FME Flow: 2026.2

MCP Servers

MCP servers allow model context protocol (MCP) clients to connect to FME Flow and submit artificial intelligence (AI) queries against workspaces. With MCP servers, you can effectively turn your deployment of FME Flow into an AI server in a matter of minutes.

How It Works

FME Flow MCP servers is comprised of two primary components:

  • MCP Server: Provides a single URL access point for MCP clients to direct queries. Multiple MCP servers can be created on an FME Flow installation.
  • MCP Tools: Behind each MCP server are one or more tools. Each tool runs a single FME workspace, which must already be created and uploaded to FME Flow. Tool metadata provide the logic for the MCP server to direct queries to the right tool.

Getting Started

Follow these steps to create an MCP server on FME Flow:

  1. Create an MCP server: Provide metadata and auto-generate a URL for the server.
  2. Create and publish tools for the MCP server: For each tool, specify an existing workspace on FME Flow for the tool to run, along with metadata to assist the MCP server in directing queries to the right tool.
    Tip  Although any workspace can be an MCP tool, responses returned by workspaces equipped with an MCP Writer are optimized for consumption by MCP clients. Most workspaces without an MCP Writer return only job status.

  3. Start the MCP server: MCP servers are not available to clients until they are explicitly started.

Creating an MCP Server

From the MCP Servers page, click Create. On the Create MCP Servers page, provide the following. When finished, click Create.

  • Title: The name of the MCP server.
  • Name: A unique identifier for grouping the MCP tools that comprise the MCP server.
  • URL: An auto-generated URL that MCP clients use to connect to the MCP server.
  • Version: If you edit the MCP server after creating it, use this setting to track its versions.
  • Description: Describe the purpose or behavior of the MCP server.
  • Job Queue: The queue in which to run the workspaces associated with the MCP server.
  • Job Expiry Time: Maximum time to run the workspaces associated with the MCP server, including time in queue. Jobs are canceled if they exceed the specified duration.
  • Authentication Method: Specify the type of authentication for clients that connect to the MCP server.
    • Unauthenticated: No authentication is required to connect to the MCP server.
    • OAuth 2.0: Clients must authenticate with the specified Allowed Roles and Allowed Users. To use OAuth 2.0 authorization:
      • SAML Configuration must be enabled and your SAML identity provider's roles and users must already be configured with FME Flow security. For more information, see SAML Configuration.
      • An authorization URL for all OAuth 2.0-authenticated MCP Servers must be created. If this URL is not yet created, a warning banner displays on the MCP Servers page and on the Server Details tab for the MCP server. To create or edit the authorization URL, click Edit Authorization URL on the MCP Servers page. For assistance in providing an authorization URL, contact your IT department.

Editing or Removing an MCP Server

On the MCP Servers page, click on a server to open it. To edit Title, Name, and Version, click the pencil icon beside the server name.

Note  Editing Name causes a corresponding update of URL, which requires corresponding updates to MCP clients to ensure continued access to the MCP server.

To edit Description, Job Queue or Job Expiry Time, open the Server Details tab and click the pencil icon beside Server Details. To edit Authentication Method, open the Server Details tab and click the pencil icon beside Security.

To remove one or more MCP servers, select them on the MCP Servers page, click Actions, and select Remove.

Creating and Publishing an MCP Tool

  1. From the MCP Servers page, click on the MCP server for which you want to create an MCP tool.
  2. On the page for the MCP Server, under the Tools tab, click Create.
  3. Under Create Tool, provide the following settings:
    • Details tab:
      • Name: An identifier unique to the MCP server, between 1 and 128 characters in length, comprised only of ASCII letters, digits, underscores (_), and hyphens (-). The specified Name is not considered case-sensitive.
      • Title (optional): The name of the tool, for display.
      • Description (optional): Although optional, this field is used by MCP clients to route queries to the relevant tool. To be effective, this field should provide a description of the tool's purpose, the task it performs, the format of its output, and any additional requirements, contexts, or constraints.
      • Repository: The repository containing the workspace the tool runs.
      • Workspace: The workspace the tool runs.
      • Note  Although any workspace can be an MCP tool, responses returned by workspaces equipped with an MCP Writer are optimized for consumption by MCP clients. These workspaces display with an MCP Writer icon beside their names. Most workspaces without an MCP Writer return only job status.
      • Inherit MCP Job Queue: If enabled, the tool runs the specified Workspace in the Job Queue specified for the MCP Server to which this tool belongs.
      • Job Queue: If Inherit MCP Job Queue is disabled, The queue in which to run the Workspace.
      • Inherit MCP Job Expiry Time: If enabled, the maximum time the Workspace runs, including time in queue, is inherited from the Job Expiry Time specified for the MCP Server to which this tool belongs. Jobs are canceled if they exceed that specified duration.
      • Job Expiry Time: If Inherit MCP Job Expiry Time is disabled, the maximum time to run the Workspace, including time in queue. Jobs are canceled if they exceed the specified duration.
    • Parameters tab: If the specified Workspace has user parameters, configure the following settings for each one:
      • Use as Tool Parameter: If checked, the user parameter is exposed to the MCP client with the following values:
        • Tool Parameter Name: The name the tool uses for the parameter.
        • Description: The description the tool uses for the parameter.
        • Default Value: Exposed only if Use Default is also checked (see below).
      • Default Value: The default value of the parameter. If Use Default is checked, this is the default value of the parameter already specified for the workspace in FME Flow. If blank, an empty value is applied.
        • Use Default: If checked, the Default Value already specified for the workspace in FME Flow is applied at runtime. If Use as Tool Parameter is also checked, Default Value can be overridden by the MCP client. If unchecked, specify a different Default Value for the parameter.
  4. To save and make the tool available to MCP clients, click Publish. (If the tool is not yet ready to publish, you can publish it later - see Publishing or Unpublishing an MCP Tool, below.) Only tools with a workspace assigned to them can be published. To save the tool without publishing, click Create.

Working with MCP Tools

To publish, edit, or remove an MCP tool, open its corresponding MCP server from the MCP Servers page and select the Tools tab.

Publishing or Unpublishing an MCP Tool

MCP tools that are not published are not available to clients. To publish a tool, click the ellipsis (...) beside the tool you want to publish, and select Publish. Only tools with a workspace assigned to them can be published. To unpublish, select Unpublish.

Note  If the workspace of a tool is altered and republished to FME Flow, it is automatically unpublished and must be explicitly published again. Review updates to a workspace, including changes to user parameters, before republishing a tool. (see Editing an MCP Tool, below).

Editing an MCP Tool

Click the tool you want to edit. The fields available for editing appear under the Details and Parameters tabs to the right.

Removing an MCP Tool

Click the ellipsis (...) beside the tool you want to remove, and select Delete.

Starting and Stopping an MCP Server

MCP servers are not available to clients until they are explicitly started. On the MCP Servers page, open the MCP server you want to start, and click Start MCP Server. To stop an MCP server and make it unavailable to clients, click Stop MCP Server. Alternatively, on the MCP Servers page, select one or more MCP servers, click Actions, and select Start or Stop.