Integrations
Integrations are the real backends that replace each local piece this course ran on: a client over a real transport, another model provider, a ready-made agent loop, and a deployed server.
Last updated: 29 Sep, 2026 · MCP 2.2
Every runnable lesson so far used an in-process Client(mcp), and part 6 used one free hosted model. This lesson maps each piece to what you run in production, and shows that a swap changes one line, not the agent.
What you ran on, and its real version
| What you ran on | A real one | The package or transport |
|---|---|---|
Client(mcp), a server object | A client over stdio or Streamable HTTP | StdioServerParameters or a URL, from mcp (the stdio and Streamable HTTP lessons) |
The Groq model, openai/gpt-oss-120b | Any chat model LangChain supports: Gemini, Anthropic, OpenAI | init_chat_model with that provider's string, and its package |
run_agent, the loop you wrote | create_agent with MCPAdapter | langchain[mcp] (the agent-loop lesson's video example) |
A local python shop.py | A deployed, remote MCP server | Streamable HTTP behind a host name, with transport_security |
The ORDERS dict | A real database | A driver opened once in the lifespan (the Lifespan lesson) |
Swapping the client to stdio
The agent from the agent-loop lesson talks to a client. It never cares how that client connects, so moving off the in-process client changes only the argument you pass to Client:
# in memory, as the earlier lessons ran it:
async with Client(mcp) as client:
...
# the same agent, now over stdio:
server = StdioServerParameters(command=sys.executable, args=["shop.py"])
async with Client(server) as client:
...- written in stdio transport
- written in Agent loop
View the code here
from typing import Annotated, Literal
from pydantic import BaseModel, Field
from mcp.server import MCPServer
from mcp.server.mcpserver.prompts.base import AssistantMessage, Message, UserMessage
from mcp.server.mcpserver.exceptions import ResourceNotFoundError, ToolError
from mcp.types import ToolAnnotations
mcp = MCPServer("Shop support")
ORDERS = {
"A17": {"item": "blue mug", "status": "shipped", "total": 12.50},
"B42": {"item": "desk lamp", "status": "processing", "total": 48.00},
}
ARTICLES = {
"Where is my order?": "orders",
"Changing an order": "orders",
"How refunds work": "refunds",
"Refunds for damaged items": "refunds",
"Resetting your password": "account",
}
class Order(BaseModel):
id: str
item: str
status: Literal["processing", "shipped", "delivered"]
total: float
@mcp.tool(annotations=ToolAnnotations(read_only_hint=True))
def lookup_order(order_id: str) -> Order:
"""Look up an order by its id."""
if order_id not in ORDERS:
raise ToolError(f"No order with id {order_id!r}. Order ids look like A17.")
return Order(id=order_id, **ORDERS[order_id])
@mcp.tool()
def search_help(
query: Annotated[str, Field(description="Words to look for in the help articles.")],
topic: Literal["orders", "refunds", "account"] | None = None,
limit: Annotated[int, Field(ge=1, le=5)] = 3,
) -> str:
"""Search the help centre and return matching article titles."""
found = [title for title, t in ARTICLES.items() if query.lower() in title.lower() and topic in (None, t)]
return "; ".join(found[:limit]) or "No articles found."
@mcp.tool(
title="Refund an order",
annotations=ToolAnnotations(read_only_hint=False, destructive_hint=False, idempotent_hint=False),
)
def refund_order(order_id: str, reason: str) -> str:
"""Refund the full total of an order to the customer's card."""
if order_id not in ORDERS:
raise ToolError(f"No order with id {order_id!r}.")
return f"Refunded {ORDERS[order_id]['total']:.2f} for order {order_id}: {reason}."
@mcp.resource("policy://refunds", mime_type="text/markdown")
def refund_policy() -> str:
"""The shop's refund policy."""
return "# Refunds\n\nFull refund within 30 days of delivery. Damaged items: refund or replacement."
