MCP tools & visual apps
How MCP connections give the agent tools to read and act, and apps that draw interactive visuals on the Stage.
Studio connects to other systems through the Model Context Protocol (MCP), an open standard for connecting AI agents to tools and data. Each connection is an MCP server, and it can do two jobs:
- Tools read data, trace relationships, and act in the source system when your policy allows.
- Apps draw interactive visuals that open on the Stage: boards, maps, graphs, and briefs you can filter, explore, and present. They are live views, not static exports.
Studio's visual apps
Every organization has Studio's own visual apps connected. The agent picks the right one for your question, or you can ask for one by name.
| App | What it draws |
|---|---|
| Kanban | Initiatives, epics, or tickets in lanes, such as now, next, and later |
| Roadmap | A timeline with hierarchy, dependencies, phases, and milestones |
| Landscape | A capability map with the applications, data, and teams behind each capability |
| Cascade | What a change reaches across your estate, hop by hop |
| View | Charts and tables: quadrants, bubbles, bars, heatmaps |
| Decision brief | One question, the options, a recommendation, and checked evidence |
To see an app before you use it, open Integrations, switch to Apps, and choose the eye icon (Preview with sample data) on an app. Some apps offer more than one sample set. Use in chat starts a chat that draws the app with sample data.
Connect a server
Admins connect catalog systems and their own MCP servers from Integrations. Every connection is tested before it is saved. See Connect your sources.
Apps from other servers
An MCP server you connect may bring its own apps. They run in a closed frame and render only after an admin allows them: on the Apps view, choose Allow… and tick what the app may load (scripts, styles, fonts and images, data requests, and embedded pages), and from which hosts.
Which tools a chat may use
In a chat, Plugins lists the connections the chat may use; switch them on or off per chat. Admins set the organization-wide policy in Settings → Agent Harness: which connections may write without asking, and whether the agent may use the web. See Agent harness.
Studio stays a layer above your stack. Connections bring the picture together; your systems remain the systems of record.
See also: Connect your sources · Skills.