From APIs to MCPs: Making Microservices Agent-Ready with Semantic Context
LLM agents don’t just fetch data—they decide and act. To support planning and chaining, microservices must expose not only endpoints but also semantic context: what entities mean, which states are valid, which actions come next, and why decisions were made. This talk shows how to evolve from data-only APIs to MCP-aware, semantically rich services using JSON-LD/Schema.org, Hydra-style affordances, domain events, and OpenAPI metadata. You’ll learn retrofit vs greenfield paths, see cross-industry demos, and leave with a migration checklist that makes your services truly agent-ready.
Agenda
- Why MCPs matter: the “USB-C for AI apps.”
- Gaps in data-only APIs: no semantics, state, or lineage.
- Adding semantics: JSON-LD, Hydra, enriched OpenAPI, domain events.
- How agents benefit: safer chaining, fewer errors, explainability.
- Implementation paths: retrofit vs MCP-native.
- Use cases & demos: retail discounts, manufacturing sensors, insurance risk, healthcare consent.
Takeaways
- MCPs transform APIs into agent-collaborators, not just data pipes.
- Semantic context = better planning, safer automation, fewer hallucinations.
- Practical roadmap: enrich existing APIs or design new ones MCP-native.
About Rohit Bhardwaj
Rohit Bhardwaj is a Director of Architecture working at Salesforce. Rohit has extensive experience architecting multi-tenant cloud-native solutions in Resilient Microservices Service-Oriented architectures using AWS Stack. In addition, Rohit has a proven ability in designing solutions and executing and delivering transformational programs that reduce costs and increase efficiencies.
As a trusted advisor, leader, and collaborator, Rohit applies problem resolution, analytical, and operational skills to all initiatives and develops strategic requirements and solution analysis through all stages of the project life cycle and product readiness to execution.
Rohit excels in designing scalable cloud microservice architectures using Spring Boot and Netflix OSS technologies using AWS and Google clouds. As a Security Ninja, Rohit looks for ways to resolve application security vulnerabilities using ethical hacking and threat modeling. Rohit is excited about architecting cloud technologies using Dockers, REDIS, NGINX, RightScale, RabbitMQ, Apigee, Azul Zing, Actuate BIRT reporting, Chef, Splunk, Rest-Assured, SoapUI, Dynatrace, and EnterpriseDB. In addition, Rohit has developed lambda architecture solutions using Apache Spark, Cassandra, and Camel for real-time analytics and integration projects.
Rohit has done MBA from Babson College in Corporate Entrepreneurship, Masters in Computer Science from Boston University and Harvard University. Rohit is a regular speaker at No Fluff Just Stuff, UberConf, RichWeb, GIDS, and other international conferences.
Rohit loves to connect on http://www.productivecloudinnovation.com.
http://linkedin.com/in/rohit-bhardwaj-cloud or using Twitter at rbhardwaj1.