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Tools & Knowledge

MCP Servers

Last updated 2026-08-13

An MCP server is the second way tools reach the agent. Where an extension is a bundle Loca installs, an MCP server is a separate program that already speaks the Model Context Protocol, and Loca connects to it as a provider. If a service you use ships an MCP server, connecting it hands its abilities to the agent without anyone packaging them as a Loca extension first.

Connecting a server

You add and manage servers under MCP Servers in Settings. A server connects one of two ways:

  • A local command that Loca runs on your machine, talking to it directly. This is the common case for a server distributed as a program you install.
  • A remote URL that Loca reaches over the network, for a server that is already running somewhere you can connect to.
MCP Servers Core

Connect MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers as another source of tools, prompts, and resources. A server's tools appear under Tools; its prompts trigger with / and its resources with @.

MCP Servers

Once a server is connected, Loca reads what it offers and folds each piece into the place you would expect it, so there is nothing new to learn about using it.

What a server brings

A server can offer three kinds of thing, and each shows up where its Loca counterpart already lives:

  • Tools appear in the Tools group right next to your extension tools, with the same on/off control, the same permissions, and the same relevance ranking. To the agent a tool is a tool, no matter which provider it came from.
  • Prompts become / commands you trigger in the message box, the same / list snippets and commands use. You enable the prompts you want per server, so only the ones you choose show up.
  • Resources are @-referenceable, sitting in the same @ list as your memories. Naming one drops its content into your message as reference data.

Caution

A local MCP server runs as a program on your machine and a remote one acts on your behalf over the network. Connect servers you trust, the same care you give to installing an extension.

How It Works

Loca plays the client side of the Model Context Protocol, a shared language for handing tools and data to an agent. For a local server it launches the command you gave and talks to it over the program’s own input and output streams; for a remote one it opens a network connection to the URL, using whatever sign-in the server requires, from nothing at all to a token or a full authorization flow. Either way, the first thing Loca does on connecting is ask the server to list what it offers, and it folds those tools into the very same shortlist that ranks your extension tools. That shared list is the whole trick: because an MCP tool and an extension tool look identical to the agent by the time it picks one, everything else in this manual about tools applies to both without exception.

With both kinds of provider covered, the next chapter is your saved knowledge, starting with Memories.