Kevin Swiber

One MCP server with 106 tools = 54,600 tokens burned on init. Claude Code just shipped Tool Search to fix this (triggers at >10% context). Wrote up what's working across the ecosystem: www.layered.dev/mcp-tool-sch...

The ecosystem response is fast: • MCP gateways collapsing tools into "search" + "execute" • Host-side proxies with semantic filtering • Agent Skills for progressive disclosure • Protocol proposals showing 91-98% reduction

I know AI code assistants are controversial. But honestly, I'm spending my time: designing software architecture, planning work, reviewing code, documenting best practices, and only diving into deep code-writing sessions on the legitimately difficult problems. It's... kinda nice?

As I'm preparing to open source a project, I am suddenly so self-conscious about my code hygiene. I've been the only one looking at this code, so it's been fine. But I definitely need to clean the stacks of clothes off the chair before we have company.

I have about 37k lines of functional code and about 26k lines of test and benchmark code. While I did some pretty excellent low-level work (IIDSSM), what the hell was I doing with error and config types? What a mess. But at least my proxy is high-performance. 🤦 Cue 2342 hours of refactoring.

As I'm preparing to open source a project, I am suddenly so self-conscious about my code hygiene. I've been the only one looking at this code, so it's been fine. But I definitely need to clean the stacks of clothes off the chair before we have company.

Ah, but it is nice to do this. This is *clean*. I should pick up the clothes off the chair for myself once in a while.

I've been working on MCP developer tools. It has been fun. There are a few MCP gateways out there. They're fine. I've technically built a high-performance, resilient MCP gateway in this codebase, but I'm not currently planning to promote it that way. I think there's a lot of opportunity here.

I will say... for all the MCP gateways out there... proxying from HTTP to a subprocess communicating via stdio isn't as straightforward as it seems. It's incredibly easy to have resource and security leaks. Pooling, lifetime tracking, aggressive cleanup, bounded channel usage. It's basically a PaaS.

As a developer who's getting older, I spend a lot more time on module organization design in my codebase. It's natural for module organization to grow and evolve over time, but what we usually end up doing is trying to stick to older models that might not be as useful.

Reading DC Comics for the first time since childhood. Tom King’s Wonder Woman series and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow are really, really good.

If your headline about AI is "no more ___" or "the end of ___", I'm probably going to roll my eyes. Here are the latest top 3 things going away because of AI, according to headlines: - network APIs - software developers - the World Wide Web Okay, maybe, but not in your lifetime, buddy. Calm down.

Product development is not product assembly. In a past life, I worked as an industrial engineering technician in the automotive industry. We were applying Lean Manufacturing practices. In development, you minimize waste and maximize value. In assembly, you optimize for speed and efficiency.

I know very smart people have applied Lean to software development, but it feels to me like some wires got crossed. Assembly is your CI/CD pipelines. You want that fast. Development requires a cross-functional team. Measuring issue open to issue close times isn't about speed; it's about waste.

Y’all, the kids are protesting ICE on Roblox. This is amazing. youtu.be/s1RSD9-qHTI?...

I’m really sick right now. But I’m thinking about my love of comic books since childhood and my love of movies, too. Millennials were lucky to be around for the birth of comic book movie franchises.

I just went to a music festival. I made people cry from the jokes I told. I made people cry from the support I gave them. Why the fuck do I keep making people cry? My goal is to leave people feeling nonplussed. This is completely plussed.

My hobby is thinking.