Unit 9 · Connect to external tools and data

Give Ax programs native MCP tools

You attach native MCP context to generators, agents, and flows without rewriting every capability as a host tool. Protocol progress remains separate from generated output.

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Unit example (nearest native match)

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let context = AxExecutionContext::new(vec![mcp.clone()], vec![])?;
    let catalog = mcp.lock().unwrap().inspect_catalog(false)?;
let mut program = ax("request:string -> answer:string")?.with_execution_context(context)?;
mcp.lock().unwrap().close()?;

Run itIn your own project

cargo add axllm

use axllm::{ai, ax};
use serde_json::json;

let llm = ai("openai", json!({"apiKey": std::env::var("OPENAI_API_KEY")?}))?;
let classify = ax("review:string -> sentiment:class \"positive, negative, neutral\"")?;

Set OPENAI_APIKEY in your environment before running provider-backed code.

In the ax repo

From a clone of the ax repo:

npm run example -- rust src/examples/rust/mcp/native_mcp_tools.rs

Active practice

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See the idea in context

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