MCP servers

MCP (the Model Context Protocol) is a standard way for agents to talk to external services. If there's an MCP server for the service you care about, Shmastra can discover it, set up any required env vars, and attach its tools to your agent — usually without a single line of custom code.

Example prompts

Find a Notion MCP server and let the research-agent use it.

Wire up a Postgres MCP so this agent can query our orders database.

Look for an MCP server that controls my home assistant setup.

What happens

1. The widget calls search_mcp_servers with keywords from your prompt. The catalog returns candidates with their package name, available tools, and required env vars.
2. It picks the best match — preferring verified servers whose tool names match your task.
3. If the server needs env vars (API key, DB connection string, etc.), the widget opens the safe env-var UI.
4. It instantiates an MCPClient from @mastra/mcp using npx to run the server package, and wires its tools into the agent via createAgentTools.

Generated code looks roughly like:

import { MCPClient } from '@mastra/mcp'

const notion = new MCPClient({
  servers: {
    notion: {
      command: 'npx',
      args: ['-y', '@some-vendor/notion-mcp'],
      env: { NOTION_API_KEY: process.env.NOTION_API_KEY! },
    },
  },
})

export const researchAgent = new Agent({
  // …
  tools: createAgentTools({
    ...(await notion.listTools()),
    web_search: createWebSearchTool('research-agent'),
  }),
})

Filtering tools

Some MCP servers expose dozens of tools; attaching all of them bloats the agent's context window. Tell the widget:

Only give me the search and read-page tools from the Notion MCP.

The widget will filter listTools() down to just those names.

Using MCP tools in a workflow

Any MCP tool can be a workflow step if it has both input and output Zod schemas. Ask the widget: "Use the query tool from this Postgres MCP as the first step of a new workflow."

Tips

• Composio first. For popular SaaS apps (Gmail, Slack, Linear, Notion, Drive), Composio toolkits are often simpler than wiring an MCP server yourself.
• Local MCP servers work. Any command that speaks MCP on stdio is fair game — not just npm packages. Ask the widget to use a specific binary if you have one.
• Verify first. Ask "which MCP servers match these keywords?" first — the widget will list candidates before committing to one.