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AIMUG Office Hours Recap - Model Context Protocol (MCP) and Agent Architectures

· 3 min read
Colin McNamara
Colin McNamara
Contributor - Austin LangChain AIMUG

Our most recent Austin LangChain AI Middleware User Group (AIMUG) office hours session explored advanced topics in agent architecture, with a particular focus on Model Context Protocol (MCP) implementations and agent-to-agent interactions. Here's a recap of the key insights and discussions.

Key Highlights​

Agent-to-Agent (A2A) Interactions​

The group discussed the current state of agent-to-agent interactions, noting that while the promise is exciting, the implementation is still maturing. Unlike the broader generative AI landscape where tooling has significantly reduced barriers to entry, A2A implementations still require substantial boilerplate code. The consensus was that as tooling improves, we'll see wider adoption of these powerful capabilities.

MCP Architecture Deep Dive​

Karim Lalani shared valuable insights on deploying Model Context Protocol beyond just local implementations:

  • Standard IO vs. Server-Side Events: While most examples show MCP running locally via Standard IO, Karim demonstrated how to run MCP as a remote service using Server-Side Events (SSE) with UVCON
  • Microservices Architecture: Colin McNamara proposed creating a dedicated microservices layer for MCPs to make them accessible over the network, allowing for better management, centralized logging, and security segregation
  • Beyond Tool Usage: The team explored MCP's capabilities beyond just tool execution, including resources, prompts, and authentication mechanisms

"MCP is not just a protocol but a very good implementation of it that you can take and run with. For 90% of use cases, you don't need to worry about the underlying stuff. But if you want to go deep and build something sophisticated, you have all the necessary tools." - Karim Lalani

Alternative Agent Frameworks​

Joseph introduced Lindy, a WYSIWYG AI agent framework that offers browser-based agent development with minimal setup. Examples shared included:

  • Executive assistants that can schedule meetings
  • Meeting note takers
  • AI interviewers for candidate pre-screening
  • Email monitoring and alerting systems

Observability and Governance​

A significant portion of the discussion focused on logging and traceability across agent ecosystems:

  • The need for granular logging at the tool execution level
  • Options for implementing observability using Open Telemetry, LangSmith, and Lang Fuse
  • Challenges in creating consistent logging across heterogeneous agent frameworks
  • Building comprehensive audit trails for governance and security

What's Next​

The group is looking forward to upcoming lightning talks this Wednesday, May 7th, including Joseph's survey of various agent frameworks (MCP, Lindy, and others). Thursday's session will include a discussion of the newly released Qwen 3 model.

Join Us​

If you're interested in LangChain, agent architectures, or AI middleware, join our weekly office hours! Connect with practitioners working on real-world implementations and contribute to the growing Austin AI community.

  • When: Tuesdays & Thursdays at 2:00 PM CT
  • Where: Virtual Meeting (details in our newsletter)
  • Who: Open to all interested in LangChain and AI middleware

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