Architecture · 2024–now · AI Present
Context / tool protocols
Standard ways for models to talk to tools and data — MCP-class protocols instead of one-off plugin snowflakes.
Context protocols stuck because every vendor reinventing tool schemas is how integration hell returns. They will fail if treated as magic product differentiation instead of plumbing. The durable win is boring interoperability; the fad is protocol as keynote adjective.
Context
The stack gets a co-pilot
AI pair programming is already changing how code is written. Agent frameworks and vector stores are still sorting winners from demos. The durable layer will look familiar: evals, retrieval quality, product UX, and ownership. Autopilot rewrites without tests are just big-bang migrations with better slides.
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Related
Framework · 2023–now
LLM orchestration frameworks
Chains, tools, memory, and agents as a framework — LangChain-class glue sold as architecture.
$ Teams adopted chain/agent frameworks before they had a single reliable tool call. Abstraction layers multiplied while prompt quality stayed flat.
Practice · 2023–now
Agent ops / LLM observability
Tracing, cost caps, and prompt versioning for production LLM features. Datadog for tokens.
Framework · 2023–now
LLM app frameworks
Chains, agents, and prompt wrappers shipping weekly. The durable pieces will be boring: evals, retrieval, and product UX.