Beyond API Standardization: MCP and Agent Auth

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I recently went through three rounds of interviews for an API Technical Lead position. The company wanted someone to own their API standardization story end-to-end: define the standards, choose the tooling, drive (enforce) adoption across engineering teams. A classic platform engineering mandate.

By the third interview it became clear that what they were actually trying to solve wasn’t API standardization in the traditional sense. They were trying to get their systems AI-ready. And that realization opened up a more interesting conversation than the one we’d been having.

MCP on René Welches

Beyond API Standardization: MCP and Agent Auth