--- title: API Design As I Use the API, and MCP, and Skills | daily.dev description: A reflection on the limits of design-first API development and how MCP (Model Context Protocol) enables a new form of iterative, conversational API design. By... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/api-design-as-i-use-the-api-and-mcp-and-skills-imhxwy5r2 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: API Design As I Use the API, and MCP, and Skills | daily.dev og:description: A reflection on the limits of design-first API development and how MCP (Model Context Protocol) enables a new form of iterative, conversational API design. By... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/api-design-as-i-use-the-api-and-mcp-and-skills-imhxwy5r2 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/IMhxWy5r2.png og:image:alt: API Design As I Use the API, and MCP, and Skills og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # API Design As I Use the API, and MCP, and Skills **[API Evangelist](https://daily.dev/sources/apievangelist)** · 3 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A reflection on the limits of design-first API development and how MCP (Model Context Protocol) enables a new form of iterative, conversational API design. By tightly coupling MCP to OpenAPI specs, the author can dogfood their own APIs through conversation rather than building a full application first. This usage-driven loop — query, struggle, build, repeat — surfaces what an API actually needs versus what was originally intended, with Agent Skills serving as reusable, narrated workflows that capture real usage patterns. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [MCP & Skills for AI agents](https://daily.dev/posts/mcp-skills-for-ai-agents-oqh2e5dc6) · Daily Dose of Data Science \| Avi Chawla \| Substack · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [Seeing MCP](https://daily.dev/posts/seeing-mcp-vfi5ace0s) · API Evangelist · 16 upvotes · 0 comments - [The next phase of dev: Building for MCP and the open web](https://daily.dev/posts/the-next-phase-of-dev-building-for-mcp-and-the-open-web-nbthg3kba) · LogRocket · 7 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#architecture](https://daily.dev/tags/architecture), [#ai-agents](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-agents), [#mcp](https://daily.dev/tags/mcp), [#openapi](https://daily.dev/tags/openapi) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/api-design-as-i-use-the-api-and-mcp-and-skills-imhxwy5r2) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"API Design As I Use the API, and MCP, and Skills","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/api-design-as-i-use-the-api-and-mcp-and-skills-imhxwy5r2","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/api-design-as-i-use-the-api-and-mcp-and-skills-imhxwy5r2"},"datePublished":"2026-07-17T12:41:11.862Z","dateModified":"2026-07-18T08:21:00.368Z","description":"A reflection on the limits of design-first API development and how MCP (Model Context Protocol) enables a new form of iterative, conversational API design. 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