MCP Hub
The MCP hub is where you connect oHallo to your business systems. It is where you add, manage, and monitor the connections that let agents look up orders, check inventory, create quotes, and carry out other work in your external tools.
The MCP hub is a top-level item in the sidebar under Capabilities.
What is MCP?
Section titled “What is MCP?”MCP, the Model Context Protocol, is a standard way for the assistant to communicate with external tools and data sources. Think of it as a universal adapter: instead of building a custom connection for every system, MCP provides a single, consistent way for oHallo’s agents to work with any connected service.
Each MCP connection provides a set of tools that agents can call. A store connection might provide tools such as “search_orders”, “get_product”, and “get_customer”. When an agent needs order information, it calls the right tool, and the connection handles the communication with the underlying system.
Types of MCP connections
Section titled “Types of MCP connections”oHallo supports different kinds of MCP connections, each suited to different needs:
| Type | What it is | Setup |
|---|---|---|
| System | Built-in connections provided by oHallo for core capabilities such as knowledge base queries, policy lookups, calendar operations, and CRM access. | Always active. Cannot be removed. |
| Catalogue | Pre-built connections for popular business tools. | Guided setup from the Browse tab, using OAuth or an API key. |
| Custom | Connections to MCP servers you build and host yourself. | Manual configuration with an endpoint URL, an auth type, and credentials. |
System connections appear automatically. Everything else is added from the MCP hub, described below.
The MCP hub page
Section titled “The MCP hub page”
Open the MCP hub from the sidebar. The page has two tabs:
- Installed shows your active connections, with each connection’s name, scope, and status.
- Browse is a catalogue of connections you can add.
Browsing connectors
Section titled “Browsing connectors”
The Browse tab shows the available connections, grouped by category. Use the filter buttons at the top to narrow by type, for example CRM, E-commerce, ERP, Finance, Logistics, Product, Support, Project, or Productivity. Select All to see everything.
The first card, Custom MCP, lets you connect any system that exposes an MCP endpoint, even if it does not appear in the catalogue.
Browsing and adding connections all happen here in the MCP hub. There is no separate page for it.
Connecting an MCP server step by step
Section titled “Connecting an MCP server step by step”Step 1 - Choose a connection
Section titled “Step 1 - Choose a connection”Select Add MCP server in the top-right corner. You will see the picker:
You have two options:
- Start from a catalogue connection. Select a pre-built card. Some configuration is filled in for you.
- Custom MCP. Select Add custom to connect any MCP server manually.
Step 2 - Configure the connection
Section titled “Step 2 - Configure the connection”After you choose a connection, the configuration form appears:
Fill in the following fields:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | A label to identify this connection, such as “Production store” or “Warehouse API”. Choose something your team will recognise. |
| Endpoint URL | The address of the MCP server. Your IT team or the service provider supplies this. It usually looks like https://your-system.example.com/mcp. |
| Scope | Controls who can use this connection. Choose one of the levels described under “Connection scope” below. |
| Auth type | How oHallo authenticates with the server. Options include None for a public endpoint, API key for a single key or token, OAuth 2.0 for token-based auth, and mTLS for certificate-based auth. |
If you select an auth type that needs credentials, additional fields appear.
Step 3 - Test and continue
Section titled “Step 3 - Test and continue”Select Test & continue. oHallo attempts to connect to the server, verify the credentials, and retrieve the list of available tools. If the test fails, check the endpoint URL and credentials.
Step 4 - Assign tools
Section titled “Step 4 - Assign tools”After a successful test, you see the tools the MCP server provides. Review the tool names and descriptions to confirm the connection is correct, then assign each tool to the agent that should use it, or choose to assign them later. Save to finish.
The connection now appears on the Installed tab and its tools are available to the agents you assigned.
Connection status
Section titled “Connection status”Each connection shows one of three statuses:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Active | The connection is working normally. Agents can call its tools. |
| Degraded | The connection is partly failing. Some tool calls may fail or be slow. Check the underlying system. |
| Unreachable | The connection is offline. Agents cannot call any of its tools. Check the server URL and credentials. |
Connection scope
Section titled “Connection scope”When you add a connection, you choose its scope. This controls which parts of your organisation can use it:
| Scope | Who can use it | When to choose |
|---|---|---|
| Organisation | All brands and workspaces | The system is shared across your entire organisation, such as a single ERP. |
| Brand | All workspaces within a specific brand | Different brands use different systems, such as a separate store per brand. |
| Workspace | Only a specific workspace | Regional teams use different systems, such as an EU warehouse and a US warehouse. |
Tools provided by connections
Section titled “Tools provided by connections”Each connection exposes a set of tools that agents can call. To see the full list for any connection, select it on the Installed tab. Common tool types include:
- Lookup tools that retrieve information, such as “get_order”, “search_products”, and “get_customer”.
- Action tools that carry out operations, such as “create_quote”, “update_status”, and “send_notification”.
- Search tools that find records by keyword or filter, such as “search_orders” and “find_invoices”.
When you create agents under Agents, you select which MCP connections each agent can use and which specific tools it may call, so every agent has access only to the tools it needs. To control individual tool calls further, see Guardrails.
Managing existing connections
Section titled “Managing existing connections”To view or edit a connection, select it on the Installed tab. From the detail page you can:
- View the tools the connection provides.
- Check its status and the last successful call.
- Update the endpoint URL or credentials.
- Change the scope.
- Set risk and guardrails on individual tools. See Guardrails.
- Review the connection’s version history. See History, publish, and restore.
- Delete the connection, which removes it from any agents that use it.