World's Fair 2026
MCP Apps: Primitives, discovery, and the Future of Software - Pietro Zullo, Manufact, Inc
Overview
This talk introduces MCP apps, an evolution of the Model Context Protocol (MCP) that allows MCP servers to return UI components alongside JSON data. This enables richer, interactive experiences where AI agents can not only call tools but also display and interact with user interfaces directly within the chat. The presentation emphasizes the growing importance of MCP apps and the opportunities for developers to build and distribute them through emerging app stores.
Who should watch
- AI Engineers
- Product Managers
- Developers building AI-powered applications
- Anyone interested in the future of software interaction and distribution
Key takeaways
- MCP apps extend MCP servers beyond JSON responses to include interactive UI elements rendered in sandboxed iframes.
- These UI elements facilitate bidirectional communication, allowing for dynamic updates and user interactions that feed back into the AI model's context.
- Primitives like `setState` and `sendMessage` enable sophisticated interactions, such as updating model awareness of UI state or triggering follow-up messages.
- MCP apps support incremental UI updates as tool inputs stream in, allowing for real-time rendering of complex components like videos or diagrams.
- Developers can leverage MCP apps to handle sensitive data by displaying it in the UI while only sending necessary, redacted information to the model.
- App stores for MCP servers and apps are becoming a primary distribution channel, with platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, and Cursor offering self-serve submission processes.
- Dynamic discovery of MCP servers is emerging, where platforms can automatically search for and utilize the best connector for a given task, increasing organic discoverability for published apps.
- The speaker advocates for building MCP apps as a way to integrate existing dashboards and functionalities directly into AI chat interfaces, likening AI apps to new browsers and AI chats to new websites.
Notable quotes
*MCP apps are the new browsers. And in this case, the AI apps are Cloud Code, Codex, Cloud Code Work.*
*If you think about it, Google Search in a way has been substituted by looking on ChatGPT.*
*So, now that we have connectors where you cannot only search, but you can also do stuff in the real world, all those operations are going to be moved to the chat as well.*
Unofficial community note. Prefer the recording for nuance.