4 articles in category "Tools"
March 10, 2026 • Microsoft Agent Framework, Tools, MCP
We have spent the last two articles consuming MCP servers from a MAF agent. This one flips the picture: how to publish a MAF agent as an MCP server so that other agents and applications, in any framework, can call it as a tool.
March 9, 2026 • Microsoft Agent Framework, Tools, MCP, Foundry
Foundry can host the MCP connection on the agent's behalf. This article looks at how a hosted MCP tool differs from the local MCP setup we built last time, where authentication moves, and how to wire one up via FoundryChatClient.get_mcp_tool.
March 8, 2026 • Microsoft Agent Framework, Tools, MCP
Function tools cover code you write yourself. MCP servers cover tools that other people write. This article looks at how to connect a Microsoft Agent Framework agent to a local MCP server, what the agent actually sees when you do, and how MCP tools coexist with the function tools we have already used.
March 2, 2026 • Microsoft Agent Framework, Agents, Tools
Function tools turn ordinary Python functions into capabilities your agent can call. This article looks at how MAF converts type hints into schemas, what return types it accepts, how async tools work, and what happens when a tool raises an error.
