Adding Third-Party MCP Servers to AiKA

Overview

AiKA supports integration with third-party MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers to extend its capabilities beyond built-in Portal Actions. These servers can be added to your software catalog and then manually enabled for use with AiKA.

Security and Operational Risks

Third-party MCP servers introduce significant risks:

• Automatic Execution: AiKA executes server actions without user confirmation, making servers that modify or delete data particularly risky
• Data Exposure: Third-party servers may log, store, or transmit your queries and organizational data
• External Dependencies: We cannot guarantee the availability, reliability, or security of third-party services

Users accept full responsibility for third-party server usage and must comply with external provider terms and agreements.

Best Practice: Only enable read-only servers from trusted sources.

Adding MCP Servers to the Catalog

MCP servers can be made available to AiKA by adding them to the software catalog as API entities with specific configuration.

important

MCP servers must be unauthenticated. Authentication support is planned for a future release.

Example Configuration

Here's an example YAML file corresponding to an entity. Adding this entity makes the MCP server available to AiKA:

apiVersion: backstage.io/v1alpha1
kind: API
metadata:
  title: Example MCP Server
  name: example-mcp
  description: Provides example functionality for demonstration.
  tags:
    - example
    - mcp
    - tools
    - spotify-internal
spec:
  type: mcp-server
  lifecycle: production
  owner: platform-team
  definition: |
    {
      "name": "example-mcp",
      "description": "Provides example functionality for demonstration.",
      "version_detail": {
        "version": "0.0.1"
      },
      "remotes": [
        {
          "transport_type": "streamable",
          "url": "https://example-mcp.spotify.net/mcp/"
        }
      ]
    }

Schema Requirements

To register an MCP server with AiKA, create a catalog entity with:

• Entity Type: Set kind: API and spec.type: mcp-server in the catalog entity
• Definition Field: JSON object containing the required fields below

Required Fields in definition

Field	Type	Description
name	string	Unique identifier for the MCP server
description	string	Human-readable description of the server's capabilities
version_detail.version	string	Semantic version number (e.g., "1.0.0")
remotes	array	Connection endpoints for the MCP server
remotes[].transport_type	string	Transport protocol: "streamable" (HTTP streaming) or "sse" (Server-Sent Events)
remotes[].url	string	Full URL endpoint for the MCP server

note

MCP servers registered in the catalog with type: mcp-server are available for selection. Users must manually enable the servers they want AiKA to use.

Using Third-Party MCP Servers

Once enabled, MCP servers can be used in AiKA conversations.

Server Selection and Management

Users can select which MCP servers to enable through the Portal MCP Servers dialog. Click "Add server" to choose from available catalog entries:

Server Use

Users simply ask questions in plain English. AiKA automatically selects and uses relevant enabled MCP servers to provide comprehensive answers.

Example: Code Search Request

When a user asks: "Please search for TypeScript files that define Backstage plugins"

AiKA calls the CodeSearch MCP Server to find TypeScript files and returns file paths, repositories, and GitHub links while showing progress as each action completes.