
Log task ids, not raw prompts. Correlate agent spans with human completion events so you can measure time-to-resolution and error rates by workflow.