1,500+ APIs behind 4 MCP tools: ApyHub's search-then-call pattern for huge tool catalogs
sandeepK1125 · reddit · 2026-11-13
An ApyHub engineer explains that with 1,500+ APIs in the catalog, one-tool-per-API broke down: the tool list ate the context window and the model got worse at picking the right one. They collapsed everything into four MCP tools:
- curatedapis: lists the org's pinned endpoints, checked first;
- searchapis: searches the full catalog by capability (e.g. "convert markdown to pdf");
- getapispec: fetches the full input/output schema for one endpoint;
- callapi: invokes it.
The agent discovers APIs at runtime and loads only the one schema it needs. Tradeoffs: up to three hops instead of one, and the model sometimes skips getapispec and guesses parameters despite instructions. The author asks the community: has anyone else gone search-then-call for large catalogs, and how do you stop the model from skipping the spec lookup?
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