WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.500 Hi, and welcome to this AI and C-Sharp video on the Microsoft Agent Framework. 2 00:00:05.500 --> 00:00:11.500 Today we're going to look how you can create your own remote MCP server. 3 00:00:11.500 --> 00:00:19.000 And MCP is as such not AI-based, but we are going to use one of the tools 4 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:21.000 and have an AI behind the scenes. 5 00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:25.500 But as such, not too much about AI, it's just a protocol. 6 00:00:25.500 --> 00:00:27.000 But let's go in and see. 7 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:33.000 So in here we have, under tools, calling and MCP, 8 00:00:33.000 --> 00:00:37.000 we have an exposure agent as remote MCP. 9 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:44.000 And this is a web API, ASP.NET Core. 10 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:49.000 And in terms of NuGet package that we need, 11 00:00:49.000 --> 00:00:53.000 we can see that we use OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, 12 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:55.000 but you can, of course, use whatever. 13 00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:59.000 And then we're using the package called 14 00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:07.000 ModelContextProtocol, ASP.NET Core, which is the one for hosting MCPs. 15 00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:10.000 And MCPs is fairly simple. 16 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:16.000 In our case, the first thing we do is we make our client for the agent 17 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:19.000 and register that as a singleton. 18 00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:23.000 But then we say, builder.services.addMCP 19 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:27.000 with HTTP transport, meaning remote, 20 00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:33.000 and take all tools that are in disassembly and add them to the system. 21 00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:39.000 We can also say with tool, if we want to specify each tool. 22 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:48.000 But in our case, we'll just take everything that have a certain attribute here. 23 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:54.000 Then we map MCP, and we give it slash MCP at the end. 24 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:58.000 Sort of a standard by many people, but we could call it whatever. 25 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:03.000 It's just a map point as normal. 26 00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:07.000 And we have our tools, and I've made three tools. 27 00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:12.000 So I just put them in a class that we don't really knew up by ourselves. 28 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:16.000 MCP will do that for us. 29 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:21.000 And we give it this MCP server tool type, 30 00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:24.000 meaning that it should look in this class. 31 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:28.000 And we have our first MCP tool here, 32 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:32.000 which is just not using AI in any way. 33 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:36.000 And it's just a get the secret word, which is banana cake here. 34 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:41.000 We tell it that it's an MCP server tool, that the name is this. 35 00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:45.000 And read only, meaning that it doesn't need to ask commissions 36 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:51.000 because it will only give back data, it will not change data. 37 00:02:51.000 --> 00:02:53.000 And we can give it a description. 38 00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:58.000 We'll see that when we use it in the various clients. 39 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:03.000 Then we have a tool more called Ask John the Pirate. 40 00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:08.000 Just giving it a name, and again, it's read only. 41 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:13.000 So we just tell that John the Pirate can talk about pirate life. 42 00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:16.000 And inside we're just newing up an agent, 43 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:26.000 and telling that he should answer children's questions about pirates. 44 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:30.000 So this is the only thing we're actually doing using Agent Framework 4, 45 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:34.000 because again, MCP is just a protocol. 46 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:38.000 The last tool we're making, we make read only equals false 47 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:41.000 because this is an add order, simulate something, 48 00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:46.000 put something into a sales order, into an ERP system. 49 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:50.000 We're not really going to do it, but that would just be normal C-sharp code. 50 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:58.000 And we're returning the number of that order back to the system. 51 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:03.000 And that is actually everything we need in terms of code in order to do this. 52 00:04:03.000 --> 00:04:10.000 So if we run it, we will see that it's just a normal, 53 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:13.000 once we get it up and running here. 54 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:30.000 Yeah, so we have it running here. It's both SMCP. 55 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:37.000 And now if we want to use it, we can use it in the various clients. 