MCP vs RAG vs Agents: Stop Comparing, Start Stacking
Every week, a new blog post asks: MCP or RAG? RAG or Agents? Agents or MCP? The question is wrong. These aren’t competing technologies. They’re layers — and the teams shipping the most capable AI systems in 2026 are stacking all three. Here’s what each layer actually does and why you probably need more than one. MCP: One Plug to Rule Them All LLMs are brilliant and trapped. They can reason about your calendar but can’t read it. They can plan a database migration but can’t execute it. They need hands — and before MCP, giving them hands was a mess. ...