Why MC-1?
Understand the architectural boundary between direct APIs, gateways, routers, and an Intelligence Control Plane.
Direct APIs
An application integrates each provider directly and owns model choice, credentials, fallbacks, policy, accounting, and evidence. This is often the simplest choice for one stable provider and a narrow workload.
Gateway
A gateway centralizes access, authentication, transport, observability, or provider adapters. A gateway does not necessarily make workload-aware selection decisions.
Router
A router chooses among candidate execution paths using configured rules or measurements. Scope varies by implementation; evaluate its policy, evidence, economics, and failure semantics directly.
Intelligence Control Plane
MC-1 models intent, filters ineligible paths, selects among eligible model-provider pairs, evaluates bounded results, and records route, policy, usage, and outcome evidence across product surfaces.