Agora Workbench¶
A toolkit for building MCP servers with isolated code execution environments, domain-specific tools, and agent-discoverable workflows.
What is Agora Workbench?¶
Agora Workbench provides CodeExecutionServer — a base class for building MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers that execute Python code in sandboxed environments with domain-specific packages. An AI agent connects to your server, discovers available tools, and runs code against them.
New to Agora Workbench? Start with Core concepts for the mental model behind the design.
Key capabilities:
- Isolated code execution — each server runs Python in its own environment (uv, conda, or pip) with its own dependencies
- Domain tools & skills — register typed tool definitions and multi-step skill workflows that the agent can discover and invoke
- Data access — server-side file catalog with hybrid keyword + vector search over local and blob storage artifacts
- Authentication — pluggable auth with built-in support for Azure Entra ID and no-op dev mode
- Server networks — compose multiple servers behind a
ConnectorServer(router or gateway) for multi-domain deployments - Deployment — Docker-based deployment with Azure Container Apps support
- Real-time activity UI — a browser dashboard that streams your agent's activity in real time, grouped by session
Quick links¶
| I want to… | Go to… |
|---|---|
| Build my first server | Your First Server tutorial · All server options |
| Add domain tools | Tool pattern |
| Add multi-step skills | Skill pattern |
| Teach my agent how to use the servers | Attaching to your agent |
| Write effective tools and skills | Writing effective tools and skills |
| Work with data files | Working with data |
| Connect multiple servers | Server networks |
| Deploy to production | Deploying your server |
| Watch my agent live | Monitoring your servers |
| Configure authentication | Authentication options |
| Extend with custom interfaces | Extension points |
Tutorials¶
Build a server from scratch, or wire an existing agent to a running Workbench MCP server.
The SDK connection tutorials require a running server. Follow Start the chemistry MCP server first when using the MAF, OpenAI Agents SDK, or GitHub Copilot SDK walkthroughs. The Your First Server tutorial creates its own server instead.
| Tutorial | What you'll learn |
|---|---|
| Your First Server | Build a server with a real domain tool, end-to-end |
| Microsoft Agent Framework (MAF) | Connect a MAF agent to a running Workbench server |
| OpenAI Agents SDK | Connect an OpenAI agent to a running Workbench server |
| GitHub Copilot SDK | Connect a Copilot agent to a running Workbench server |
Source¶
Code, issues, and contributions: https://github.com/microsoft/agora-workbench.