Connecting MCP Clients to the watsonx Orchestrate ADK MCP Server

To use the MCP Server, connect it to an MCP Client. The sections below show how to do that for several popular MCP Clients. If your client isn’t listed, check its documentation for connection instructions.

STDIO Transport

Create or open .bob/mcp.json

Create or open the .bob/mcp.json configuration file in your workspace (or ~/.bob/settings/mcp.json for global availability across all workspaces).

Add MCP Server configuration

Add the wxo-mcp (and optional wxo-docs) server configuration to the mcpServers object:

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "wxo-mcp": {
            "command": "uvx",
            "args": [
                "--with",
                "ibm-watsonx-orchestrate",
                "ibm-watsonx-orchestrate-mcp-server"
            ],
            "env": {
                "WXO_MCP_WORKING_DIRECTORY": "sample/working/directory"
            }
        },
        "wxo-docs": {
            "url": "https://developer.watson-orchestrate.ibm.com/mcp"
        }
    }
}

Save and Connect

Save the file. IBM Bob detects and connects to the MCP server automatically.

Open the Settings Developer

Edit the claude_desktop_config.json file

Click “Edit Config” to navigate to where the claude_desktop_config.json file is on disk.
Open the file in any text editor.

Add the MCP Server

Paste the following into the file:

JSON

{
    "mcpServers":{
        "wxo-mcp":{
            "command":"uvx",
            "args":[
                "--with",
                "ibm-watsonx-orchestrate==1.13.0",
                "ibm-watsonx-orchestrate-mcp-server"
            ],
            "env":{
                "WXO_MCP_WORKING_DIRECTORY":"sample/working/directory"
            },
            "wxo-docs":{
                "command":"uvx",
                "args":[
                    "mcp-proxy",
                    "--transport",
                    "streamablehttp",
                    "https://developer.watson-orchestrate.ibm.com/mcp"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

Restart Claude Desktop

Create file .vscode/mcp.json

Create a new file in your workspace called .vscode/mcp.json

Add MCP Server configuration

JSON

{
    "servers": {
        "wxo-mcp": {
        "command": "uvx",
        "args": [
            "--with",
            "ibm-watsonx-orchestrate==1.13.0",
            "ibm-watsonx-orchestrate-mcp-server"
        ],
        "env": {
           "WXO_MCP_WORKING_DIRECTORY":"sample/working/directory" 
        }
        },
        "wxo-docs": {
            "command": "uvx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-proxy",
                "--transport",
                "streamablehttp",
                "https://developer.watson-orchestrate.ibm.com/mcp"
            ],
        }
    }
}

List VSCode MCP Servers

Press Ctrl+P, type >MCP: List Servers, and select wxo-mcp.

Start the Server

Click the start server option.

Create file .cursor/mcp.json

Create a new file in your workspace called .cursor/mcp.json

Add MCP Server configuration

JSON

{
    "servers": {
        "wxo-mcp": {
        "command": "uvx",
        "args": [
            "--with",
            "ibm-watsonx-orchestrate==1.13.0",
            "ibm-watsonx-orchestrate-mcp-server"
        ],
        "env": {
           "WXO_MCP_WORKING_DIRECTORY":"sample/working/directory" 
        }
        },
        "wxo-docs": {
            "command": "uvx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-proxy",
                "--transport",
                "streamablehttp",
                "https://developer.watson-orchestrate.ibm.com/mcp"
            ],
        }
    }
}

List Cursor MCP Servers

Press Ctrl+P, type >MCP: List Servers, and select wxo-mcp.

Start the Server

Click the start server option.

Start MCP Inspector Server

BASH

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector

Entry the MCP Server details

Set transport to STDIO
Command: pipx
Argurments: run ibm-watsonx-orchestrate-mcp-server
Set any required environment variables
Click Connect

Remote Transports (SSE/HTTP STREAMABLE)

Remote transports let you connect clients to already running instances of the watsonx Orchestrate MCP Server. Use this setup to share a single instance across multiple clients or to connect a remote client to a server running on your local machine.

Create or open .bob/mcp.json

Create or open the .bob/mcp.json configuration file in your workspace (or ~/.bob/settings/mcp.json for global availability across all workspaces).

Add MCP Server configuration

Add the remote MCP server URL to the mcpServers object:

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "wxo-mcp": {
            "url": "http://127.0.0.1:8080"
        },
        "wxo-docs": {
            "url": "https://developer.watson-orchestrate.ibm.com/mcp"
        }
    }
}

Save and Connect

Save the file. IBM Bob detects and connects to the MCP server automatically.

For more details on importing remote MCP servers into watsonx Orchestrate, see Importing remote MCP toolkits.

BASH

    orchestrate toolkits add --kind mcp --name <toolkit-name> --description <toolkit-description>  --url <toolkit-url>  --transport <protocol-for-remote-mcp> --tools <tools>  --app-id <connection>

Create file .vscode/mcp.json

Create a new file in your workspace called .vscode/mcp.json

Add MCP Server configuration

JSON

{
    "servers": {
        "wxo-mcp": {
            "type": "http", // transport either "http" or "sse"
            "url": <mcp server url>
        },
        "wxo-docs": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://developer.watson-orchestrate.ibm.com/mcp"
        }
    }
}

List VSCode MCP Servers

Press Ctrl+P, type >MCP: List Servers, and select wxo-mcp.

Start the Server

Click the start server option.

Create file .cursor/mcp.json

Create a new file in your workspace called .cursor/mcp.json

Add MCP Server configuration

JSON

{
    "servers": {
        "wxo-mcp": {
            "type": "http", // transport either "http" or "sse"
            "url": <mcp server url>
        },
        "wxo-docs": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://developer.watson-orchestrate.ibm.com/mcp"
        }
    }
}

List Cursor MCP Servers

Press Ctrl+P, type >MCP: List Servers, and select wxo-mcp.

Start the Server

Click the start server option.

Start MCP Inspector Server

BASH

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector

Entry the MCP Server details

Set transport to SSE or Steamable HTTP
Set the URL to your watsonx Orchestrate MCP Server
Click Connect

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Connecting MCP Clients to the watsonx Orchestrate ADK MCP Server

STDIO Transport

Remote Transports (SSE/HTTP STREAMABLE)

​STDIO Transport

​Remote Transports (SSE/HTTP STREAMABLE)

STDIO Transport

Remote Transports (SSE/HTTP STREAMABLE)