56 00:04:37.000 --> 00:04:41.000 So let me show you three different clients, 57 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:46.000 but you can use all the clients that support MCP remote. 58 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:53.000 So the best tool to test MCPs in my book is Visual Studio Code, 59 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:59.000 because it has by far the best implementation of MCP. 60 00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:02.000 It's been there the longest, and it shows. 61 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:09.000 The only thing MCP here can't do is, if we look at our tool here, 62 00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:13.000 it's exposing itself on this port. 63 00:05:13.000 --> 00:05:19.000 But as of this recording, there is a bug in Visual Studio Code 64 00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:24.000 that it can't use these local hosts for MCPs as testing. 65 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:32.000 So what I have done here is I have turned on DevTunnels, 66 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:37.000 and I created a tunnel called AI Samples. 67 00:05:37.000 --> 00:05:44.000 AI DevTunnels is a way of you getting a remote URL 68 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:50.000 that make a reverse proxy down to your local host. 69 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:54.000 So if we look here, it might say local host, 70 00:05:54.000 --> 00:06:02.000 but if we go to our output and look under DevTunnels, 71 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:09.000 it will actually also be on this URL that is unique to me. 72 00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:16.000 So if we take that URL and go to Visual Studio Code, 73 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:24.000 and say add MCP server, it needs to be an HTTP, 74 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:28.000 and we have this slash MCP. 75 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:34.000 We can call it myMCP, 76 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:37.000 and we just put it for this workspace. 77 00:06:37.000 --> 00:06:39.000 This is just a folder called Hello MCP, 78 00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:43.000 and what we see is it makes a mcp.json, 79 00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:47.000 and it has started our tool, which will have the three tools, 80 00:06:47.000 --> 00:06:53.000 and we can see down here in our copilot that our tool is here, 81 00:06:53.000 --> 00:06:57.000 and we can see that our name of the tool is here, 82 00:06:57.000 --> 00:07:01.000 and our description of a tool is here. 83 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:04.000 So now we can use it, 84 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:13.000 and we can, for example, say what is the secret word, 85 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:19.000 and if we do that, it runs the MCP tool, 86 00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:24.000 and what we can do if we want to 87 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:32.000 is, of course, that we can set some breakpoints to see what's going on, 88 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:40.000 and let me take this and ask a new sign, 89 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:46.000 so it hit the breakpoint, 90 00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:49.000 and come back with the secret word. 91 00:07:49.000 --> 00:08:04.000 Similar, we can say, ask John why it's green. 92 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:13.000 Again, hit the breakpoint. 93 00:08:13.000 --> 00:08:17.000 In this case, it will then run an AI, of course, 94 00:08:17.000 --> 00:08:21.000 and it comes back with an answer, 95 00:08:21.000 --> 00:08:28.000 and finally, if we say add order 96 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:36.000 to ACME for 10 anvils, 97 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:40.000 because this is a destructive tool or non-read-only tool, 98 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:42.000 it will come up and ask us, 99 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:46.000 are you sure you want to send customer ACME items to buy anvil, 100 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:53.000 and quantity 10, which was what we had for the three inputs for the order, 101 00:08:53.000 --> 00:08:57.000 and if we say allow, it will be hit, 102 00:08:57.000 --> 00:09:02.000 and will come back that the order has been added. 103 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:08.000 So Visual Studio Code is really, really good for testing this. 104 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:14.000 Another tool is, of course, Visual Studio Code itself. 105 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:18.000 And Visual Studio, yeah, they have the tool here in Copilot, 106 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:21.000 and you can say add, 107 00:09:21.000 --> 00:09:25.000 and 9 out of 10 times this doesn't work. 108 00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:32.000 It is fairly new, and they simply have done a very poor implementation. 109 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:37.000 The best way to actually get MCP working in Visual Studio 110 00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:45.000 is to go to the Visual Studio part of it. 111 00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:49.000 So it made this VS Code and MCP, 112 00:09:49.000 --> 00:09:53.000 and take this folder, 113 00:09:53.000 --> 00:09:58.000 and put it over in your Visual Studio project. 