Unable to Fetch MCP Tools When Adding MCP Tool to AI Agent

[varunagarwal83]

Hello Community,

We are working on a use case where one ServiceNow instance functions as the MCP server and another as the MCP client. On the MCP server instance, we configured both the default QuickStart MCP Server and a custom MCP server through the MCP console. As part of the setup, we also created an OAuth inbound integration and configured the corresponding client settings on the MCP client instance, following the steps provided in the ServiceNow documentation.
The client is able to authenticate with the server successfully, and the MCP execution logs confirm successful responses. However, when attempting to add an MCP tool to our AI Agent, we consistently receive the error message “Unable to fetch the tools for the MCP server.”
We have reviewed the configuration on both the client and server instances and verified that the MCP client and MCP server plugin versions match on both environments. Additionally, both instances are running on the same patch level:
glide‑zurich‑07‑01‑2025__patch4‑hotfix3‑12‑23‑2025.

[varunagarwal83]

@SaurabGidwani 

I came across this KB and was able to successfully complete the forwarding setup on my ServiceNow instance. However, I am now encountering another issue. While the tools are exposed and can be consumed, they are not returning relevant data and instead respond with default information. I currently have another ticket open with ServiceNow for this problem, and I believe it may be related to an access‑level configuration on the tools. I did not find any documentation addressing this behavior. I will update this post once I receive a resolution from support.

[SaurabGidwani]

Thanks for confirming @varunagarwal83, May I know if support team was able to help you on the forwarding setup or you had to go another route? and do you have the steps needs to configure forwarding or it was done by backend team?

[varunagarwal83]

@SaurabGidwani yes support team helped on the forwarding setup. I am not aware of the any other route.

[warren_chan]

I remind everyone not to conflate the ServiceNow MCP client with the ServiceNow MCP server. 

MCP client = ServiceNow AI agent tool making outbound MCP tool calls to an external MCP server

MCP server = ServiceNow Now Assist Skills being served through a ServiceNow instance for consumption by clients like Claude Desktop, Postman MCP, perhaps even another ServiceNow instance

The aforementioned KB2676985: Request access to the MCP service for MCP Server Console is for the latter functionality. 

[varunagarwal83]

Thanks @warren_chan  for sharing your understanding—I’m aligned with this. We have set up one ServiceNow instance as the MCP server, for which forwarding was enabled by ServiceNow Support, and a second instance as the MCP client, where we are consuming the MCP server tools. Prior to enabling forwarding, the MCP tools were not visible in the client instance. The tools are now available; however, they are not returning the expected results, and we are still working with support to resolve this issue.