MCP Isn't Dead. You're Just Using It Wrong.

Theo McCabe — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 15:09:12 +0000

Everyone and their gran have been saying that MCP is dead.

But could it be that MCP's saving grace has been with us all along - hiding in plain sight?

I think so.

A feature buried in Claude Code's Jan 2026 release may have marked the most powerful development in MCP since its inception - and almost nobody noticed.

Dynamic Tool Registration.

But what is dynamic tool registration, you ask?

Dynamic tool registration extends an MCP server's abilities above those of just a glorified swagger doc - allowing the server not just to list a static set of tools, but to dynamically add and remove new tools from that list in real time as part of a stateful agent session.

And what's so powerful about that?

Well for one it allows us to elegantly solve the main problem most people had with MCP in the first place - context bloat. By grouping our tools into collections of related actions... a larger logical grouping we might call an ability... we can then provide a load_ability tool, which when called by the agent, adds a related collection of tools to the current session.

For example, we might decide, while building a GitHub MCP server, that:

reading and editing issues is one ability called GitHub Issues
reading and writing code is a different ability called GitHub Coding

Now, because of dynamic tool registration, the agent doesn't need context about all of the subtools for every ability bloating its context window - it just needs a search abilities tool and a load abilities tool.

With these 2 meta tools as a starting point the agent can load the GitHub Issues ability - and immediately use it to create a new issue without knowing anything about pull requests, branching rules, or any other unrelated GitHub concept. Perhaps it can even "forget" the issues ability when it's done by starting a new session? Very neat.

Going Deeper - MCP Inception

But dynamic tool registration doesn't just stop at reducing context bloat. Oh no. It can actually get much deeper and weirder than that.

Last weekend I built and shipped a project which stretches the capabilities of MCP further than I've seen them stretched before. It turns dynamic tool registration into a self-generating recursive MCP monster.

Meet Commandable MCP - the MCP server for creating new MCP servers on the fly. MCP inception, if you will.

Commandable gives agents tools to create new tools, usable immediately without compiling any code or restarting any processes. It also - by the way - keeps your credentials secure and encrypted at rest.

And how does this MCP inception work? With dynamic tool registration of course!

How Commandable MCP Works

We started by building an MCP with ability groupings and registration just like I described above - and then we 10x'd it by adding some more meta tools... namely - create_integration and create_tool.

For these, we defined a framework for writing tools in JSON which allows us to execute them safely in a sandbox without system access, internet access, or plain string credentials. We wrote a good prompt to tell the agents how to generate this JSON.

And that's it, away we go.

What Can Commandable MCP Be Used For?

Think about a standard Trello MCP server.

It gives an agent something like create_trello_card(boardId, listId, name, description, labelIds, ...). However, every time the agent wants to use it, it has to go fishing for IDs, calling get_boards, get_lists, get_labels - just to find the right place to add the card - and then ignore tons of optional parameters on the create tool itself.

Imagine instead, the agent inspects your actual Trello account and generates add_bug_to_sprint(title, priority) - a tool that already knows your board, your list, your labels. And now it can use that tool whenever it needs to add a bug without reinventing the wheel.

Commandable lets agents build targeted tools for repeatable actions they actually use instead of long lists of generic tools from a standardised MCP or API.

So, Is MCP Dead?

Not now. Not yet.

Watch - nay, marvel - at the video below as Claude Code, armed with just our boring old MCP-compliant server, levels itself up into some kind of self-evolving AGI Frankenstein... or at the very least... a helpful assistant that generates some tools for us - thanks Claude!

MCP LIVES

Forem: Theo McCabe

MCP Isn't Dead. You're Just Using It Wrong.

Going Deeper - MCP Inception

How Commandable MCP Works

What Can Commandable MCP Be Used For?

So, Is MCP Dead?