January 26th, 2026 ×
Wes Bos Host
Scott Tolinski Host
Scott and Wes sit down with Kent C. Dodds to break down MCP, context engineering, and what it really takes to build effective AI-powered tools. They dig into practical examples, UI patterns, performance tradeoffs, and whether the future of the web lives in chat or the browser.
Show Notes
- 00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
- 00:44 Introduction to Kent C. Dodds
- 02:44 What is MCP?
- 03:28 Context Engineering in AI
- 04:49 Practical Examples of MCP
- 06:33 Challenges with Context Bloat
- 08:08 Brought to you by Sentry.io
- 09:37 Why not give AI API access directly?
- 12:28 How is an MCP different from Skills
- 14:58 MCP optimizations and efficiency levers
- 16:24 MCP UI and Its Importance
- 19:18 Where are we at today with MCP
- 24:06 What is the development flow for building MCP servers?
- 27:17 Building out an MCP UI.
- 29:29 Returning HTML, when to render.
- 36:17 Calling tools from your UI
- 37:25 What is Goose?
- 38:42 Are browsers cooked? Is everything via chat?
- 43:25 Remix3
- 47:21 Sick Picks & Shameless Plugs
Sick Picks
- Kent: OneWheel
Shameless Plugs
Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads
Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads