feat(mcp): add MCP (Model Context Protocol) tool integration

Allows CowAgent to dynamically load tools from any MCP server at startup,
extending the agent from a fixed toolset to an open, extensible tool ecosystem.

## What's added

- `agent/tools/mcp/mcp_client.py`: lightweight JSON-RPC client supporting both
  stdio (subprocess) and SSE (HTTP) transports — zero extra dependencies
- `agent/tools/mcp/mcp_tool.py`: `McpTool` wraps a single MCP tool as a
  `BaseTool`, with dynamic name/description/params set at instance level
- `agent/tools/tool_manager.py`: new `_load_mcp_tools()` loads MCP servers at
  startup via `McpClientRegistry`; falls back gracefully on any error; no-op
  when `mcp_servers` is not configured
- `config.py`: registers `mcp_servers` in `available_setting` with inline docs

## Design

- No new dependencies — JSON-RPC implemented from scratch using stdlib only
- MCP clients are long-lived (initialized once, shared across tool calls)
- `McpClientRegistry` holds all subprocess handles and shuts them down cleanly
- Server init failures are non-fatal: logged as warnings, agent continues normally
- Zero overhead when `mcp_servers` is absent from config

## Config example

```json
"mcp_servers": [
  {
    "name": "filesystem",
    "type": "stdio",
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem", "/tmp"]
  }
]
```

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

agent/tools/__init__.py

@@ -107,6 +107,22 @@ def _import_browser_tool():
 
 BrowserTool = _import_browser_tool()
 
+# MCP Tools (no extra dependencies, loaded on demand)
+def _import_mcp_tools():
+    """导入 MCP 工具模块（无额外依赖，按需加载）"""
+    from common.log import logger
+    try:
+        from agent.tools.mcp.mcp_tool import McpTool
+        from agent.tools.mcp.mcp_client import McpClientRegistry
+        return {'McpTool': McpTool, 'McpClientRegistry': McpClientRegistry}
+    except Exception as e:
+        logger.warning(f"[Tools] MCP tools not loaded: {e}")
+        return {}
+
+_mcp_tools = _import_mcp_tools()
+McpTool = _mcp_tools.get('McpTool')
+McpClientRegistry = _mcp_tools.get('McpClientRegistry')
+
 # Export all tools (including optional ones that might be None)
 __all__ = [
     'BaseTool',
@@ -125,6 +141,7 @@ __all__ = [
     'WebFetch',
     'Vision',
     'BrowserTool',
+    'McpTool',
 ]
 
 """

agent/tools/mcp/__init__.py

@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+from agent.tools.mcp.mcp_client import McpClient, McpClientRegistry
+from agent.tools.mcp.mcp_tool import McpTool
+
+__all__ = ["McpClient", "McpClientRegistry", "McpTool"]

agent/tools/mcp/mcp_client.py

@@ -0,0 +1,344 @@
+"""
+MCP (Model Context Protocol) client module.
+
+Implements JSON-RPC 2.0 over stdio and SSE transports without any external
+MCP SDK dependency.
+"""
+
+import json
+import subprocess
+import threading
+import urllib.request
+import urllib.error
+from typing import Optional
+
+from common.log import logger
+
+
+class McpClient:
+    """Single MCP Server client supporting stdio and SSE transports."""
+
+    def __init__(self, config: dict):
+        """
+        config examples:
+          stdio: {"name": "filesystem", "type": "stdio", "command": "npx", "args": [...]}
+          SSE:   {"name": "my-api",    "type": "sse",   "url": "http://localhost:8000/sse"}
+        """
+        self.config = config
+        self.name: str = config.get("name", "unknown")
+        self.transport: str = config.get("type", "stdio")
+
+        # stdio state
+        self._proc: Optional[subprocess.Popen] = None
+
+        # SSE state
+        self._sse_url: Optional[str] = None
+        self._post_url: Optional[str] = None  # endpoint for sending messages (resolved from SSE)
+
+        # Shared state
+        self._next_id = 1
+        self._id_lock = threading.Lock()
+        self._initialized = False
+
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+    # Public interface
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+    def initialize(self) -> bool:
+        """Connect and perform the MCP handshake. Returns True on success."""
+        try:
+            if self.transport == "stdio":
+                return self._init_stdio()
+            elif self.transport == "sse":
+                return self._init_sse()
+            else:
+                logger.warning(f"[MCP:{self.name}] Unknown transport type: {self.transport!r}")
+                return False
+        except Exception as e:
+            logger.warning(f"[MCP:{self.name}] Initialization failed: {e}")
+            return False
+
+    def list_tools(self) -> list:
+        """Return the tool list from this server.
+
+        Each item is a dict: {"name": str, "description": str, "inputSchema": dict}
+        """
+        try:
+            resp = self._send_request("tools/list", {})
+            tools = resp.get("result", {}).get("tools", [])
+            return [
+                {
+                    "name": t.get("name", ""),
+                    "description": t.get("description", ""),
+                    "inputSchema": t.get("inputSchema", {}),
+                }
+                for t in tools
+            ]
+        except Exception as e:
+            logger.warning(f"[MCP:{self.name}] list_tools failed: {e}")
+            return []
+
+    def call_tool(self, name: str, arguments: dict) -> str:
+        """Call a tool and return the result as a string."""
+        try:
+            resp = self._send_request("tools/call", {"name": name, "arguments": arguments})
+            content = resp.get("result", {}).get("content", [])
+            parts = [item.get("text", "") for item in content if item.get("type") == "text"]
+            return "\n".join(parts)
+        except Exception as e:
+            logger.warning(f"[MCP:{self.name}] call_tool({name}) failed: {e}")
+            return f"Error: {e}"
+
+    def shutdown(self):
+        """Close the connection / terminate the child process."""
+        if self._proc is not None:
+            try:
+                self._proc.stdin.close()
+            except Exception:
+                pass
+            try:
+                self._proc.terminate()
+                self._proc.wait(timeout=5)
+            except Exception:
+                try:
+                    self._proc.kill()
+                except Exception:
+                    pass
+            self._proc = None
+            logger.debug(f"[MCP:{self.name}] stdio process terminated")
+        self._initialized = False
+
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+    # stdio transport
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+    def _init_stdio(self) -> bool:
+        command = self.config.get("command")
+        if not command:
+            logger.warning(f"[MCP:{self.name}] stdio config missing 'command'")
+            return False
+
+        args = self.config.get("args", [])
+        env = self.config.get("env", None)
+
+        self._proc = subprocess.Popen(
+            [command] + list(args),
+            stdin=subprocess.PIPE,
+            stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
+            stderr=subprocess.PIPE,
+            text=True,
+            encoding="utf-8",
+            env=env,
+        )
+        logger.debug(f"[MCP:{self.name}] stdio process started (pid={self._proc.pid})")
+        return self._handshake()
+
+    def _stdio_send(self, message: dict) -> dict:
+        """Send a JSON-RPC message over stdio and read the response."""
+        raw = json.dumps(message) + "\n"
+        self._proc.stdin.write(raw)
+        self._proc.stdin.flush()
+
+        while True:
+            line = self._proc.stdout.readline()
+            if not line:
+                raise IOError(f"[MCP:{self.name}] stdio process closed unexpectedly")
+            line = line.strip()
+            if not line:
+                continue
+            return json.loads(line)
+
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+    # SSE transport
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+    def _init_sse(self) -> bool:
+        url = self.config.get("url")
+        if not url:
+            logger.warning(f"[MCP:{self.name}] SSE config missing 'url'")
+            return False
+
+        self._sse_url = url
+
+        # Read the first SSE event to discover the POST endpoint
+        try:
+            self._post_url = self._sse_discover_endpoint()
+        except Exception as e:
+            logger.warning(f"[MCP:{self.name}] SSE endpoint discovery failed: {e}")
+            return False
+
+        return self._handshake()
+
+    def _sse_discover_endpoint(self) -> str:
+        """Open SSE stream and read the 'endpoint' event to learn the POST URL."""
+        req = urllib.request.Request(
+            self._sse_url,
+            headers={"Accept": "text/event-stream"},
+        )
+        with urllib.request.urlopen(req, timeout=10) as resp:
+            for raw_line in resp:
+                line = raw_line.decode("utf-8").rstrip("\n\r")
