The Universal Remote Control for AI — Alex Hancock, Block
Source
AI Engineer
Author
AI Engineer
Date
Terms in this piece · Glossary
AI agent — An AI system that doesn't just answer once but works toward a goal in a loop — taking actions, reading the results, and deciding what to do next.
MCP — The Model Context Protocol — an open standard that lets any AI assistant plug into any tool or data source without custom integration code.
agent harness — The scaffolding around a model that turns it into a working agent — the loop, the tools it can call, and the rules for when to stop.
Why it matters
ACP is a JSON-RPC protocol from Zed and JetBrains letting any client editor drive any agent harnessThe scaffolding around a model that turns it into a working agent — the loop, the tools it can call, and the rules for when to stop.Full definition → the way browsers work with any website, demoed driving one Goose AI agentAn AI system that doesn't just answer once but works toward a goal in a loop — taking actions, reading the results, and deciding what to do next.Full definition → from Zed and a terminal client interchangeably.
videoIt’s Tokens All The Way Down: How RLMs are Different — Kevin Madura, AlixPartners
videoYour agents lack context: Here's how to fix "You're absolutely right!" — Brandon Waselnuk, Unblocked
videoMCP Apps: Give the Model Data, Give the User a UI — Dustin Mihalik, Indeed
videoBuild-Time vs. Run-Time: Why Dev Tools Fail in Production — Averi Kitsch & Prerna Kakkar, Google
