open-webui-docs/docs/features/mcp.mdx

---
title: Model Context Protocol (MCP)
sidebar_position: 1200
---

Open WebUI natively supports **MCP (Model Context Protocol)** starting in **v0.6.31**. This page shows how to enable it quickly, harden it for production, and troubleshoot common snags.

:::info 
Requires **Open WebUI v0.6.31+**.
:::

:::danger Prerequisite: WEBUI_SECRET_KEY
You **MUST** set the `WEBUI_SECRET_KEY` environment variable in your Docker setup. Without it, **OAuth-connected MCP tools (like Notion)** will **break** every time you restart or recreate the container (Error: `Error decrypting tokens`), forcing you to re-authenticate everything.
:::

## 🚀 Quick start 

1. Open **⚙️ Admin Settings → External Tools**.
2. Click **+ (Add Server)**.
3. Set **Type** to **MCP (Streamable HTTP)**.
4. Enter your **Server URL** and **Auth** details (OAuth 2.1, if required).
5. **Save**. If prompted, restart Open WebUI.

You can now call tools exposed by your MCP server from Open WebUI.

:::warning Common Mistake: Wrong Connection Type
If you are adding an MCP server, make sure **Type** is set to **MCP (Streamable HTTP)**, not **OpenAPI**.

Entering MCP-style configuration (with `mcpServers` in JSON) into an OpenAPI connection will cause the UI to crash or display an infinite loading screen. If you encounter this:

1. Disable the problematic tool connection via Admin Settings
2. Re-add it with the correct **Type** set to **MCP**
:::

## 🧭 When to use MCP vs OpenAPI

:::tip 
For most deployments, **OpenAPI** remains the **preferred** integration path.
:::

Choose **OpenAPI** if you want:

* **Enterprise readiness**: deep SSO, API gateways, audit, quotas, typed SDKs.
* **Operational resilience**: standard HTTP verbs, idempotency, caching, rich error codes.
* **Observability**: first-class tracing and policy integration.

Choose **MCP (Streamable HTTP)** if you need:

* A **common tool protocol** already used by your MCP servers/clients.
* **Streamed** tool events over HTTP with emerging ecosystem support.

> You don’t have to pick one: many teams expose OpenAPI internally and **wrap MCP** at the edge for specific clients.

:::warning
Browser-based, multi-user deployments increase the surface area (CORS/CSRF, per-user isolation, reconnects). Review your org’s auth, proxy, and rate-limiting policies before exposing MCP externally.
:::

## ⚙️ Configuration Best Practices

### Authentication Modes

*   **None**: Use this for **local MCP servers** or internal networks where no token is required.
    *   **⚠️ Important**: Default to "None" unless your server strictly requires a token. Selecting "Bearer" without providing a key sends an empty Authorization header (`Authorization: Bearer`), which causes many servers to reject the connection immediately.
*   **Bearer**: Use this **only** if your MCP server requires a specific API token. You **must** populate the "Key" field.
*   **OAuth 2.1**: For secured, enterprise deployments requiring Identity Provider flows.

### Connection URLs

If you are running Open WebUI in **Docker** and your MCP server is on the **host machine**:
*   Use `http://host.docker.internal:<port>` (e.g., `http://host.docker.internal:3000/sse`) instead of `localhost`.

### Function Name Filter List

This field restricts which tools are exposed to the LLM.
*   **Default**: Leave empty to expose all tools (in most cases).
*   **Workaround**: If you encounter connection errors with an empty list, try adding a single comma (`,`) to this field. This forces the system to treat it as a valid (but empty) filter, potentially bypassing some parsing issues.

## Troubleshooting

### "Failed to connect to MCP server"

**Symptom**: 
The chat shows "Failed to connect to MCP server" when using a tool, even if the **Verify Connection** button in settings says "Connected".

**Solutions**:
1.  **Check Authentication**: Ensure you haven't selected `Bearer` without a key. Switch to `None` if no token is needed.
2.  **Filter List Bug**: If the "Function Name Filter List" is empty, try adding a comma (`,`) to it.

### Infinite loading screen after adding External Tool

**Symptom**: 
After adding an External Tool connection, the frontend gets stuck on a loading spinner. The browser console shows an error like `Cannot convert undefined or null to object at Object.entries`.

**Cause**: 
You likely configured an **MCP server** using the **OpenAPI** connection type, or entered MCP-style JSON (containing `mcpServers`) into an OpenAPI connection.

**Solution**:
1.  Open **Admin Settings → External Tools** (the sidebar still loads)
2.  **Disable** or **delete** the problematic tool connection
3.  Refresh the page (Ctrl+F5)
4.  Re-add the connection with the correct **Type** set to **MCP (Streamable HTTP)**

## ❓ FAQ

**Do you support stdio or SSE transports?**

Native MCP support in Open WebUI is **Streamable HTTP only**. This design choice reflects our architecture: Open WebUI is a **web-based, multi-tenant environment**, not a local desktop process.

Browsers operate within strict **sandboxed and event-driven HTTP constraints**, making long-lived stdio or SSE connections difficult to maintain securely across users and sessions.

If you need to bridge those other MCP transports, check out [**mcpo**](https://github.com/open-webui/mcpo) — an open-source proxy that translates **stdio or SSE-based MCP servers into OpenAPI-compatible endpoints**. It effectively lets you run traditional MCP tools inside Open WebUI without modifying their transport layer.

**Is MCP considered stable here?**

Supported and improving. The broader ecosystem is still evolving; expect occasional breaking changes.

**Can I mix OpenAPI and MCP tools?**

Yes. Many deployments do both.