Today’s episode features Paolo Ricciuti, a Svelte maintainer, Senior Software Developer @Mainmatter. We chat about Model-Context Protocols (MCP), why giving LLMs tools and reliable context matters, and how Paolo built TMCP — a lightweight, composable TypeScript library for building MCP servers.
Paolo walks us through his origin story (games → PHP → Java → photography → web), his day-to-day work at Mainmatter. We dig into TMCP’s design goals (small dependencies, composability, consistent API), the clever “autofixer” approach used in the Svelte/MCP server, and practical tips for using AI to speed up your tasks without losing control.
🔗 Mentioned links
Below are resources and projects we mentioned during the conversation:
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TMCP (TypeScript MCP library): https://github.com/paoloricciuti/tmcp
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Main Matter consultancy: https://mainmatter.io/ (company homepage)
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Svelte (project Paulo maintains): https://svelte.dev
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BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/paolo.ricciuti.me and GitHub https://github.com/paoloricciuti
🎙 Chapters and topics
- 0:00 - Intro & welcome
- 0:53 - Paolo’s origin story: games, PHP, Java, photography
- 3:06 - Returning to web dev and discovering Svelte
- 6:59 - Day-to-day: working at Main Matter
- 10:05 - What is MCP (Model-Context Protocol)?
- 14:00 - Why Paolo built TMCP (TypeScript MCP library)
- 15:03 - Problems with the official SDK & design decisions
- 22:08 - Building TMCP from a minimal JSON-RPC server
- 25:41 - TMCP design goals: composability, minimal deps, consistent API
- 31:40 - Using AI to speed up the last 30% (tests, docs, reviews)
- 39:16 - Why MCP brings back control to developers
- 40:01 - The Svelte MCP server & the “autofixer” technique
- 45:00 - Practical results: improving generated Svelte code
- 52:02 - What makes a great software engineer (curiosity)
- 56:00 - How Paolo learns and builds things
- 57:27 - Where to follow Paulo (BlueSky / GitHub) and closing
Enjoy the conversation! If you liked the video, please like, subscribe, and check the pinned comment for direct links to TMCP and the Svelte MCP server.
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