[daxfohl]

I'd expect "local MCP servers" will be generally installed as part of something else. Photoshop, or Outlook, or whatever could come with a local MCP server to allow chat clients to automate them. Maybe printer drivers or other hardware would do similar. I don't think there's much reason to install a cloud service MCP server to run locally; you'd just use the one provided in the cloud.

[Garlef]

Interesting thought.

But maybe the companies would actually like to at least pipe the communication throught the cloud to get all the usage data. Here's one possible architecture:

local chat client

  - talks to cloud LLM
  - talks to local MCP servers

local MCP server provided by company

  - connects to company cloud (this lets the company collect usage data)
  - forwards tasks to the cloud

local tool (for example photoshop)

  - connects to company cloud to get a users tasks
  - executes the tasks (this lets the company use the users hardware, saving cloud costs)

[daxfohl]

Hmm, in that example the MCP server is just a thin api wrapper though, so it wouldn't change anything by running locally, right? Like I could see where maybe a TikTok MCP server would benefit from running locally since that would allow it to expose a camera api, but I can't think of anything you could do with a local Airbnb MCP server that you couldn't do with a cloud one.

Nefariously, I guess since these things would be running in the background continuously, that would provide another avenue for companies to spy on you, so that may be a reason companies create local mcps even if there's no other reason to.

[daxfohl]

Well maybe a local Airbnb MCP could have access to your phone to call the host. Or to your wallet to pay.

That may make more sense than having a separate "wallet MCP server" running locally and having the LLM coordinate the transaction. While the premise of MCP is to allow LLMs to do such things, idk if I want an LLM to be hallucinating with my credit card.