Python: MCP Improvements: improved connection loss behavior, pagination for loading and a param to control representation

[eavanvalkenburg]

Motivation and Context

Introduces a parameter for tools and prompt to configure how the results are parsed.
Three values:

• True -> use the default parsing which transforms the MCP types to AF Types
• Callable -> allows you to pass a function that get's called with the result
• None -> no parsing, MCP types returned directly

Fixes #2884 by doing a more robust check before attempting to use, also returns the ClosedResourceError to the user, so it's easier to decide on recovery by the user.
Fixes #2848 by introducing paging support in the load_tools and load_prompts method
Fixes #3153 to further enhance json parsing
Closes #3013 by adding a test to test_tools that validates that case

Description

Contribution Checklist

• The code builds clean without any errors or warnings
• The PR follows the Contribution Guidelines
• All unit tests pass, and I have added new tests where possible
• Is this a breaking change? If yes, add "[BREAKING]" prefix to the title of the PR.

[markwallace-microsoft]

Python Test Coverage Report •

File	Stmts	Miss	Cover	Missing
packages/core/agent_framework
_mcp.py	388	67	82%	114, 174, 183, 247, 257–258, 279, 369, 396, 430–431, 433–441, 443–445, 448–449, 495, 510, 528, 569, 582, 625, 675, 696, 702–706, 709, 711, 755, 768, 771–773, 776–777, 780–781, 803, 810, 813–816, 818–823, 840–844, 984
_tools.py	756	69	90%	241, 287, 338, 340, 368, 538, 570–571, 673, 675, 695, 713, 727, 739, 744, 746, 753, 786, 840–842, 883, 906, 908–917, 926–932, 968, 978, 1219, 1555, 1633–1637, 1758, 1827, 1920, 1926, 1969–1970, 1983–1984, 2113, 2154–2155, 2183–2185, 2227–2228, 2293–2294, 2301–2302
TOTAL	17700	2896	83%

Python Unit Test Overview

Tests	Skipped	Failures	Errors	Time
2632	154 💤	0 ❌	0 🔥	1m 1s ⏱️

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR introduces improvements to the MCP (Model Context Protocol) integration in the Python Agent Framework, addressing three key issues:

Key Changes:

• Adds configurable result parsing with parse_tool_results and parse_prompt_results parameters (True/Callable/None)
• Implements pagination support for load_tools() and load_prompts() methods to handle MCP servers with large tool/prompt catalogs
• Introduces proactive connection validation via _is_connection_valid() and _ensure_connected() to handle connection loss gracefully

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated 4 comments.

File	Description
python/uv.lock	Minor dependency updates (huggingface-hub, litellm, litellm-proxy-extras)
python/packages/core/tests/core/test_tools.py	Adds comprehensive test for nested object arrays in JSON schema validation
python/packages/core/tests/core/test_mcp.py	Extensive pagination tests, duplicate handling tests, and connection loss recovery tests
python/packages/core/agent_framework/_mcp.py	Implements pagination loops, connection validation logic, and configurable result parsing in call_tool/get_prompt methods