MCP use cases and flows

Setup steps for connecting a public or private external tool to UiPath as a Remote MCP Server, and the authentication required for each.

Many of the tools your agents need already exist somewhere else, maybe in a software running quietly inside your own infrastructure. A Remote MCP Server lets you bring any of these into UiPath as an MCP tool, so your agents can discover and call them the same way they use tools built natively on the platform and inheriting the UiPath platform governance features.

How you connect depends on where the tool lives:

• Directly, if it's already public on the internet.
• Through UiPath Relay, if it lives inside your own network.

This page walks through both, with the setup steps for each. For the other MCP Server types, UiPath, Coded, Command, and Self-Hosted, see MCP Server types.

Use cases

• Bring a partner's API into your automations: your team already has API access to a shipping carrier or a payment provider. As a Remote MCP Server, it's available to your agents directly, with no custom integration to build or maintain.
• Connect a SaaS tool your agents already need: many popular platforms publish their own public MCP Server. Once it's added in Orchestrator, it's available to every agent and automation with access to that folder.
• Reach an internal system without exposing it to the internet: your ticketing system or a legacy service runs inside your own data center and can't be published publicly. Through Relay, your agents can call its tools without a single inbound port opened.

At a glance

	Use Case 1: Relay	Use Case 2: Direct
Best for	Tools inside your own network or data center	Tools already reachable on the internet
Extra setup	Relay Client installed and registered in your network	None beyond adding the MCP Server
Inbound firewall changes	None, Relay keeps an outbound-only tunnel open	None

Use Case 1: External MCP via Relay + OAuth

Request flow

The scenario

A tool your agents need, an ERP, a ticketing system, or a legacy service, runs inside your own network, behind a firewall, and isn't reachable from the public internet. You want your UiPath agents to call its tools the same way they call any other MCP Server in your catalog, without exposing it to the internet.

Reachability and identity need to be addressed:

• Reaching a host with no public route - solved via UiPath Relay
• Proving the caller's UiPath identity - solved via OAuth dynamic authentication

The tool's own credential stays separate from both.

If the tool is already reachable from the public internet, use Use Case 2 instead as you don't need Relay.

Setting up the connection

Prerequisites:

• Relay provisioned for your tenant, with the Relay Client installed and registered in your network. See the Relay admin guide for enablement.
• Your identity has the MCPServers.View permission in the folder that will hold the MCP Server. The Automation User and Automation Developer roles include it.
• The credential the tool itself requires, an API key or an Integration Service connection, is ready in that folder.

Instructions

1. On the MCP Servers page, select Add MCP Server.
2. Select the Remote type.
3. Enter a Name for the MCP Server.
4. Add a Description.
5. Set the connection type to Private (Relay).
6. Configure Authentication:
   • Connection: select or add an Integration Service connection to be used for getting the authentication token.
     
   • Authentication Token: in the Header section, add a static authentication token. We recommend referencing an asset instead of hardcoding a secret, for example Authorization: %ASSETS/RemoteBearerToken%.
     
7. In Remote URL, enter the tool's address as seen inside your network, the same address the Relay Client already reaches.
8. Select Add.

Authenticating the caller

Callers authenticate the same way as with any other MCP Server: through the MCP OAuth flow for interactive clients like an IDE, or a personal access token, external application, or interactive login for automated callers. See MCP Server authentication for the full method matrix.

POST https://cloud.uipath.com/{org}/{tenant}/agenthub_/mcp/{folderKey}/{slug}
Authorization: Bearer <token>
Content-Type: application/json

{ "jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": "tools/list", "id": 1 }

Your sign-in credentials are never shared with the tool. Its own credential, from the Headers or Connection field above, is applied separately on every call.

Verifying the connection

A tools/list call that returns the tool's tools confirms both the caller's identity and the tool's own credential passed. If the call fails:

• 401 usually means the caller's token.
• 403 usually means the folder is missing MCPServers.View.
• 502 or 504 usually means the Relay Client is offline, or the tool rejected its own credential.

See Troubleshooting MCP Server authentication and Troubleshooting MCP Servers for more detail.

Use Case 2: External MCP, direct + OAuth

The scenario

A tool your agents need is already published on the public internet, a SaaS or partner MCP Server, or one you host and expose yourself. You want your agents to call it the same way they call any other MCP Server, with the same governance and audit trail, without needing Relay.

If the tool is private or on-premises, use Use Case 1 instead.

Setting up the connection

Prerequisites:

• Your identity has the MCPServers.View permission in the folder that will hold the MCP Server. The Automation User and Automation Developer roles include it.
• The credential the tool itself requires, an API key or an Integration Service connection, is ready in that folder.

Instructions

1. On the MCP Servers page, select Add MCP Server.
2. Select the Remote type.
3. Enter a Name for the MCP Server.
4. Add a Description.
5. Set the connection type to Standard.
6. Configure Authentication:
   • Connection: select or add an Integration Service connection to be used for getting the authentication token.
     
   • Authentication Token: in the Header section, add a static authentication token. We recommend referencing an asset instead of hardcoding a secret, for example Authorization: %ASSETS/RemoteBearerToken%.
     
7. In Remote URL, enter the tool's address as seen inside your network.
8. Select Add.

Authenticating the caller

Callers authenticate the same way as with any other MCP Server: through the MCP OAuth flow for interactive clients like an IDE, or a personal access token, external application, or interactive login for automated callers. See MCP Server authentication for the full method matrix.

POST https://cloud.uipath.com/{org}/{tenant}/agenthub_/mcp/{folderKey}/{slug}
Authorization: Bearer <token>
Content-Type: application/json

{ "jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": "tools/list", "id": 1 }

Verifying the connection

A tools/list call that returns the tool's tools confirms the connection works. If the call fails:

• 401 usually means the caller's token.
• 403 usually means the folder is missing MCPServers.View.
• 502 usually means the tool is unreachable, or it rejected its own credential.
• A connection error where none is expected usually means the address resolves to a private or internal host; switch to Use Case 1 instead.

See Troubleshooting MCP Server authentication and Troubleshooting MCP Servers for more detail.