Introduction #
With Cyclr’s MCP Servers, as well as being able to expose Connector Methods as tools for external Large Language Models (LLMs) and AI agents to call, you can also add whole Templates (or Cycles, when working in an Account) as “Workflow Tools”.
This provides you with a way to create an entire process that an LLM can call, rather than having them call multiple Connector Methods – potentially across multiple Connectors – to get approximately the same result.
Workflow Tools enable you to create a process that an LLM can call, and give you a way to apply data transformations, redaction of sensitive data and routing, just as you would when building a standard Template or Cycle.
Templates as “Workflow Tools” #
For a Template (or a Cycle, when working within an Account) to be available for use by an MCP Server as a “Workflow Tool”, it must:
- begin with an MCP Workflow “MCP Request” Step
- this is equivalent to a Webhook Step, and is where you define what should be passed in to trigger an execution of the integration.
- end each of its possible routes with an MCP Workflow “MCP Response” Step
- this is equivalent to a Synchronous Response Step and is where you define what should be sent back.
If both of these conditions have been met, that integration will be available to select when adding a Workflow Tool to an MCP Server.
When creating MCP Servers within Cyclr Accounts, rather than creating and selecting Templates, you instead create and select Cycles as Workflow Tools. Other than that, Workflow Tools function in the same way, whether you’re in the Console creating MCP Server Templates, or in an Account creating MCP Servers.
Creating a Template #
With Cyclr’s MCP Servers feature enabled for your Console, within the Builder, you’ll see the following Steps available under the Utility Connectors panel:
The “MCP Response” Step will only be shown when your integration includes an “MCP Request” Step.
The “MCP Request” and “MCP Response” Steps can be used in your Templates and Cycles, to indicate to Cyclr they are intended for use by an MCP Server. They mark the start and end(s) of the integration.
They work in a similar way to creating an integration that uses a synchronous webhook:
- an external system sends a request to your integration’s Webhook Step, which triggers it to run through the Steps.
- when a Synchronous Response Step is reached, a response is sent back.
For a synchronous webhook setup, you would start with the Event Trigger’s “Webhook” Step and end with one or more “Synchronous Response” Steps.
When building a Workflow Tool, it’s very similar: you use an “MCP Request” as the starting Step and an “MCP Response” Step at the end. You should include an “MCP Response” Step and configure it at the end of all of the possible routes through your integration, to ensure a calling LLM will always be sent a response.
“MCP Request” Steps support the same Script functions as standard Webhook Steps.
Example Integration #
You could create an integration similar to this, where you want an LLM to provide some details which you’ll use to retrieve data from your own system – represented here as the My SaaS Connector’s Step – look for a contact in HubSpot with the same email address, then – depending on whether there was a match – define a suitable response to be sent back:
Configuring MCP Workflow Steps #
MCP Request Step #
This marks the starting point of your Workflow Tool and is where you define the values it expects to receive from a calling LLM.
There can only be one MCP Request Step within an integration.
- Select the Add Field button to add Fields one-by-one.
- Provide meaningful Display Names and Descriptions to help a calling LLM understand the values it must pass in.
- If you mark a Field as Required, an LLM will know it must include them.
MCP Response Step #
These mark the end points of your Workflow Tool and is where you define the data that will be returned.
An MCP Response’s Step Setup popup contains 2 tabs:
Setup tab
Here you provide an example of the JSON data the Workflow Tool will return to the LLM, either by pasting in an example or manually entering it. Select the Save button after making any changes here.
Field Mapping tab
This functions in the same way as other Step’s Field Mappings, where you can use “Type a Value” to provide a fixed value, map from Response Fields of previous Steps, and also include Inline Script to perform calculations or processing of values:
Adding a Workflow Tool #
To add an integration to an MCP Server as a new Workflow Tool, edit the MCP Server:
Go to the Workflow Tools section at the bottom, beneath the Account Connector Tools section, and select the + Add/Update Workflow Tools button:
On the next page, you’ll see a list of available integrations (Templates or Cycles, depending on whether you’re in a Console or within an Account) that you can select from:
The page display icons next to the names of integrations that aren’t ready to be used, but still allows you to select them. Hover over those icons to see any issues, such as an integration not currently running, or a Template Release not being Live, as that will prevent them from being available to an LLM.
Use the checkboxes before each integration to add or remove them as tools on your MCP Server.
Select the Save button.
After updating what a Cyclr MCP Server makes available as tools, you should ensure that any external LLMs/AI agents update their details as well, to ensure they’re up to date.
If your Workflow Tool isn’t found by an LLM, check that you’ve set a Description and started the integration running. See below for more details.
For Cyclr to expose a Workflow Tool to an external LLM when returning the tools of your MCP Server, the Template must be running. If it’s stopped, it won’t be included in the list of tools available when next queried for them.
Also, Cyclr uses the Description property of a Template (or a Cycle, when working with MCP Servers in an Account) that has been setup as a Workflow Tool to explain how that tool works to an LLM. You must therefore set the Description before you’re able to run the Template (or Cycle):
