The Layer Missing from Every MCP vs A2A Debate

Everyone is asking whether MCP is dead. It is not the right question. Here is what is actually happening: the AI agent ecosystem is discovering that it built the protocols before it built the infrastructure. And now the gap is visible. What MCP solved (and what it did not) MCP (Model Context Protocol) gave AI assistants a standard way to call tools. Before MCP, every tool integration was bespoke. After MCP, you can write a server once and any MCP-compatible client can use it. That is genuinely useful. MCP is not dead. It is doing exactly what it was designed to do. But MCP assumes the client already knows which server to call. It solves the "how do I use this tool" problem. It does not solve the "how do I find the right tool" problem. What A2A solved (and what it did not) Google's A2A protocol goes one level higher. Instead of tools talking to a single agent, you have agents talking to other agents. You can compose multi-agent workflows. Again, genuinely useful. The protocol is solid.