+                if line.startswith("data:"):
+                    data = line[len("data:"):].strip()
+                    # Some servers send JSON with a "uri" or plain path
+                    if data.startswith("{"):
+                        parsed = json.loads(data)
+                        return parsed.get("uri") or parsed.get("url") or parsed.get("endpoint")
+                    # Plain relative or absolute URL
+                    if data.startswith("http"):
+                        return data
+                    # Relative path: resolve against SSE base
+                    from urllib.parse import urljoin
+                    return urljoin(self._sse_url, data)
+        raise ValueError(f"[MCP:{self.name}] No endpoint event received from SSE stream")
+
+    def _sse_send(self, message: dict) -> dict:
+        """POST a JSON-RPC message to the server and return the response."""
+        body = json.dumps(message).encode("utf-8")
+        req = urllib.request.Request(
+            self._post_url,
+            data=body,
+            method="POST",
+            headers={"Content-Type": "application/json"},
+        )
+        with urllib.request.urlopen(req, timeout=30) as resp:
+            raw = resp.read().decode("utf-8")
+            return json.loads(raw)
+
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+    # Common JSON-RPC helpers
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+    def _next_request_id(self) -> int:
+        with self._id_lock:
+            rid = self._next_id
+            self._next_id += 1
+        return rid
+
+    def _build_request(self, method: str, params: dict) -> dict:
+        return {
+            "jsonrpc": "2.0",
+            "id": self._next_request_id(),
+            "method": method,
+            "params": params,
+        }
+
+    def _build_notification(self, method: str, params: dict) -> dict:
+        return {"jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": method, "params": params}
+
+    def _send_request(self, method: str, params: dict) -> dict:
+        """Send a request and return the full response dict."""
+        if not self._initialized and method != "initialize":
+            raise RuntimeError(f"[MCP:{self.name}] Client not initialized")
+
+        message = self._build_request(method, params)
+
+        if self.transport == "stdio":
+            return self._stdio_send(message)
+        elif self.transport == "sse":
+            return self._sse_send(message)
+        else:
+            raise ValueError(f"[MCP:{self.name}] Unsupported transport: {self.transport}")
+
+    def _send_notification(self, method: str, params: dict):
+        """Fire-and-forget notification (no response expected)."""
+        notification = self._build_notification(method, params)
+        raw = json.dumps(notification) + "\n"
+
+        if self.transport == "stdio":
+            self._proc.stdin.write(raw)
+            self._proc.stdin.flush()
+        elif self.transport == "sse":
+            body = raw.encode("utf-8")
+            req = urllib.request.Request(
+                self._post_url,
+                data=body,
+                method="POST",
+                headers={"Content-Type": "application/json"},
+            )
+            try:
+                with urllib.request.urlopen(req, timeout=10):
+                    pass
+            except Exception:
+                pass  # notifications are fire-and-forget
+
+    def _handshake(self) -> bool:
+        """Perform the MCP initialize / notifications/initialized handshake."""
+        init_params = {
+            "protocolVersion": "2024-11-05",
+            "capabilities": {},
+            "clientInfo": {"name": "CowAgent", "version": "1.0"},
+        }
+        # Temporarily mark as initialized so _send_request doesn't block
+        self._initialized = True
+        try:
+            resp = self._send_request("initialize", init_params)
+        except Exception as e:
+            self._initialized = False
+            logger.warning(f"[MCP:{self.name}] Handshake initialize failed: {e}")
+            return False
+
+        if "error" in resp:
+            self._initialized = False
+            logger.warning(f"[MCP:{self.name}] Handshake error: {resp['error']}")
+            return False
+
+        self._send_notification("notifications/initialized", {})
+        logger.debug(f"[MCP:{self.name}] Handshake complete")
+        return True
+
+
+class McpClientRegistry:
+    """Global singleton managing the lifecycle of all MCP Server clients."""
+
+    _instance = None
+    _instance_lock = threading.Lock()
+
+    def __new__(cls):
+        with cls._instance_lock:
+            if cls._instance is None:
+                obj = super().__new__(cls)
+                obj._clients: dict[str, McpClient] = {}
+                obj._registry_lock = threading.Lock()
+                cls._instance = obj
+        return cls._instance
+
+    def start_all(self, configs: list) -> None:
+        """Initialize McpClient for each config entry; skip failures with a warning."""
+        if not configs:
+            return
+
+        for cfg in configs:
+            name = cfg.get("name", "<unnamed>")
+            client = McpClient(cfg)
+            ok = client.initialize()
+            if ok:
+                with self._registry_lock:
+                    self._clients[name] = client
+                logger.info(f"[MCP] Server '{name}' initialized successfully")
+            else:
+                logger.warning(f"[MCP] Server '{name}' failed to initialize — skipping")
+
+    def get(self, server_name: str) -> Optional[McpClient]:
+        """Return the initialized client for server_name, or None."""
+        with self._registry_lock:
+            return self._clients.get(server_name)
+
+    def all_clients(self) -> dict:
+        """Return a copy of the {name: McpClient} mapping."""
+        with self._registry_lock:
+            return dict(self._clients)
+
+    def shutdown_all(self) -> None:
+        """Shut down all managed clients."""
+        with self._registry_lock:
+            clients = list(self._clients.values())
+            self._clients.clear()
+
+        for client in clients:
+            try:
+                client.shutdown()
+            except Exception as e:
+                logger.warning(f"[MCP] Error shutting down '{client.name}': {e}")
+
+        logger.info("[MCP] All servers shut down")

