The M×N problem of tool calling and open-source models

by remilouf on 4/9/2026, 3:07:13 PM

https://www.thetypicalset.com/blog/grammar-parser-maintenance-contract

Comments

by: evelant

I guess I fail to see why this is such a problem. Yes it would be nice if the wire format were standardized or had a standard schema description, but is writing a parser that handles several formats actually a difficult problem? Modern models could probably whip up a "libToolCallParser" with bindings for all popular languages in an afternoon. Could probably also have an automated workflow for adding any new ones with minimal fuss. An annoyance, yes, but it does not seem like a really "hard" problem. It seems more of a social problem that open source hasn't coalesced around a library that handles it easily yet or am I missing something?

4/14/2026, 12:37:22 PM

by: airstrike

One of the most relevant posts about AI on HN this year. It's not hype-y, but it's imperative to discuss.<p>I find it strange that the industry hasn't converged in at least somewhat standardized format, but I guess despite all the progress we're still in the very early days...

4/14/2026, 11:56:03 AM

by: ontouchstart

<a href="https://mariozechner.at/posts/2025-11-30-pi-coding-agent/#toc_4" rel="nofollow">https://mariozechner.at/posts/2025-11-30-pi-coding-agent/#to...</a>

4/14/2026, 2:05:38 PM

by: jonathanhefner

Does anyone know why there hasn’t been more widespread adoption of OpenAI’s Harmony format? Or will it just take another model generation to see adoption?

4/14/2026, 11:59:59 AM

by: kleton

Don't inference servers like vllm or sglang just translate these things to openai-compat API shapes?

4/14/2026, 1:25:44 PM

by: ikidd

This sounds like a problem that LLMs were built to solve.

4/14/2026, 1:43:17 PM

by: Nevermark

Feedback: I don't usually comment on formatting, but that fat indent is too much. I applied "hide distracting items" to the graphic, and the indent is still there. Reader works.

4/14/2026, 11:31:10 AM

by: jiehong

Am I misunderstanding, or isn't this supposed to be the point of MCP?

4/14/2026, 12:28:54 PM

by: agent-kay

[dead]

4/14/2026, 2:16:38 PM

by: jeremie_strand