MCP, remote

The same harness. No local process. The harness code is identical to local MCP; only the transport changes. Your model discovers the tools on the hosted Work IQ MCP server and chooses among them.

When to choose it

Choose remote MCP for the harness pattern without shipping or running the Work IQ CLI: the harness talks to the hosted Work IQ MCP server over HTTPS. It signs in with the published Work IQ MCP client, or with your own app registration, so that consent prompts and sign-in logs show your tool’s name: see Remote MCP with your own registration.

Request path

Your question
  > Deep Agents + your model (this app)
  > https://workiq.svc.cloud.microsoft/mcp
  > Work IQ tools

Who does the reasoning?

The same Deep Agents loop, with the same read-oriented tools, as local MCP. In your own harness, the model can combine these tools with your other systems.

On the wire

Each MCP message is an HTTPS POST to https://workiq.svc.cloud.microsoft/mcp (Streamable HTTP), with a delegated token for the scope api://workiq.svc.cloud.microsoft/WorkIQAgent.Ask. The JSON-RPC messages are the same as over stdio; the MCP SDK adds the protocol’s own headers.

A tool call over Streamable HTTP

POST /mcp HTTP/1.1
Host: workiq.svc.cloud.microsoft
Authorization: Bearer <delegated token>
Content-Type: application/json
Accept: application/json, text/event-stream

{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":2,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"ask","arguments":{"question":"What did Sarah say about the launch date?"}}}

The app sends the token only to workiq.svc.cloud.microsoft and treats a redirect as an error.

Authentication

Browser sign-in uses the public client ID ba081686-5d24-4bc6-a0d6-d034ecffed87 and the callback port 12798 from the published Work IQ MCP plugin, unless you enter your own registration when you connect. The model signs in with Microsoft Entra ID through DefaultAzureCredential, or with an API key. Tenant consent still applies. See Authentication.

What it costs

The same two charges as local MCP: Copilot Credits for the Work IQ calls, and your model’s tokens. The app counts no credits for the MCP handshake or tools/list. See Copilot Credits.

Keep in mind

The app doesn’t copy credentials from Copilot or other hosts. Tool results are sent to your model endpoint. The A2A and REST routes use your own app registration instead.

Try it in the app

1. Open the MCP server tab, choose Remote and click Connect.
2. Leave Directory (tenant) ID and Application (client) ID empty to use the published Work IQ MCP client, or enter your own registration.
3. Enter your model and check it with Test model.
4. Click Connect and finish the sign-in in your browser. The published client returns to port 12798 on your computer.
5. Ask a question and follow each call in Flow.

The code

The harness is src/harness.js. src/workiq/mcp.js adds the token to each request, and src/auth.js signs in with MSAL.

Work IQ MCP overview The hosted MCP server and its tools.