For: Anyone new to MCP who wants a quick idea of what AgentBuilder 2.0 adds
1. A Situation We Have All Seen
You ask a general AI: “How often should we service our equipment?”
It replies politely: “I do not have access to your company’s specific policies.”
The model is not weak. It simply does not have your data. There are two ways to fix this:
- Retrain the model with your data. This is slow and expensive. Every data update means doing it again.
- Give the model a key, and let it look the data up itself. The data stays where it is, so it is always current.
The second way now has a common standard. It is called MCP (Model Context Protocol).
2. Three Terms, Explained Once
| Term | In plain words | Analogy |
|---|---|---|
| Agent | An AI that decides what to do next | A project assistant |
| Tool | One specific action the Agent can call | A phone line or a database account the assistant can use |
| MCP | The standard that lets Agents and Tools talk | A USB-C connector |
Before MCP, every system needed its own custom integration code. Change the system, and you write it again. With MCP, if the other side is an MCP Server, your Agent can connect to it. One cable fits all.
Here is the most important idea:
The Agent does not know the answer by itself. It knows who to ask.
This is why the name and description of each Tool matter so much. The Agent reads those descriptions to decide which Tool to call. You will meet this point again when you build your own MCP Server.
3. What Catalog Is: A Parts Catalog for Agent Development
In AgentBuilder 2.0, Catalog works like a parts catalog. Look for an existing part first. Do not rush to build your own.
The main page has two tabs:
- MCP Server — tools for your Agent (the focus of this post)
- Real-time analytics plugin — not covered here
I find it easiest to remember the available MCP Servers in three groups:
| Group | Server | One line |
|---|---|---|
| Get data | DataInsight | Data integration and metric queries |
| Get data | KB Insight | Search a document knowledge base in natural language |
| Manage devices | Asset Management | Device data queries and device control |
| Manage devices | TimeSeries Data Analysis | Equipment health, fault diagnosis, remaining useful life |
| Produce output | Chart | Chart recommendation and drawing |
| Produce output | Notification | Send messages by email or SMS |
They can also be combined. For example: Asset Management gets the data → Chart draws it → Notification sends the alert
That is a complete alert application. You do not write a single line of integration code.
All these cards are marked Remote. The server is already running. You install nothing on your own machine. You only paste a small configuration.
4. How to Read a Card
Each card has two tabs, with a clear split:
- Overall = what this thing can do. It contains Configuration (what you need first), Functional Features, Application Scenarios, and FAQ.
- Tools = how you connect to it. It lists the tools this Server provides and what each one does.
Please build one habit: read Configuration in the Overall tab before you touch anything.
I have run this session several times. Most people who get stuck did not make an operating mistake. They skipped a prerequisite. For KB Insight, for example, you must first create a Knowledge Base and upload documents. Otherwise, there is nothing to search.
Notes
- This post is about Catalog in AgentBuilder 2.0. If your environment is 1.0, there is no Catalog tab. You will not find these screens. Please check your version first.
- The list of MCP Servers and their tools changes between versions. Always trust what the card page shows in your own environment.
- This post contains no environment addresses, tenant names, or account information. Please replace the placeholders with the values from your own environment.