[ZiiS]

> Rate limit and monitor your own usage. You should anyway. It's not the road's job to make you follow the speed limit.

A better metaphor is the car, not the road. It is legally required to accurately tell you your speed and require deliberate control to increase it.

Even if you stick to a road; whoever made the road is required to research and clearly post speed limits.

[jacobr1]

Exactly. It is pretty common for APIs to actually signal this too. Headers to show usage limits or rates. Good error codes (429) with actual documentation on backoff timeframes. If you use instrument your service to respect read and respect the signals it gets, everything moves smoother. Backing stuff like that back into the MCP spec or at least having common conventions that are applied on top will be very useful. Similarly for things like tracking data taint, auth, tracing, etc ... Having a good ecosystem makes everything play together much nicer.

[TeMPOraL]

Also extending the metaphor, you can make a road that controls where you go and makes sure you don't stray from it (whether by accident or on purpose): it's called rail, and its safety guarantees come with reduced versatility.

Don't blame roads for not being rail, when you came in a car because you need the flexibility that the train can't give you.