Plugins & MCP

Plugins and MCP Services are LanSphere’s two entries for extended capabilities: plugins add models and tools to the platform, while MCP Services let apps call external systems’ capabilities over a standard protocol. With the two, the Workflows, Chatflows, and Agents you orchestrate can connect to LLM providers, internal enterprise systems, and Lansenger’s collaboration capabilities.

This article covers using the Plugin Store and System Plugins, creating Custom Tools, connecting and configuring MCP Services, and the built-in Lansenger MCP toolset. It is for developers and admins.

Private Deployment Notes

LanSphere is deployed privately and standalone. The Plugin Store offers officially maintained plugin packages and does not connect to any external community marketplace; commonly used model and tool plugins are built in and ready out of the box.

Plugin Store

Entry: left menu → “Plugin Management” → “Install from Plugin Store.”

Plugin Categories

The store has four plugin categories:

Browsing and Details

A plugin card shows the icon, title, vendor, description, and type. Click a card to open the details pop-up with the version, vendor, and a rich-text introduction.

Installing and Updating

The plugin button has three states:

• Install Plugin: Not installed yet — click to install.
• Installed: The current version is ready.
• Update Plugin: Shown when a new version is detected; a “New Version” badge also appears in “Plugin Management,” with one-click “Update to vX.”

Permissions

• Store browsing and installation: Developer role and above.
• Plugin deletion and API Key authorization configuration: Admin or Owner.

System Plugin Configuration

Installed plugins are enabled, disabled, and configured in “Plugin Management.” Take a model plugin as an example:

1. Open the configuration page of the model plugin.
2. Fill in the provider’s API Key.
3. Enable the models you need.

Once configured, the models become available in “Models” and in app orchestration.

Custom Tools

When System Plugins cannot meet your needs, wrap an internal or third-party API as a Custom Tool for Workflows and Agents to call.

Creation Flow

1. Basic info: Name, type, and description.
2. Input / output parameters: Define the tool’s inputs and outputs.
3. Invocation logic: Configure the API address, request method, and parameter mapping.
4. Test and save: Once the test passes, save — the tool becomes callable.

The list supports the “Created by Me” filter to locate tools you created.

Deletion Rules

• You can delete tools you created. Deletion requires a secondary risk confirmation: a referenced tool breaking will affect the associated apps.
• Tools created by others hide the edit entry; front-end references to a deleted tool show an invalid notice.

MCP Services

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an interface specification that lets apps call external systems’ capabilities over a standard protocol. With MCP Services, you can wrap an external system as tools and call them uniformly in Workflows and Agents, without worrying about each system’s API details.

Entry: left menu → “MCP Services” (visible only to the Developer role and above).

Adding an MCP Service

1. Service URL: The access address of the MCP Service.
2. Authorization configuration: The OAuth dynamic client registration switch is on by default; if turned off, configure the OAuth redirect URL as /console/api/mcp/oauth/callback.
3. Header configuration: Add custom HTTP headers as needed — multiple entries supported.
4. Basic configuration: Timeout and SSE read timeout; system defaults apply if left empty.

After saving, the service appears in the list, with the “Created by Me” filter supported.

Permissions

• Developers can create MCP Services and delete the ones they created.
• Admins can delete all MCP Services.

The Lansenger MCP Toolset

The platform comes with the Lansenger MCP toolset built in, directly connecting Lansenger’s collaboration capabilities — apps can send messages, manage groups, look up contacts, schedule events, run meetings, and transfer files with no extra development. This is LanSphere’s differentiated capability as part of the Lansenger family. The full toolset:

With this toolset, government and enterprise office scenarios like “aggregate data on a schedule and push to the project group,” “find a person by name and send a notice,” or “query the calendar and auto-create a meeting” come naturally — apps connect to the organization’s collaboration flow out of the box.

Using MCP Tools in Workflows and Agents

Once an MCP Service is added, its tools can be called in both app types.

Calling from a Workflow

1. Open the target Workflow’s orchestration canvas.
2. Add a tool-type node and pick “MCP” among the four tool categories.
3. In the pop-up tool list, choose the target service and the specific tool, and finish node configuration.

MCP calls in a Workflow are deterministic: when the flow runs to the node, it executes as configured — for fixed, orchestrated automation.

Calling from an Agent

1. Go to the target Agent’s “App Development → Tool Configuration.”
2. Pick the “MCP Services” category and check the services and tools you need.
3. After saving, the LLM decides when to call them based on user intent.

MCP calls in an Agent are autonomous: whether to call, and which tool, is judged by the LLM from the conversation — for open-ended tasks.

Tip: The “MCP Services” menu and the Agent entry are visible only to the Developer role and above; see “Members & Permissions” for permission details.

Related Reading

• “SKILL”: Wrap MCP Service tools as skills for standardized reuse by Agents.
• “Workflow”: Tool-type nodes and canvas operations.
• “Members & Permissions”: Role requirements for plugin installation/deletion and API Key configuration.