How to actually use the connected MCP once setup?

[LukasFalkensteiner]

Please check out:

https://docs.openwebui.com/openapi-servers/open-webui
https://docs.openwebui.com/openapi-servers/mcp/

---

I think i have everything setup for 2 MCP Tools.
I have dockerized the Time Example and Memory Example and have both running and connected through the tools section.

How do i get my model to actually use them?
When asking for the current UTC time the model just gives me a random time, and is not using the tool.
Do i need to enable the tools for my model, or prompt in a special way?

Sorry im new to MCPs.

[srector13]

I'm having the same issue. I have a server setup locally and exposed to my docker container. I have added it and my OWUI also shows that the tool server is available. But, my response still acts like it can't see/use it.

[tjbck]

You should be able to just use it right away. Just make sure your model is performant enough to support tool calls!

[bpawnzZ]

ya mine deff isnt working like that.

that is not accurate time and i cant get any of the tools to call.. and they all work in roo cline with these mcp tools w/ DeepSeek.

[will-riley]

Is there an example available for using mcpo --config /path/to/config.json, running multiple servers within a docker container? I have individual docker servers running per the example here: https://docs.openwebui.com/openapi-servers/mcp, but can't figure out how to scale those up using docker. Thx

@LukasFalkensteiner do you mind sharing your dockerfile?

[will-riley]

Figured it out.

config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "memory": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-memory"]
    },
    "time": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["mcp-server-time", "--local-timezone=America/New_York"]
    }
  }
}

Dockerfile:

FROM node:alpine3.20

WORKDIR /app
COPY app/config.json .
RUN apk add --no-cache python3 py3-pip
RUN pip3 install --break-system-packages mcpo uv
EXPOSE 8100
CMD ["uvx", "mcpo", "--host", "0.0.0.0", "--port", "8100", "--config", "/app/config.json"]

Build/Run:

$ docker build -t myrepo/mcp-server:v0.1 .
$ docker run --name mcpserver -d -p 8100:8100 myrepo/mcp-server:v0.1

Open-Webui Settings/Tools (+):

Open-Webui Tool item(s) in prompt window:

[bpawnzZ]

@bpawnzZ You might want to try using smarter models like gpt-4o or higher!

Related: https://docs.openwebui.com/openapi-servers/open-webui#optional-step-4-use-native-function-calling-react-style-tool-use-

@tjbck you are the man sir!! it was 100% Function Calls needed to be set to native! I was wondering about the model but I knew that MCP worked in RooCline with DeepSeek so i figured the same here.. But yes sir! Function Calls it is. Thank you bro. I've been beating my head against a wall for the past day over this.. Lol

[a-nldisr]

Are there any smaller models that can run locally with these capabilities?

[nikhilmaddirala]

@bpawnzZ You might want to try using smarter models like gpt-4o or higher!

Related: https://docs.openwebui.com/openapi-servers/open-webui#optional-step-4-use-native-function-calling-react-style-tool-use-

@tjbck Thanks! This is working for me, but is there a more detailed explanation I can find somewhere about the difference between default vs. native function calling and when to use which setting?

[will-riley]

@bpawnzZ You might want to try using smarter models like gpt-4o or higher!
Related: https://docs.openwebui.com/openapi-servers/open-webui#optional-step-4-use-native-function-calling-react-style-tool-use-

@tjbck Thanks! This is working for me, but is there a more detailed explanation I can find somewhere about the difference between default vs. native function calling and when to use which setting?

Step #4 has some detail
Open WebUI Integration

Good to read all four sections here first (I did not!)
OpenAPI Tool Servers

I'm using llama3-groq-tool-use:8b, mostly works but I think some prompt-engineering would help (learning as I go here)

[taylorwilsdon]

Are there any smaller models that can run locally with these capabilities?

hhao/qwen2.5-coder-tools will! The base qwen models don't, but this doesn't require an additional download if you've already got them in ollama or wherever you do inference. 7b is probably the smallest that will be useful.