@mcp.resource("orders://{order_id}", mime_type="application/json")
def order_record(order_id: str) -> Order:
"""The full record for one order."""
if order_id not in ORDERS:
raise ResourceNotFoundError(f"No order with id {order_id!r}.")
return Order(id=order_id, **ORDERS[order_id])
@mcp.prompt(title="Reply to a customer")
def reply_to_customer(ticket: str, tone: str = "friendly") -> list[Message]:
"""Draft a reply to a support ticket."""
return [
UserMessage(f"Write a {tone} reply to this support ticket:\n\n{ticket}"),
AssistantMessage("Hello, and thank you for getting in touch."),
]
if __name__ == "__main__":
mcp.run()
from langchain.chat_models import init_chat_model
from langchain.messages import HumanMessage, SystemMessage, ToolMessage
model = init_chat_model("groq:openai/gpt-oss-120b", temperature=0)
SYSTEM = (
"You are the support assistant for a small online shop. "
"Answer in one or two short sentences, using only what the tools returned."
)
def to_model_tools(tools):
return [
{
"type": "function",
"function": {
"name": tool.name,
"description": tool.description,
"parameters": tool.input_schema,
},
}
for tool in tools
]
async def run_tool(client, call):
print(f" calling {call['name']} {call['args']}")
result = await client.call_tool(call["name"], call["args"])
status = "error" if result.is_error else "success"
return ToolMessage(result.content[0].text, tool_call_id=call["id"], status=status)
async def run_agent(client, message):
listed = await client.list_tools()
llm = model.bind_tools(to_model_tools(listed.tools))
messages = [SystemMessage(SYSTEM), HumanMessage(message)]
for _ in range(3):
reply = await llm.ainvoke(messages)
messages.append(reply)
if not reply.tool_calls:
return reply.text
for call in reply.tool_calls:
messages.append(await run_tool(client, call))
return "Stopped after three rounds of tool calls."
The agent runs unchanged over stdio, against shop.py started as a child process. First put the stdio ending back at the end of shop.py, mcp.run() from the stdio lesson: with the Streamable HTTP ending, the server listens on port 8200 instead of standard input, and this client waits forever.
import asyncio
import sys
from mcp import Client, StdioServerParameters
from agent import run_agent
server = StdioServerParameters(command=sys.executable, args=["shop.py"])
async def main():
async with Client(server) as client:
for message in ["Where is my order B42?", "I need help with my refund"]:
print(message)
print(" ", await run_agent(client, message))
asyncio.run(main())Where is my order B42?
calling lookup_order {'order_id': 'B42'}
Your order B42 is currently being processed.
I need help with my refund
calling search_help {'limit': 3, 'query': 'refund', 'topic': 'refunds'}
Sure! You can read our “How refunds work” article for a quick overview, and see “Refunds for damaged items” if that’s your situation.- The agent code did not change. Only the object handed to
Clientdid, frommcptoStdioServerParameters. - The server ran as its own process, the way a desktop host launches it, and the model made the same tool calls it made in memory.
Swapping the model provider
The model is one line in agent.py. Any provider init_chat_model supports drops in. Gemini's free tier, for example, needs pip install "langchain-google-genai==4.4.0" and a GOOGLE_API_KEY from aistudio.google.com/apikey:
model = init_chat_model("google_genai:gemini-2.5-flash", temperature=0)The rest of run_agent stays as it is: it still lists the tools, calls the chosen one over MCP, and passes errors on. Gemini's reply object keeps its words in .text as well, which is why the loop returns reply.text rather than reply.content. The model decides which tool to call; the server still decides what each tool is allowed to do.
Where real backends replace the local pieces
- The client swaps to stdio or Streamable HTTP with no change to the agent loop.
- The Groq model swaps to another provider by changing the model string, and the loop swaps to create_agent when you want LangChain to run it.
- The ORDERS dict swaps to a database opened once in the lifespan.
Related
- Previous: Testing MCP servers
- Next: Project: MCP support desk
- Change
desk_stdio.pyto the HTTP client from the Streamable HTTP lesson, startpython shop.py, and run the same messages. - Switch agent.py to Gemini with the line above, and run desk_stdio.py again.
- Replace the
ORDERSdict with a small SQLite database opened in a lifespan (the Lifespan lesson).
Every expert started right here.