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docs: MCP vs CLI token tradeoff#3

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lance-sp merged 1 commit intomainfrom
feat/search-plugin
Mar 12, 2026
Merged

docs: MCP vs CLI token tradeoff#3
lance-sp merged 1 commit intomainfrom
feat/search-plugin

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Summary

  • Restructured README MCP section to explain both MCP (eager, ~42k tokens) and CLI (lazy, ~1.2k tokens) approaches
  • Added new "MCP vs CLI" section to the explainer page (index.html) with side-by-side comparison cards
  • References follow-your-nose pattern from RDF/Linked Data as the design rationale

Context

spai supports MCP but the CLI approach is 94% cheaper in tokens. Both are fully supported — this just makes the tradeoff visible.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

Both approaches are supported — MCP for frameworks that expect it,
CLI for keeping the context window free. The lazy CLI pattern uses
94% fewer tokens (~1.2k vs ~42k) by loading tool catalog on demand.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
@lance-sp lance-sp merged commit 60c4ccf into main Mar 12, 2026
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