agent/tools/mcp/mcp_tool.py

@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+from agent.tools.base_tool import BaseTool, ToolResult
+from common.log import logger
+
+
+class McpTool(BaseTool):
+    """
+    将单个 MCP 工具包装为 BaseTool。
+    一个 MCP Server 可以提供多个工具，每个工具对应一个 McpTool 实例。
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, client, tool_schema: dict, server_name: str):
+        """
+        :param client: 该工具所属的 McpClient 实例
+        :param tool_schema: MCP 返回的工具描述，格式：
+            {"name": str, "description": str, "inputSchema": dict}
+        :param server_name: Server 名称，用于日志
+        """
+        self.client = client
+        self.server_name = server_name
+        self.name = tool_schema["name"]
+        self.description = tool_schema.get("description", "")
+        self.params = tool_schema.get("inputSchema", {})
+
+    def execute(self, params: dict) -> ToolResult:
+        logger.info(f"[McpTool] server={self.server_name} tool={self.name} params={params}")
+        try:
+            result = self.client.call_tool(self.name, params)
+            return ToolResult.success(result)
+        except Exception as e:
+            logger.error(f"[McpTool] server={self.server_name} tool={self.name} error: {e}")
+            return ToolResult.fail(str(e))

agent/tools/tool_manager.py

@@ -25,6 +25,10 @@ class ToolManager:
         # Initialize only once
         if not hasattr(self, 'tool_classes'):
             self.tool_classes = {}  # Dictionary to store tool classes
+        if not hasattr(self, '_mcp_registry'):
+            self._mcp_registry = None  # 懒初始化，有配置时才创建
+        if not hasattr(self, '_mcp_tool_instances'):
+            self._mcp_tool_instances: dict = {}  # tool_name -> McpTool instance
 
     def load_tools(self, tools_dir: str = "", config_dict=None):
         """
@@ -39,6 +43,8 @@ class ToolManager:
             self._load_tools_from_init()
             self._configure_tools_from_config(config_dict)
 
