Need Semantic Search for API and MCP Discovery
Traditional filter-based catalog search doesn't match how developers think about their problems, leading to duplicate API development.
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Persona Story:
Riley, the head of APIs, needs developers to discover existing APIs before building new ones, but traditional filter-based catalog search doesn’t match how developers think about their problems.
Problem Context
- Existing API marketplace supports filters and keyword search but not semantic/intent-based discovery
- Developers can’t describe “what I’m trying to do” and get matched APIs
- During architecture review boards, teams are asked to attest they checked for existing APIs but have no effective way to do so
Problem Impact
- Developers go “70% down the path” before discovering an API already exists
- Duplicate APIs continue to be built because discovery is ineffective
- Leadership can’t get confidence that teams are actually reusing existing capabilities
Naftiko Today
- MCP exposure turns every Naftiko capability into an AI-discoverable tool, enabling agents to search for capabilities by intent rather than keyword
- Agent Skills with business-level descriptions let developers describe “what I’m trying to do” and match against skill groupings rather than raw API endpoints
- Auto-exposed HTTP APIs for skill discovery and download provide a programmatic interface for catalog search tools to query available capabilities
- Backstage Integration in Fleet provides a browsable web UI with capability templates, giving teams a visual discovery layer alongside the API catalog
Naftiko Tomorrow
- Naftiko Shipyard MVP (Fleet Second Alpha) will serve as a purpose-built capability registry with discovery as a core function
- Fabric capability discovery (v1.1) will enable cross-team and cross-organizational semantic discovery of capabilities
- OpenAPI-to-Naftiko import (Second Alpha) will bring existing APIs into the discoverable capability catalog without rewriting them
- Starter templates (Second Alpha) will categorize common integration patterns, making it easier to find existing solutions by use case