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PATTERN Cited by 1 source

Multi-surface MCP composition

Pattern

Compose an agent's tool catalog from multiple MCP surfaces with distinct latency, scaling, and ownership characteristics — then present them to the agent as a single unified catalog. The processor/composition layer resolves which surfaces apply (based on team, context, session) before the agent loop starts.

Surfaces (Instacart Blueberry example)

Surface Properties Examples
In-process MCP Low latency, shared session state, co-deployed Fast local helpers
Shared MCP server Independent scaling, heavier compute, cross-team Deploy analysis, error analysis, anomaly sweeps
Team-hosted remote MCP Team-owned, externally mounted, team-unique data Team-specific dashboards, domain data sources

Why not one surface?

  • Latency: in-process helpers need sub-second response; heavy investigators can take seconds
  • Blast radius: updating a shared investigator shouldn't require redeploying agent workers
  • Ownership: teams want to iterate on their tool endpoints without touching core
  • Cost: heavy tools can be right-sized independently

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