MCP server and client

Manage MCP servers and interact with hosted tools using MCP server and client tools in Visual Studio Code. If you are using IBM API Studio, MCP servers works differently.

You can use the MCP client tool to connect to MCP servers and complete operations without changing code. The MCP server tool and MCP client tool serve distinct purposes:

  • MCP server tool: Creates an MCP server from an OpenAPI 3.0 specification file. Deployment of the generated server is recommended but is performed using the CodeDeploy tool, which requires a ZIP file of the generated code.
  • MCP client tool: Connects to MCP servers and runs operations based on server capabilities. It uses JSON-RPC for communication and supports dynamic operation generation, authentication, and artifact handling.
Key highlights
Table 1. Key highlights
MCP server MCP client
  • Create an MCP server from an OpenAPI 3.0 file.
  • Deployment is done using CodeDeploy (not MCP server tool)
  • Available only in Visual Studio Code
  • Connects to MCP servers and runs tools
  • Supports natural language commands
  • Lists, updates, and disables servers

MCP client

The following operations are supported in the MCP client tool:
  • Issue natural language commands to start tools hosted on MCP servers.
  • Access and orchestrate tools that are available on MCP servers.
  • Discover available operations or endpoints from enabled servers.
  • Display structured output, such as markdown tables and summaries.
  • Maintain continuity across multiple interactions with enabled servers.
Table 2. Parameters
Parameter Required Description
server_url Yes URL of the MCP server to connect to.
tool_name Yes Name of the tool to run on the MCP server.
authentication Optional The bearer token that is used for authenticating with the MCP server.
artifacts Optional Content artifacts used as input for tools expecting file or code content.
Example prompts

  • Run the analyze-code tool on MCP server at https://code-mcp/api with input parameters
  • Call the validate-schema tool on MCP server github-mcp with artifact content from uploaded file
  • Use MCP client to connect to https://tools.mcp/api and run to summarize-text with parameters

MCP server

The following operations are supported in the MCP server tool:

Create and deploy MCP server

Create and deploy an MCP server from an OpenAPI file and deploy it to IBM Cloud.
Note: Deployment is not handled by the MCP server tool. Use the CodeDeploy tool to deploy the generated server code.
Table 3. Parameters
Parameter Required Description
file Yes OpenAPI 3.0 specification file used to generate the MCP server
zip Yes Compressed file that contains the generated server code for deployment
Example prompts

  • Create an MCP server from openapi.yaml
  • Deploy the application code using mcp-server.zip
  • Give me the deployment status for the application code file mcp-server.zip

Enable MCP server

Enable an MCP server to make its tools available to the API Agent.

Table 4. Parameters
Parameter Required Description
name Yes Name of the MCP server
description Yes Description of the server
deployed_url Yes URL of the deployed server
authentication Yes Authentication token for the server
Example prompts

  • Enable the MCP server for github with description 'Github mcp server', deployed url https://github-test/mcp and authentication auth123
  • Add the MCP server 'calculator' into the list of enabled tools

Disable MCP server

Remove an MCP server from the list of enabled tools.

Table 5. Parameters
Parameter Required Description
name Yes Name of the MCP server to disable
Example prompt

Disable the mcp server calculator

Update MCP server

Update the configuration of an existing MCP server.

Table 6. Parameters
Parameter Required Description
name Yes Name of the MCP server
description No Updated description (optional)
deployed_url No Updated URL (optional)
authentication No Updated authentication token (optional)
Example prompts

  • Update the enabled MCP server gitlab with updated deployed url https://gitlab-mcp/mcp
  • Update the jira MCP server with new description 'For internal microservice workflows'
  • Update the authentication token to 'new-prod-token-456xyz' for the mcp server prod-mcp
  • Update the mcp server github with new deployed url https://github-new/mcp and authentication token github-token-456

List enabled MCP servers

Display all MCP servers currently enabled.
Table 7. Parameters
Parameter Required Description
name Yes Name of the MCP server to retrieve details for
Example prompt

List all available MCP servers

Get MCP server details

Retrieve detailed configuration information for a specific MCP server.
Table 8. Parameters
Parameter Required Description
name Yes Name of the MCP server to check for existence
Example prompt

Get information about the weather MCP server

Check existence of MCP server

Verify whether a specific MCP server is available.

Example prompt

Check the existence of mcp server Github