114 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:02.000 So I have my Visual Studio project here, and just put that in. 115 00:10:03.000 --> 00:10:09.000 Second you do that, our tool appears here. 116 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:13.000 Don't ask why, this is the easy way when they have a register for it, 117 00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:17.000 but as of this recording, this is the best way. 118 00:10:17.000 --> 00:10:26.000 So we can again ask here, what is the secret word, 119 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:33.000 and see if it picks it up. 120 00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:37.000 And all depending on how good they are, 121 00:10:37.000 --> 00:10:45.000 they get this wrong, often you need to say, use tools. 122 00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:51.000 So now it found it, and it want us to confirm it. 123 00:10:51.000 --> 00:10:53.000 Hit the breakpoint. 124 00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:58.000 Let me just get rid of the breakpoint, so we don't go back and forward. 125 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:06.000 We come back, and in the same manner we can ask John, 126 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:15.000 what the heck is use tools. 127 00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:19.000 So this use tools is all depending on how good 128 00:11:19.000 --> 00:11:22.000 the implementation of the AI is, 129 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:25.000 and Visual Studio Code is one of the best for tools, 130 00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:37.000 compared to the others, but now it even didn't find that. 131 00:11:37.000 --> 00:11:41.000 So we might want to say... 132 00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:51.000 Oh, that's because they are disabled, that's the reason. 133 00:11:51.000 --> 00:12:00.000 So now it comes and asks, and we get our answer back. 134 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:04.000 One client I want to show is ChatGBT, 135 00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:10.000 and ChatGBT is hopelessly behind on MCP at the moment, 136 00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:13.000 because they don't support it here. 137 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:20.000 They have a beta version of it, or preview version, 138 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:25.000 that we can turn on if you are an admin, 139 00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:31.000 and then we can go in and add a tool, 140 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:40.000 because so far most MCP clients is developer tools, 141 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:47.000 and that's a real shame, because it's not all developers who need MCP servers. 142 00:12:47.000 --> 00:12:52.000 So hopefully at some point things like this will become better at it. 143 00:12:52.000 --> 00:13:01.000 I need the URL, so we go back and find that here. 144 00:13:01.000 --> 00:13:07.000 We say MCP, I have no authentication on this, 145 00:13:07.000 --> 00:13:13.000 and I understand it's dangerous. 146 00:13:13.000 --> 00:13:20.000 You will see that ChatGBT is endlessly slow at doing this, 147 00:13:20.500 --> 00:13:25.000 and this beta version has been there for quite a while now, 148 00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:29.000 so I don't know why they are so slow at doing this. 149 00:13:29.000 --> 00:13:33.000 But what we can do is we can go in and take our MCP server, 150 00:13:33.000 --> 00:13:40.500 and again, what is the secret word? 151 00:13:40.500 --> 00:13:44.000 And I know for a fact I need to say use tools here. 152 00:13:50.500 --> 00:13:53.500 So hopefully we should hit our tool. 153 00:13:53.500 --> 00:13:56.000 This is very hit and miss if it works, 154 00:13:56.000 --> 00:14:08.000 but some of the tools can call, and some of them will also fail. 155 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:13.000 But they called the tool, and now it failed. 156 00:14:13.000 --> 00:14:17.500 Let's try again. 157 00:14:17.500 --> 00:14:23.500 So there's a reason why it's in beta. 158 00:14:31.000 --> 00:14:37.500 Now it appears to want to call it two times for some reason. 159 00:14:37.500 --> 00:14:42.000 Yes, they don't really have the act to get on MCP yet, 160 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:45.500 but hopefully they will at some point. 161 00:14:45.500 --> 00:14:50.500 But as you can see, MCP is very easy. 162 00:14:50.500 --> 00:14:56.500 Write your tools, 163 00:14:56.500 --> 00:14:59.500 write these three lines of code, and this one, 164 00:14:59.500 --> 00:15:03.000 and you are more or less done. 165 00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:08.500 If you want to see videos about local tools, I will also make that, 166 00:15:08.500 --> 00:15:12.500 but to me, honestly, local tools really don't exist. 167 00:15:12.500 --> 00:15:19.000 I don't think they are worth doing, especially not in a .NET space, 168 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:21.000 but it is possible, and if you had something 169 00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:23.500 like a command line tool, you might do it, 170 00:15:23.500 --> 00:15:28.000 but my recommendation would be always to do remote tools, 171 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:33.000 and as an example, ChatGPT, when they get better, 172 00:15:33.000 --> 00:15:37.000 they will only work with remote tools, not local tools, 173 00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:42.000 because they are a remote system. 174 00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:46.000 But that is everything for this time. See you in the next one.