mcp-agent

Build Effective Agents with Model Context Protocol in TypeScript

mcp-agent is a TypeScript framework inspired by the Python lastmile-ai/mcp-agent project. It provides a simple, composable, and type-safe way to build AI agents leveraging the Model Context Protocol (MCP) in JavaScript and TypeScript environments.

This library aims to bring the powerful patterns and architecture of mcp-agent to the JavaScript ecosystem, enabling developers to create robust and controllable AI agents that can interact with MCP-aware services and tools.

Installation

npm install @joshuacalpuerto/mcp-agent

Key Capabilities

mcp-agent empowers you to build sophisticated AI agents with the following core capabilities:

• Agent Abstraction: Define intelligent agents with clear instructions, access to tools (both local functions and MCP servers), and integrated LLM capabilities.
• Model Context Protocol (MCP) Integration: Seamlessly connect and interact with services and tools exposed through MCP servers.
• Local Function Tools: Extend agent capabilities with custom, in-process JavaScript/TypeScript functions that act as tools, alongside MCP server-based tools.
• LLM Flexibility: Integrate with various Large Language Models (LLMs). The library includes an example implementation for Fireworks AI, demonstrating extensibility for different LLM providers.
• Memory Management: Basic in-memory message history to enable conversational agents.
• Workflows: Implement complex agent workflows like the Orchestrator pattern to break down tasks into steps and coordinate multiple agents. Support for additional patterns from Anthropic's Building Effective Agents and OpenAI's Swarm coming soon.
• TypeScript & Type Safety: Built with TypeScript, providing strong typing, improved code maintainability, and enhanced developer experience.

Quick Start

Standalone Usage

Get started quickly with a basic example (Using as standalone):

import { fileURLToPath } from 'url';
import path from 'path';
import { Agent, LLMFireworks, Orchestrator } from 'mcp-agent'; // Import from your library name!
import { writeLocalSystem } from './tools/writeLocalSystem'; // Assuming you have example tools

const __filename = fileURLToPath(import.meta.url);
const __dirname = path.dirname(__filename);

async function runOrchestrator() {
  const llm = new LLMFireworks("accounts/fireworks/models/deepseek-v3", { // Example LLM from Fireworks
    maxTokens: 2048,
    temperature: 0.1
  });

  const researcher = await Agent.initialize({
    llm,
    name: "researcher",
    description: `Your expertise is to find information.`,
    serverConfigs: [ // Example MCP Server Configurations
      {
        name: "read_file_from_local_file_system",
        type: "stdio",
        command: "node",
        args: ['--loader', 'ts-node/esm', path.resolve(__dirname, 'servers', 'readLocalFileSystem.ts'),]
      },
      {
        name: "search_web",
        type: "ws",
        url: createSmitheryUrl( // Example using community mcp server via @smithery/sdk
          "https://server.smithery.ai/exa/ws",
          {
            exaApiKey: process.env.EXA_API_KEY
          }
        )
      },
    ],
  });

  const writer = await Agent.initialize({
    llm
    name: "writer",
    description: `Your expertise is to write information to a file.`,
    functions: [writeLocalSystem], // Example local function tool
    llm,
  });

  const orchestrator = new Orchestrator({
    llm,
    agents: [researcher, writer],
  });

  const result = await orchestrator.generate('Search new latest developemnt about AI and write about it to `theory_on_ai.md` on my local machine. no need to verify the result.');
  console.log(JSON.stringify(result));

  await researcher.close();
  await writer.close();
}

runOrchestrator().catch(console.error);

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/122a388b-0dc8-4984-b189-22408a308d7f

To run this example:

1. Install Dependencies:

   pnpm install

2. Set Environment Variables: Create a .env file (or set environment variables directly) and add your API keys (e.g., EXA_API_KEY, Fireworks AI API key if needed).
3. Run the Demo:

   node --loader ts-node/esm ./demo/standalone/index.ts

Rest server Integration

For a complete Express.js integration example with multi-agent orchestration, check out the demo/express/README.md.

Core Concepts

• Agent: The fundamental building block. An Agent is an autonomous entity with a specific role, instructions, and access to tools. Agents can invoke tools to perform actions and interact with external services.
• MCP Server Aggregator (MCPServerAggregator): Manages the tools available to each individual agent. Each agent has its own aggregator that provides access to the specific tools that agent needs. The aggregator acts as a tool provider for its assigned agent.
• MCP Connection Manager (MCPConnectionManager): Central repository that manages the lifecycle and reuse of ALL MCP server connections across the entire application. This is a global collection of all available tools that any agent can potentially use.
  • Supported Transport: stdio, sse, streamable-http & websockets
• LLM Integration (LLMInterface, LLMFireworks): Abstracts interaction with Large Language Models. LLMFireworks is an example implementation for Fireworks AI models.
• Tools: Functions or MCP server capabilities that Agents can use to perform actions. Tools can be:
  • MCP Server Tools: Capabilities exposed by external MCP servers (e.g., file system access, web search).
  • Local Function Tools: JavaScript/TypeScript functions defined directly within your application.
• Workflows: Composable patterns for building complex agent behaviors (see anthropic blog here).
  • Orchestrator - workflow demonstrates how to coordinate multiple agents to achieve a larger objective.
  • Prompt chaining - coming soon.
  • Routing - coming soon.
  • Parallelization - coming soon.
  • Evaluator-optimizer - coming soon.
• Memory (SimpleMemory): Provides basic in-memory message history for conversational agents.

Architecture: Why Connection Manager + Aggregator?

The framework uses a two-layer architecture to efficiently manage MCP server connections:

Connection Manager (Global):

• Maintains a single instance of each MCP server connection across the entire application
• Prevents duplicate server connections when multiple agents need the same tool
• Example: If Agent1 and Agent2 both need a file system tool, only one file system server is spawned

Aggregator (Per-Agent):

• Each agent has its own aggregator that provides access to its specific set of tools
• The aggregator references tools from the global connection manager
• Acts as a tool provider interface for its assigned agent

Benefits:

• Resource Efficiency: Avoid spinning multiple instances of the same MCP server
• Connection Reuse: Share server connections across agents when possible
• Isolation: Each agent only sees the tools it's configured to use
• Scalability: Add new agents without duplicating existing server connections

Acknowledgements

This project is heavily inspired by and builds upon the concepts and architecture of the excellent lastmile-ai/mcp-agent Python framework

We encourage you to explore their repository for a deeper understanding of the underlying principles and patterns that have informed this TypeScript implementation.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome!