Start the chemistry MCP server¶
All connection tutorials use the bundled chemistry server as the local Agora Workbench MCP server. Follow these steps once before running any tutorial.
The Agora Workbench library is available from PyPI, but this bundled example and its Docker files are repository assets. Clone the matching release before continuing:
git clone --branch v0.2.1 --depth 1 https://github.com/microsoft/agora-workbench.git
cd agora-workbench
1. Build the shared MCP base image (once)¶
From the repository root:
docker build -f src/agora_workbench/deployment/templates/docker/base.Dockerfile --build-arg AGORA_WORKBENCH_SOURCE=local -t mcp-server-base:local .
2. Bring the server up¶
⚠️ Local-dev auth only — the bundled server accepts any bearer token and binds to
127.0.0.1only. Do not deploy this configuration.
docker network inspect agora-activity >/dev/null 2>&1 || docker network create agora-activity
cd examples/servers/chemistry
docker compose up -d --build
curl http://localhost:8020/health
# => {"status":"healthy", ...}
The server is now listening at http://localhost:8020/mcp.