[muliyul]

Although OpenAPI is great, how does one share MCP resources or prompts?

[tjbck]

Not supported, Open WebUI has built in alternatives.

[muliyul]

What are the alternatives?

[smarthomeplugfest]

I am having issue where I have added 2 MCP servers to OpenWebUI but only one shows at a time there.
Both connection works, whatever connection is on top is the one showing in chat
There should be sqlite and the fileserver

Bot respond to the url showed in the settings menu.

But i can see both tools in top right chat controlls, only thing is that it seem to be running in circle, instead of staying selected there.

[a-nldisr]

Found the reason why i had issues:
When adding the tools i added the following: http://0.0.0.0:8000

But you need to add per tool the path:
So time tool = http://0.0.0.0:8000/time
The memory tool = http://0.0.0.0:8000/memory

[smarthomeplugfest]

Hi, I think i got it now... I was making for each of the tools its own container.
But even now It does not seem to work, or I am doing something wrong as I cannot get the tools work.
The MCP config file local.json:

{
    "globalShortcut": "Ctrl+Space",
    "mcpServers": {
      "sqlite": {
        "command": "uvx",
        "args": [
          "mcp-server-sqlite",
          "--db-path",
          "/projects/mcp_ai/sec_logs/instance/logs_database.db"
        ]
      },
      "filesystem": {
        "command": "npx",
        "args": [
          "-y",
          "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem",
          "/projects"
        ]
      }
    }
  }

Docker-compose

service:
  mcpo-proxy:
  container_name: mcpo-proxy
  hostname: mcpo-proxy
  image: ghcr.io/open-webui/mcpo:main
  volumes:
    - mcpo_config:/config
    - /home/user/Documents/Projects:/projects # fs
  #entrypoint: tail -f /dev/null
  command: >
     --api-key top-secret
     -- mcpo --config /config/local.json
  ports:
    - "127.0.0.1:8000:8000"
  networks:
    - backend
   ```
this starts the container, i can access those things in url: 
http://127.0.0.1:8000/openapi.json
```{"openapi":"3.1.0","info":{"title":"MCP OpenAPI Proxy","description":"Automatically generated API from MCP Tool Schemas\n\n- **available tools**：\n    - [sqlite](/sqlite/docs)\n    - [filesystem](/filesystem/docs)","version":"1.0"},"paths":{}}

Also under http://127.0.0.1:8000/sqlite or http://127.0.0.1:8000/filesystem with the expected output.
but i still get only the one option, what is first - sqlite.

but in top right again i can see it in tools...

[smarthomeplugfest]

ach i find out the problem.
When I add the Tools in Admin menu it returns only the first one, if i add it there as http://mcpo-proxy:8000 it shows it in chat but it has no actual function:

But if I add it for the user in the user tool settings as described in guide it works

Is this bug or what?
Because the tools added in user settings must be accessible by web browser - I must call 127.0.0.1 instead of the container name, because pc does not know where it is.

Tools added in admin menu should be called from the server that is why the hostname works, but only first toll is accessible to users!!!
This would be ok if i just run it on pc, but if I would want to open it to internet, i would also have to allow access to the tools directly.

[ChromaticPanic]

I think it's a bug, I have the same issue. Only the first tool shows up for tools added in the admin panel.

[zhanghao-njmu]

I've run a test. The MCP service added in the admin panel appears to only show the first three in the chat panel. The fourth is actually running but remains invisible. Disabling the third allows the fourth MCP service to be seen. This appears to be a bug.

[zhanghao-njmu]

Sorry, I didn't notice there was a scrollbar in the MCP list, but it won't activate unless you hover the mouse over it.😂

[smarthomeplugfest]

oh dang. this is good finding though. the scroll bar should be either visible always or the menu should raise as much as screen allows then use scroll bar.
I do not see any issue menu to report this, can someone suggest it to developer?
Great job. And thank you for help with getting this work.