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title: 'Model Context Protocol Tools' sidebar_label: 'MCP Tools'

Spice integrates with tools and services using the Model Context Protocol (MCP). MCP tools can be configured to run internally or connect to external servers over HTTP using the Server-Sent Events (SSE) protocol.

Overview

MCP helps extend the capabilities of the Spice runtime by enabling integration with external tools and services. This includes:

1. Running stdio-based MCP servers internally.
2. Connecting to external MCP servers over SSE.

Configuring MCP Tools

To configure MCP tools, define them in the tools section of your spicepod.yaml file. The from field specifies the transport mechanism, such as mcp:npx for stdio-based tools or an HTTP URL for SSE-based tools.

Example: Adding an MCP Tool (Stdio)

The following example demonstrates how to configure an MCP tool using npx to run a Google Maps MCP server:

Example: Connecting to an External MCP Server (SSE)

This example shows how to connect to an external MCP server over SSE:

Using MCP Tools with Models

Once configured, MCP tools can be assigned to models via the tools parameter. For example:

Spice as an MCP Server

Spice can also act as an MCP server, exposing its tools over SSE. This enables other Spice instances or external systems to connect and use the tools.

Example: Connecting to Another Spice Instance via MCP

Configuration Options

from

The from field specifies the transport mechanism for the MCP tool:

• SSE: Use an HTTP URL ending with /sse (e.g., http://localhost:8090/v1/mcp/sse).
• Stdio: Use commands like mcp:npx or mcp:docker. Additional arguments can be passed via params.mcp_args.

params

The params field provides additional configuration for MCP tools. For stdio-based tools, use mcp_args to specify command-line arguments.

env

For stdio-based MCP tools, environment variables can be set using the env field.

description

The description field provides a textual description of the tool. This description is passed to any language model that uses the tool.

For more details, see the [MCP Tools Reference(../../reference/spicepod/tools).