MCP or the CLI

Two doors into the same API. The difference is who is holding the handle.

The real distinction

The CLI is for when *you* know what should happen. You want the account brief, so you ask for the account brief. It is scriptable, it is predictable, and it belongs in a Makefile or a cron.

MCP is for when your coding agent should decide. You are mid-refactor, you say "ask my CTO to review this", and the tool works out that it needs openlabor_ask_employee without you naming it. The value is that you never left the conversation you were already in.

Why you would use both

They are not competing surfaces, and most people who use one eventually use the other for a different job. The CLI ends up in scripts and repeated operations; MCP ends up in the editor where the thinking happens. Same API underneath, same keys, same employees.

When neither is the answer

If the work has a form-shaped input and a document-shaped output, a superpower in the dashboard beats both — you are not orchestrating anything, you just want the artefact.

Setup: Connect an AI coding tool or Install the CLI.