Adding MCP Tools for Addons

If you are authoring an ARDI addin, you may want to make certain endpoints available to LLMs via the MCP addon. You can do this by creating an mcp.json file in your plugin folder.

The file should look like the example below…

[
	{
		"name": "_toolname_",
		"desc": "This is a description of what the tool is used for and any usage notes you want to include",
		"path": "addonfolder/endpoint",
		"ctype": "application/json",
		"parameters": {
			"asset": {
				"type": "string",
				"desc": "The ARDI ID number of the asset, or an asset name. Confirm the asset exists with assetsearch before calling.",
				"style": "asset"
			}
		}
	}
]

This creates a tool called '_toolname_' under your addon, with a single parameter called 'asset'.

name: The name of your endpoint. This should ideally not contain any spaces or punctuation. A single addon may provide multiple endpoints.

path: The URL path that will be called when the tool is called. Do not include any ',php'. If the results you want to return are from a file called 'api.php' in an addon called 'testing', this path would be /testing/api

ctype: The content type to return.

type: Describes the parameter that should be sent. Normally a string, but can also be 'number'.

style: An optional parameter. See the table below.

The URL endpoint is included into the existing running page rather than requested with its own distinct call. This allows you to take advantage of user security rules to ensure that resources are accessed with the permission level used by the user signed into ARDI.