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MCPSDK vs Agentic

#ai #mcp #opensource #tooling

Comparing Agentic and MCPSDK MCP integration approaches and developer experience

Both Agentic and MCPSDK provide hosted MCP servers, eliminating the need to manage local processes. The core differences lie in curation approach, pricing model, and community contribution.

One-sentence summary: Agentic is a paid official curation (~20 tools), MCPSDK is an open-source registry with 7,800+ MCP Tools.

1. At a Glance

Dimension Agentic MCPSDK
Core Positioning Hosted MCP Server + Paid Curated Tools Hosted MCP Server + Open Registry API
Tool Count ~20 curated tools 7,800+ Tools
Tool Source Official vetted @agentic/* Open-source registry (GitHub PRs)
Pricing Model Pay-per-call (with free tier) Free to use, manage 3rd-party API keys
New Tool Availability Added by official team Added via community PR (open-source)
Integration Method AgenticToolClient.fromIdentifier() toolSDK.package().tool()
3rd-party API Keys Managed by Agentic Developer-configured in package()
Client Lifecycle Auto-managed Auto-managed
Tool Invocation AI invocation only AI invocation + Direct developer invocation
Multi-framework Support Vercel AI SDK, LangChain, etc. Vercel AI SDK, OpenAI SDK, etc.

2. Deep Dive

2.1 Agentic: Hosted MCP Server + Paid Curated Tools

Agentic provides hosted MCP servers (agentic.so) with approximately 20 curated tools, charged per-call.

Advantages:

  • ☁️ No need to manage local processes (cloud-hosted)
  • 🎯 High Tool Quality: All tools are hand-optimized by the Agentic team, carefully designed for LLM use cases ("Agentic UX")
  • 📦 Unified Experience: Consistent API design style with a gentle learning curve
  • 🔄 Automatic client lifecycle management
  • 🌐 Multi-SDK Support: First-class support for Vercel AI SDK, OpenAI, LangChain, LlamaIndex, and other major frameworks

Architecture Characteristics:

  • 💰 Paid Model: Pay-per-call pricing (includes 3 free calls for testing)
  • 📚 Curation Strategy: ~20 official tools (@agentic/*), prioritizing quality over quantity
  • ⏳ Centralized Management: New tools are reviewed and added by the official team
  • 📦 100% Open Source: Core code is open-sourced on GitHub (TypeScript)

Vercel AI SDK Integration Code:

import { createAISDKTools } from '@agentic/ai-sdk'
import { AgenticToolClient } from '@agentic/platform-tool-client'
import { openai } from '@ai-sdk/openai'
import { generateText } from 'ai'

// Load tool from Agentic's standard library
const searchTool = await AgenticToolClient.fromIdentifier('@agentic/search')

const result = await generateText({
  model: openai('gpt-4o-mini'),
  tools: createAISDKTools(searchTool),
  prompt: 'What is the latest news about AI?'
})
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Architecture Trade-offs:

  • 🔒 Curated & Closed: Only ~20 officially vetted tools
  • 💵 Pay-per-Call: Uses Stripe for per-call billing
  • 🤖 AI Invocation Only: Tools must be invoked through AI SDK

2.2 MCPSDK: Hosted MCP Server + Open-Source Registry API

MCPSDK provides hosted MCP servers with access to the massive MCP ecosystem via its open-source registry.

Advantages:

  • 🌐 Massive Ecosystem: Access to 7,800+ Tools
  • 🆓 Free to use (manage your own 3rd-party API keys)
  • ⚡ Unified API: Every tool is called via the same package().getAISDKTool() pattern
  • 📦 Community Driven: New tools added daily via community GitHub PRs
  • 🎮 Flexible Invocation: Supports both AI invocation and direct developer invocation
  • 🔄 Automatic client lifecycle management

Architecture Characteristics:

  • ⚡ All MCP Servers Always-On: No installation or startup needed, use on demand
  • 🚀 Zero Cold Start: All MCP servers preloaded in cloud for instant response
  • 🔌 Unified API Gateway: Access the entire registry through a single entry point

