Tool & MCP Interface

Expose your agent as a callable tool that can be used by other agents through the Airia MCP server

The Tool & MCP interface allows you to expose your agent as a reusable tool that can be called by other agents. When configured, your agent becomes available through the Airia Deployed Agents MCP server, enabling agent-to-agent interactions and tool composition.

For an overview of managing all interface types, see Managing Agent Interfaces.

What is the Tool & MCP Interface?

The Tool & MCP interface exposes your agent as a callable tool through the Airia Deployed Agents MCP server, so other agents can discover and call it using MCP standards. Most teams can use the defaults; optionally, you can add structured input/output schemas and tool annotations for stricter, machine-readable contracts.

Prerequisites

Your agent must have an Active version published
You need appropriate permissions (admin, project-admin, or security-admin) to configure tool interfaces

Configuration Steps

Most teams can get started by setting a name and description only. Airia will automatically provide a default input format so you don’t need to define schemas.

Access the interfaces panel by either:

Clicking the ellipsis (…) menu to the right of your Agent and selecting Interfaces
Opening the Agent in Studio and clicking Settings > Interfaces

In the interfaces panel, click "+ Add Interface" and select Tool & MCP from the available interface types.

Enter a unique tool name that will be used to identify your agent as a tool:

Example: customer_support_agent, data_analyzer, email_processor

The tool name is automatically generated from the name of the Agent, but you can customize it. This name will appear with the ati_ prefix when exposed through the MCP server (e.g., ati_customer_support_agent).

Create a clear description of what your agent tool does. This description helps other agents understand when and how to use your tool

Example: "Analyzes customer support tickets and provides recommended responses based on ticket content and customer history"

Ensure the Enabled toggle is turned on. When enabled, your agent tool will be:

Discoverable through the Airia Deployed Agents MCP server
Available to other agents that connect to the MCP server

You can disable it later without deleting the configuration.

Screenshot placeholder: Interfaces panel showing Tool & MCP configured for an agent.
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Interfaces panel showing Tool & MCP configured

Using Your Agent Tool

Once configured, your agent tool can be used by other agents through an MCP Gateway connection to the Airia Deployed Agents MCP server.

Navigate to MCP Gateway and create a new gateway.

When selecting the MCP server, choose Airia Deployed Agents MCP.

Screenshot placeholder: MCP Gateway server selection showing Airia Deployed Agents MCP.
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MCP Gateway server selection showing Airia Deployed Agents MCP

Configure the gateway using one of the following authentication options:

Passthrough bearer token (recommended): the gateway will pass your Gateway OAuth access token through to the MCP server, and tools will automatically authenticate.
API key: you must provide the API key during gateway setup.

With passthrough, agents and tool calls run on behalf of the signed-in user represented by the access token.

Screenshot placeholder: Gateway auth configuration showing Bearer passthrough enabled.
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Gateway auth configuration showing bearer passthrough

The agents you see (and can call) depend on your level of access. Tool discovery and tool execution are scoped to the user and permissions represented by the access token.

Screenshot placeholder: “Agents as tools” list returned from tool discovery (showing ati_ tools).
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Agents listed as tools with ati_ prefix

Once connected, your agent tool will appear in the list of available tools with the ati_ prefix. Call it from your agent workflow like any other tool.

Screenshot placeholder: Using Airia Deployed Agents MCP from a 3rd-party MCP client (example: Postman).
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Airia Deployed Agents MCP in a third-party MCP client (Cursor) Airia Deployed Agents MCP returning tools (Cursor)

Advanced setup (structured input & output)

If you want strict, machine-readable parameters (recommended for complex tools or multi-team reuse), define JSON schemas for input and output and optionally add tool behavior annotations.

Define the JSON schema for input parameters your tool should accept:

Use the schema builder to visually create your schema, or paste a JSON schema directly
Define required vs optional fields, types, and descriptions
Example schema:

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "query": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "The search query to process"
    },
    "max_results": {
      "type": "number",
      "description": "Maximum number of results to return",
      "default": 10
    }
  },
  "required": ["query"]
}

If you don’t define schemas, Airia will use a default input format (recommended for most teams).

Optionally define a JSON schema for the response structure so callers know what to expect.

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "results": {
      "type": "array",
      "items": {
        "type": "object",
        "properties": {
          "title": { "type": "string" },
          "score": { "type": "number" }
        }
      }
    },
    "total_count": { "type": "number" }
  }
}

Tool annotations provide hints about behavior:

Destructive Hint: tool performs destructive operations (default: false)
Idempotent Hint: repeated calls with same input produce the same result (default: true)
Open World Hint: tool can handle inputs beyond training data (default: true)
Read Only Hint: tool only reads data (default: true)

Managing Agent Interfaces - Overview of all interface types
API Interface Configuration - REST API access