+        self._load_mcp_tools()
+
     def _load_tools_from_init(self) -> bool:
         """
         Load tool classes from tools.__init__.__all__
@@ -70,10 +76,14 @@ class ToolManager:
                                     and cls != BaseTool
                             ):
                                 try:
-                                    # Skip memory tools (they need special initialization with memory_manager)
+                                    # Skip tools that need special initialization
                                     if class_name in ["MemorySearchTool", "MemoryGetTool"]:
                                         logger.debug(f"Skipped tool {class_name} (requires memory_manager)")
                                         continue
+                                    # McpTool instances are registered dynamically via _load_mcp_tools()
+                                    if class_name == "McpTool":
+                                        logger.debug(f"Skipped tool {class_name} (registered dynamically via mcp_servers config)")
+                                        continue
                                     
                                     # Create a temporary instance to get the name
                                     temp_instance = cls()
@@ -212,6 +222,36 @@ class ToolManager:
         except Exception as e:
             logger.error(f"Error configuring tools from config: {e}")
 
+    def _load_mcp_tools(self):
+        """Load MCP tools from mcp_servers config. Failures are non-fatal."""
+        try:
+            mcp_servers_config = conf().get("mcp_servers", [])
+            if not mcp_servers_config:
+                return
+
+            from agent.tools.mcp.mcp_client import McpClientRegistry
+            from agent.tools.mcp.mcp_tool import McpTool
+
+            self._mcp_registry = McpClientRegistry()
+            self._mcp_registry.start_all(mcp_servers_config)
+
+            for server_name, client in self._mcp_registry.all_clients().items():
+                try:
+                    tool_schemas = client.list_tools()
+                    for schema in tool_schemas:
+                        tool_name = schema.get("name", "")
+                        if not tool_name:
+                            continue
+                        mcp_tool = McpTool(client, schema, server_name)
+                        self._mcp_tool_instances[tool_name] = mcp_tool
+                        logger.debug(f"[ToolManager] Loaded MCP tool: {tool_name} from server '{server_name}'")
+                except Exception as e:
+                    logger.warning(f"[ToolManager] Failed to list tools from MCP server '{server_name}': {e}")
+
+            logger.info(f"[ToolManager] Loaded {len(self._mcp_tool_instances)} MCP tool(s) in total")
+        except Exception as e:
+            logger.warning(f"[ToolManager] MCP tool loading failed, skipping: {e}")
+
     def create_tool(self, name: str) -> BaseTool:
         """
         Get a new instance of a tool by name.
@@ -229,6 +269,12 @@ class ToolManager:
                 tool_instance.config = self.tool_configs[name]
 
             return tool_instance
+
+        # Fall back to MCP tool instances
+        mcp_tool = self._mcp_tool_instances.get(name)
+        if mcp_tool:
+            return mcp_tool
+
         return None
 
     def list_tools(self) -> dict:
@@ -245,4 +291,17 @@ class ToolManager:
                 "description": temp_instance.description,
                 "parameters": temp_instance.get_json_schema()
             }
+
+        # Include MCP tool instances
+        for name, mcp_tool in self._mcp_tool_instances.items():
+            result[name] = {
+                "description": mcp_tool.description,
+                "parameters": mcp_tool.params,
+            }
+
         return result
+
+    def shutdown_mcp(self):
+        """Shut down all MCP server clients."""
+        if self._mcp_registry:
+            self._mcp_registry.shutdown_all()

config.py

@@ -219,6 +219,19 @@ available_setting = {
     # using the rule: skill[<name>][<key>] -> SKILL_<NAME>_<KEY>
     # (e.g. skill["image-generation"].model -> SKILL_IMAGE_GENERATION_MODEL).
     "skill": {},
+    # MCP (Model Context Protocol) server list.
+    # Each entry describes one MCP server to connect at startup.
+    # Supported types:
+    #   stdio — launch a local process and communicate over stdin/stdout
+    #   sse   — connect to a remote server via HTTP + Server-Sent Events
+    #
+    # Example:
+    #   "mcp_servers": [
+    #     {"name": "filesystem", "type": "stdio", "command": "npx",
+    #      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem", "/tmp"]},
+    #     {"name": "my-api", "type": "sse", "url": "http://localhost:8000/sse"}
+    #   ]
+    "mcp_servers": [],
 }