Vercel AI SDK Integration Code:

import { generateText } from 'ai';
import { openai } from '@ai-sdk/openai';
import { MCPSDKApiClient } from 'toolsdk/api';

// 1. Initialize MCPSDK
const toolSDK = new MCPSDKApiClient({ 
  apiKey: process.env.TOOLSDK_API_KEY 
});

// 2. Get tool (Uniform pattern: package -> tool)
const searchTool = await toolSDK
  .package('@mcpsdk.dev/tavily-mcp', { TAVILY_API_KEY: 'xxx' })
  .getAISDKTool('tavily-search');

// 3. Use directly
const result = await generateText({
  model: openai('gpt-4o'),
  tools: { searchTool },
  prompt: 'What is the latest news about AI?'
});
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The Power of Open Ecosystem:

MCPSDK allows you to use any of the 7,800+ MCP Tools in the registry with the exact same simple API:

// Example 1: Use database tools
const dbTool = await toolSDK
  .package('@modelcontextprotocol/server-sqlite', { db: '/path/to/db' })
  .getAISDKTool('query');

// Example 2: Use community Slack tools
const slackTool = await toolSDK
  .package('@community/slack-mcp', { SLACK_TOKEN: 'xxx' })
  .getAISDKTool('post-message');

// Example 3: Use any custom MCP submitted to the registry
const myTool = await toolSDK
  .package('my-username/my-custom-mcp', { API_KEY: 'xxx' })
  .getAISDKTool('my-action');
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Key difference: While both require a registry, Agentic is limited to ~20 official tools, whereas MCPSDK provides a uniform API to access 7,800+ community-driven tools.

3. Code Comparison: Side by Side

Let's compare implementing the same functionality: Using a search tool to query the latest AI news

3.1 Agentic Approach 

import { createAISDKTools } from '@agentic/ai-sdk'
import { AgenticToolClient } from '@agentic/platform-tool-client'
import { openai } from '@ai-sdk/openai'
import { generateText } from 'ai'

// Load tool from Agentic's standard library
const searchTool = await AgenticToolClient.fromIdentifier('@agentic/search')

const result = await generateText({
  model: openai('gpt-4o-mini'),
  tools: createAISDKTools(searchTool),
  prompt: 'What is the latest news about AI?'
})
// ⚠️ Requires payment (only 3 free calls)
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Lines of Code: 9 lines

Cost: Pay-per-call (only 3 free calls)

Tool Selection: Limited to ~20 official tools

3.2 MCPSDK Approach 

import { generateText } from 'ai';
import { openai } from '@ai-sdk/openai';
import { MCPSDKApiClient } from 'toolsdk/api';

// 1. Initialize
const toolSDK = new MCPSDKApiClient({ apiKey: 'xxx' });

// 2. Get tool (Uniform pattern)
const searchTool = await toolSDK
  .package('@mcpsdk.dev/tavily-mcp', { TAVILY_API_KEY: 'xxx' })
  .getAISDKTool('tavily-search');

// 3. Use tool
const result = await generateText({
  model: openai('gpt-4o'),
  tools: { searchTool },
  prompt: 'What is the latest news about AI?'
});
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Lines of Code: 12 lines

Cost: Free (manage your own API keys)

Tool Selection: 7,800+ MCP tools available

3.3 Multi-Tool Integration Scenario

Let's compare implementing a "Research + Email" Agent (search news and send email):

Agentic Approach 

// Can only use tools from Agentic's standard library
const searchTool = await AgenticToolClient.fromIdentifier('@agentic/search')

// ⚠️ Agentic must have this specific tool in its ~20 items
const emailTool = await AgenticToolClient.fromIdentifier('@agentic/email')

const result = await generateText({
  model: openai('gpt-4o'),
  tools: createAISDKTools([searchTool, emailTool]),
  prompt: 'Search AI news and send to john@example.com'
})
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The Problem: If the curated list of 20 tools doesn't include an email tool, you cannot implement this.

