MCP Setup and Integration with NVIDIA NeMo Agent Toolkit

Why it matters

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) moves tools out of the agent’s process. That raises which tools a server publishes, which ones a client accepts, and over which transport.

What to practise

Publish a calculator workflow with nat mcp serve — streamable HTTP at http://localhost:9901/mcp by default, SSE with --transport sse — and narrow it with --tool_names. On the client side, configure two mcp_client function groups: one launching a time server over stdio, one connecting to the calculator by URL. Restrict them with include or exclude and rename tools with tool_overrides. Call tools directly with nat mcp client tool list and tool call, and check the served workflow’s /mcp/client/tool/list endpoint for which configured tools their servers actually offer. Note the notebook’s warning that SSE has no authentication.

How it fits

This is 2.3.3 end to end: publishing toolkit functions and consuming a restricted remote set. Weigh include and --tool_names against 2.3.2’s rule that an external action is constrained in an adapter you own.