let it cook (agentic AI)

25 May, 2025

You're probably thinking how does this hardware guy have such a neat website? The answer to that is what anyone would think to be obvious, generative AI.

However, a generative AI that builds entire apps, does multi-step coding, analyzes and modifies your entire codebase for you with a single prompt is something we need to talk about. Say hello to the natural language programmer.

GitHub Copilot: My Coding Sidekick

To answer that initial question, I used Visual Studio Code's GitHub Copilot to build this personal website in a matter of minutes. More specifically, Copilot's agent mode received a few well-structured prompts from me and built this simple yet elegant frontend to my taste, while I sat there reclined on my comfy chair watching it do its thing in disbelief (vibe coding rocks). Copilot made me feel like I was promoted from a software engineer to a project manager without having to code like crazy. I'll try my best to not geek out while I introduce to you (if you haven't already gone 'try-hard' on the AI news) the 'open agentic web' in its embryo.

The Rise of the Agentic Web

So here's the tea—while I was messing around with Copilot thinking I'll grab this jumpstart in the AI race, over 15 million developers have apparently jumped on the Copilot train too (as claimed by Satya Nadella at Microsoft Build 2025). That's not a niche cult anymore—that's basically a nation. A nation of devs who've traded their caffeine-fueled all-nighters for neatly prompted agent-mode coding sessions and automated code reviews that don't roast your soul.

But the real power move isn't just faster coding. Microsoft's aiming for a whole new era of the internet—an "open agentic web". What they really mean is a web where AI agents will start doing your tasks for you. Not just coding. Actual workflows. Emails. Research. Business logic. Basically, you're not the main character anymore, your agent is. Welcome to the Age of the Sidekick™.

NLWeb and MCP: The New Building Blocks

And just when you thought "HTML, CSS, JS" were the building blocks of the web forever, Microsoft drops NLWeb. This thing is being pitched as the HTML of the agentic internet. What does that mean? It means websites will stop being dumb pages and start having full-blown conversations with you, on your terms, with your data, in your tone (probably not this tone though). Imagine if ChatGPT could directly interact with a site's backend, give you what you want, and even tell you when you're being an idiot—all without clicking 16 buttons and accepting 5 cookie banners.

Every NLWeb endpoint is also a full-fledged MCP (Model Context Protocol) server. Basically, it lets these agents crawl and interact with content. MCP is like the social etiquette protocol for agents: who they can talk to, how they get access, and what they're allowed to do once they get in. Think OAuth but juiced up for AI interns that handle your storage drives, subscription logins, and potentially your taxes. (Okay, maybe not taxes.)

Microsoft, GitHub, and the AI Ecosystem

Microsoft and GitHub are taking this whole thing seriously—they're on the MCP Steering Committee (read: the ruling council of nerds deciding the rules of AI diplomacy). They've already pushed updates for authorization so you can use your regular logins to let your AI agent access your stuff—convenient and mildly terrifying.

An update worth mentioning: GitHub Copilot Chat (VS Code) is going open source. This means you can now fork it, modify it and create a fully-fledged competitor without anyone coming after you. We've already seen startups like Windsurf and Cursor raise millions just by forking VS Code and strapping LLMs onto it, which is part of the reason Microsoft have taken this step. People can now ask themselves, why pay for a premium, product like cursor's AI editor if anybody can now develop a similar, fully customized AI powered editor by building onto VS Code and Copilot. It really is a win-win situation for developers and Microsoft.

What This Means for Developers

So yeah, while I was busy convincing Copilot that it can build a full stack web app on its own, Microsoft was out here planning to restructure the fabric of the web to be agent-first, task-driven, and built for the prompt-literate elite. Sure, agentic tools like these being the crux of Microsoft's development make it look like they are trying to replace developers with monkeys, but the real implication here is deeper and intuitive to visualize. Developers need to evolve into a new breed, where the creative and entrepreneurial mindset takes over from the 24/7 money printing coder that has been the convention for quite a while. (Blog post: What the AI Boomers won't tell you.)

Vihaan Patel