Manage MCP servers and tools

AI-powered

Overview

PREREQUISITES:

• You must have an active Sitefinity AI subscription.
  For more information, see Sitefinity AI.
• This capability is available in self-hosted Sitefinity CMS and Sitefinity Cloud setup starting with version Sitefinity 15.4.8638.

Tools represent small, reusable units of functionality encapsulating specific business logic.
In addition to the built-in tools provided through the Sitefinity MCP Server, Sitefinity AI agents can use external MCP tools.
Tools exposed by external MCP servers enable Sitefinity AI agents to safely perform AI-driven actions in Sitefinity CMS backend and interact with external systems.
You can connect an external MCP server using Sitefinity's administrative backend UI, as described below in this article, and Sitefinity CMS lists the tools exposed by this server.

For the Sitefinity MCP Server and the external MCP servers that are already connected, you can manage the state of respective exposed tools individually. All available MCP tools are managed independently from the AI agents in your Sitefinity CMS backend.

Connect external MCP servers

To connect an external MCP server, perform the following:

1. Log in to Sitefinity CMS backend with an administrator account.
2. Navigate to Administration » Tools for AI agents.
   The MCP servers and tools screen opens. For every MCP server, you can view its connection status, the number of all exposed tools, the number of enabled tools, and the number of tools that are available in the backend chat assistant.
3. Click Connect MCP server.
   The Connect MCP server screen opens.
4. In Name, enter a descriptive name for the external MCP server.
   The name is used to identify this connection.
5. In MCP server URL, enter the URL of the MCP server endpoint.
   For example, https://learn.microsoft.com/api/mcp.
6. In Authentication, select the authentication method that the external MCP server requires:
   • None (default value) - the external MCP server does not require authentication.
   • API key (HTTP header) - the external MCP server requires an API key that is passed in an HTTP header.
     In Header name, enter the name of the header. For example, Authorization.
     In Header value, enter the API key.
     Note that Header value holds a live credential.
7. In Set default state of tools on this server, select the state that is initially applied to all tools exposed by this server:
   • Enabled and available in chat (default value) - all tools can be selected when configuring built-in and custom AI agents and are ready to use directly in the backend chat assistant.
   • Enabled, but not available in chat - all tools can be selected when configuring AI agents, but are not available directly in the backend chat assistant.
   • Disabled - all tools are disabled in the system; they cannot be selected for AI agents and are not available in the backend chat assistant.
8. Click Connect.

Sitefinity CMS connects to the external MCP server and lists the tools that the server exposes. After the connection is created, you can edit its connection settings, manage the state of the exposed tools individually, and remove the MCP server connection.

NOTE: The built-in Sitefinity tools are provided by the Sitefinity MCP Server and are available in Sitefinity CMS backend out of the box. You can manage the state of the tools that it exposes, but you cannot modify its connection settings or remove it.

Manage connected MCP servers and tools

You manage the connected MCP servers and their exposed tools through the MCP servers and tools screen.

Modify connection settings

To edit the connection settings of an external MCP server, perform the following:

1. Navigate to Administration » Tools for AI agents.
2. For the desired external MCP server, click the (Actions) menu and select Connection settings.
3. Modify the existing Name, MCP server URL, or Authentication values.
4. Click Save changes.

To remove an already connected MCP server, click its (Actions) menu and select Remove.

Manage the state of exposed tools

To manage the tools exposed by an MCP server individually, perform the following:

1. Navigate to Administration » Tools for AI agents.
2. For the desired MCP server, click the (Actions) menu and select Tools.
   A screen with all tools exposed by this server opens.
3. For every listed tool, you can configure the following:
   • Enabled
     Select Yes to allow the Sitefinity AI agents to use this tool. Select No to disable the tool in the system.
   • Available in chat
     Select Yes to make this tool available in the DX Assistant. Select No to exclude it from the chat experience.
4. Click Save changes.

For information about assigning MCP tools as part of an AI agent configuration, see Create a custom AI agent.