Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by _heimdall 207 days ago
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought OpenAPI was itself an attempt to wedge REST concepts back on top of mostly RPC-based APIs. I.e. add documentation and a standard set of schemas on top of JSON APIs (mostly).

I do think the problem is from business concerns, though, and are a clear predictor that MCP will fail. Coming out of the dotcom bubble those left standing wanted to build moats and walls, not APIs that any third party could easily discover and use. The need for REST only shows up when a new player makes a move to effectively gobble up the role of being the gate keeper to the internet. With scale other companies will follow, but begrudgingly and only for a short while.
1 comments
wild_egg 207 days ago
Sadly not. One of the constraints of REST is that the API be completely self-descriptive. If you need out-of-band information like an API spec, then it's basically not RESTful by definition.

I'm using a REST API to read your comment and submit my response — I didn't need to reference external HN API docs. The interface here is fully self-describing.

link
_heimdall 207 days ago
I agree, but don't quite follow how your comment fits in here.

In a REST approach, I'd expect an LLM to need some kind of initial entry point, much like needing the initial URL for the HN home page. From there the LLM should be able to parse and discover possible actions, call those actions, and understand the response only by parsing the results and any schemas provided.

link
wild_egg 207 days ago
To be honest, I think I meant to put that reply on a different comment.

In any case, we're on the same page about REST. OpenAPI was mentioned though and I don't think that's ever actually compatible with that type of usage.

I don't think I've ever encountered an API following OpenAPI that was completely self describing and could be discovered and navigated from a single entry URL. They're always paired with some swagger docs or other external content. That instantly makes them not RESTful.

But you're totally right that my comment didn't fit. Might have meant it for the grandparent comment? Not sure.

link