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Behind the Scenes

Meet Our New Always-On MCP Connection Manager!

Portal One's new always-on connection means live updates from your MCP servers. Get real-time information and see changes instantly.

— Jesse Neumann

Futuristic scene with a glowing blue 'Portal One' gateway. In front, a computer terminal displays 'MCP LIVE UPDATES', symbolizing instant server information.

Great news from Portal One! We've made a big improvement to how we connect with your AI agent servers (MCP servers). We now have an always-on MCP connection manager, which greatly improves Portal One's MCP Host abilities.

Think of it like a dedicated, open line between Portal One and your MCP servers.

Why is this a big deal? Because it means Portal One gets live updates from your MCP servers, making everything you see and do faster and more up-to-date.

This is great news if you:

  • Build MCP servers: Your servers can now communicate changes to Portal One instantly to help manage your tools and resources, and now you can monitor your MCP servers status and uptime with automatic health checks.
  • Use Portal One's no-code platform: You'll see the latest information from your connected servers without delay without the need to manually sync with your servers after they're updated.

Let's break down what this means for you.

What's Changed? Always Listening!

Previously, Portal One would check in with your MCP servers when the server was saved and manually when you clicked the "Sync" button. Now, with our always-on MCP Host, we're always connected and listening.

MCP servers are designed to send out little messages called 'notifications' when something changes – like a new tool becoming available, or information being updated. Our new Host catches these messages instantly.

Imagine your server is for a game:

  • Tools like "Start Game" should only appear before the game begins.
  • Once started, "Make Move" should appear, and "Start Game" should hide. If your server sends a quick "tools changed!" message, Portal One sees it right away and updates what's shown. No more waiting!

For Portal One Users: What You'll See

  • Instant Tool Updates: When a connected server adds or changes a tool, it appears in your Portal One agent setup immediately.
  • Always Fresh Info: If data your agent uses on a server changes (like that game board), your agent gets the update in real-time.
Monitor your MCP server connections from the Servers page. See when and why connections are failing and get real-time health checks.

What This Means For You: The Simple Benefits

We did some tech work behind the scenes to make this happen, upgrading our systems to handle these constant connections smoothly. Here’s how it helps you:

If You Build MCP Servers:

  • Live Connection Check: Easily see if Portal One has a good, live connection to your server. Monitor server ping and connection uptime.
  • Simpler Problem Solving: If something seems off, you can quickly check if it's a connection issue.
  • Send Richer Updates: Your server can now push more detailed, live information to agents in Portal One.
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Quick Tip: Not all MCP servers send notifications! Check if your connected server sends those 'changed' messages (notifications) by navigating to the MCP Servers page and looking for the green icon in the capabilities section!
Hover over the icon in the capabilities section to determine if your MCP server is configured to send notifications.

If You Use Portal One's No-Code Platform:

  • Automatic Live Updates: Tool lists and resources from your connected servers update by themselves. No need to hit refresh!
  • See Server Health: Quickly check if your connected servers are online and responding well.
  • Faster Server Setup: When you connect a new MCP server, its tools and info show up in Portal One right away.

What's Next?

Our new MCP Host system is a core part of Portal One. We're eager to share our experiments and experiences as we begin developing more dynamic MCP servers that are able to take full advantage of the new system.

In addition, we're excited to expand our support for resources:

  • Let you view all of your resources exposed by each of your connected MCP servers in one centralized dashboard like you can currently do with tools.
  • Subscribe to resource changes and trigger an agent response when a tool or resource is updated.

This upgrade was all about making Portal One faster, more reliable, and easier for you to use.

A high-tech control room featuring the glowing blue Portal One gateway. A foreground console is labeled 'MCP CONNECTION MANAGER', showing how Portal One maintains its always-on link to servers.

Let Us Know What You Think!

  • Developers: How do you handle live updates with your servers?
  • Portal One Users: Connect an MCP server and see the live updates in action!

Quick FAQ

Q1: Do I need to change my MCP server?
A: Probably not. If your server already sends update messages (notifications like tools_changed or resource_changed as per the MCP spec), Portal One will now pick them up live. Just make sure it's sending them!

Q2: Where do I see the live connection stats in Portal One?
A: When your MCP server is connected to your agent in Portal One, you'll see its connection status (like live/offline or latency) in your MCP server settings which you can find in the Navigation pane.