MCPSDK Approach 

const toolSDK = new MCPSDKApiClient({ apiKey: 'xxx' })

// Access any of the 7,800+ MCP tools in the registry
const [searchTool, emailTool] = await Promise.all([
  toolSDK
    .package('@mcpsdk.dev/tavily-mcp', { TAVILY_API_KEY: 'xxx' })
    .getAISDKTool('tavily-search'),
  toolSDK
    .package('@mcpsdk.dev/mcp-send-email', { RESEND_API_KEY: 'xxx' })
    .getAISDKTool('send-email'),
]);

const result = await generateText({
  model: openai('gpt-4o'),
  tools: { searchTool, emailTool },
  prompt: 'Search AI news and send to john@example.com'
})
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Advantage: You have immediate access to thousands of tools contributed by the community.

3.4 Additional Scenario: Direct Developer Tool Invocation

Sometimes you need to invoke tools directly without AI.

Agentic Approach

❌ Does not support direct developer tool invocation

Agentic can only pass tools to AI SDK.

MCPSDK Approach

✅ Supports direct tool invocation

import { MCPSDKApiClient } from 'toolsdk/api';

const toolSDK = new MCPSDKApiClient({ apiKey: 'xxx' });

// Direct invocation (Uniform API: package -> run)
const result = await toolSDK
  .package('@mcpsdk.dev/github', { GITHUB_TOKEN: 'xxx' })
  .run({
    toolKey: 'create-issue',
    inputData: {
      title: 'New Issue',
      body: 'Issue description'
    }
  });

console.log(result); // Get execution result directly
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4. When to use which?

4.1 Choose Agentic if...

  • ✅ You want to use deeply optimized official tools (Agentic UX)
  • ✅ Your needs are covered by Agentic's ~20 curated tools
  • ✅ You prioritize official curation over community scale
  • ✅ You're willing to pay per usage for a managed experience

4.2 Choose MCPSDK if...

  • ✅ You need access to the massive 7,800+ MCP tools ecosystem
  • ✅ You want a free, open-source registry model (GitHub PRs)
  • ✅ You need a uniform API for both AI and direct developer invocation
  • ✅ You want to manage your own 3rd-party API keys to control costs
  • ✅ You want to easily publish and use your own MCP packages

5. The Core Difference

Agentic MCPSDK
Design Philosophy Official curation Open-source registry
Tool Count ~20 curated tools 7,800+ MCP Tools
Pricing Model Pay-per-call Free to use
Tool Extensibility Official only Community GitHub PRs
Contribution Model Centralized Decentralized
Invocation Method AI only AI + Direct developer invocation
API Pattern fromIdentifier() Uniform package().getAISDKTool()
API Key Mgmt Managed by Agentic Self-managed by developers

Analogy:

  • Agentic is like an "Editor's Choice" list (High quality, but very few items).
  • MCPSDK is like npm (A massive registry where everything is accessible via one uniform command).

Core Difference: Official Curation vs 7,800+ MCP Tool Registry

Scenario Agentic MCPSDK
Tool Selection Strategy Official curation (~20 tools) Registry (7,800+ Tools)
Adding Your Own MCP Official review only Submit PR to open registry
Using Notion API Wait for official team Use any community Notion MCP
Direct Tool Invocation Not supported Fully supported via .run()
3rd-party API Key Mgmt Managed (paid) Self-managed (free)

6. Try MCPSDK

Experience the 7,800+ tool MCP ecosystem:

npm install toolsdk
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Uniform 2-line integration:

const toolSDK = new MCPSDKApiClient({ apiKey: 'xxx' });
const [searchTool, emailTool] = await Promise.all([
  toolSDK.package('@mcpsdk.dev/tavily-mcp', {...}).getAISDKTool('tavily-search'),
  toolSDK.package('@mcpsdk.dev/mcp-send-email', {...}).getAISDKTool('send-email'),
]);
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View complete examples →

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