Power Platform Community Forum Thread Details

Hello,,

I am building a Copilot Studio agent that uses a Greenlight Guru MCP server. The MCP appears to be connected and is listed on the agent’s Tools page, but when I am inside a topic and select Add a tool, the individual MCP tools do not appear. I also have to constantly reconnect the MCP.

Expected MCP tools include:

- search_documents

- get_document_revision

- get_capas

etc.

Here is what I see:

- Greenlight Guru MCP is visible on the agent Tools page.

- Inside the topic flow, when I select Add a tool, I only see generic options such as New prompt / basic tools.

- The individual Greenlight Guru MCP tools are not available to select.

- Because the tools do not appear in the topic node picker, I cannot explicitly call search_documents or get_document_revision from the topic.

Here is what I attempted:

- Confirmed the MCP is listed on the agent Tools page.

- Reconnected the MCP.

- Tried to save the agent (see additional context below).

- Created a topic using “The agent chooses.”

- Tried Add a tool from inside the topic.

- Checked that I am not trying to add the MCP connection a second time.

Additional context:

I previously received this Dataverse permission error when reconnecting/saving:

HTTP Status: Forbidden

0x80048306: unManagedIdsAccessDenied

User does not have AppendToAccess right(s) for record of entity Connector.

The error suggested assigning a role with BusinessUnitLevel access and using Access Checker.

Questions:

1. If an MCP server is listed on the agent Tools page, should its individual tools automatically appear under Add a tool inside a topic?

2. Is there a separate step required to expose MCP tools to topic flows?

3. Could a Dataverse Connector permission issue cause the MCP to appear connected but prevent its tools from appearing in the topic tool picker?

4. Should the MCP server settings page show all individual tools, and should they be toggled on?

5. Are there known issues where Copilot Studio completes the MCP connection but does not show tools such as search_documents in the topic node picker?

Any guidance on what an admin should check would be appreciated.

Thank you!

Categories:

Model context protocol

Topic creation & management

Hi,

This is documented behavior in Copilot Studio's MCP integration, and the symptoms you're describing fit a known pattern. Here's how to answer each of your questions against the official docs:

How MCP tools surface in Copilot Studio

When you connect an MCP server, the agent exposes the server's tools via the orchestrator. Tools from MCP servers are made available to the agent-level orchestration ("The agent chooses"), not necessarily as discrete pickable items inside a topic's Add a tool dropdown. See Extend your agent with Model Context Protocol.

Answers to your specific questions

Should the individual MCP tools automatically appear under Add a tool inside a topic?
They appear in the picker only after the connection is fully provisioned and the agent has refreshed its tool catalog. If the connection icon shows "Reconnect" you won't see the individual tools. See the connection prerequisites in MCP prerequisites.
Is a separate step required to expose MCP tools to topic flows?
The MCP server must be added at the agent level first, then each tool can be referenced from a topic. The "Add a tool" picker pulls from the agent's configured tools list — if individual tools aren't listed there either, the MCP server registration is incomplete.
Could the Dataverse Connector permission issue be the cause?
Yes. unManagedIdsAccessDenied / AppendToAccess right(s) for Connector means your user can't fully provision the connection record in Dataverse, which prevents the tool catalog from being saved against the agent. See Configure user security to resources in an environment and assign a role with Append To privilege on the Connector table (the "Environment Maker" role typically suffices for non-default environments).
Should the MCP server settings page show all individual tools, and should they be toggled on?
Yes — the agent's Tools page should list each MCP-exposed tool (search_documents, get_document_revision, etc.) with an enabled toggle. If only the server name shows without children, the connection is in a partial state. Documented in Add an MCP tool to your agent.
Known issues where the MCP connects but tools don't show in the picker?
The most common documented cause is the Dataverse permission error you've already encountered — once AppendToAccess is granted, the connection completes and the tools appear. See the same Dataverse security article above.

Action plan for your admin

Have your environment admin grant the user a security role with at least Append To on the Connector table (Environment Maker or a custom role) — see predefined security roles.
Delete the partially provisioned MCP connection, then re-add the MCP server using the steps in Add an MCP tool to your agent.
Confirm each child tool toggle appears on the agent's Tools page before opening a topic.

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Raghav Mishra — LinkedIn | PowerAI Labs