Adding MCP Tools to Reachy Mini

Key Takeaways

→ Remote MCP tools live in public Hugging Face Spaces and run there, so no code is downloaded onto the robot

→ Adding a tool is one command: reachy-mini-conversation-app tool-spaces add owner/space-name

→ Profiles control activation: a remote tool ID must appear in the profile's tools.txt to be callable

→ Two canary tools ship as references: a web search tool and a weather tool from pollen-robotics

→ Remote tools are namespaced with a double underscore, e.g. pollen_robotics_reachy_mini_search_tool__search_web

→ Private Spaces, non-Gradio Spaces, and arbitrary non-Hugging Face MCP servers are not yet supported

The Reachy Mini conversation app — the embodied assistant from Pollen Robotics — can now call tools hosted in public Hugging Face Spaces over MCP (Model Context Protocol). The headline: you can give the robot a new ability, like checking the weather, with a single command instead of editing the app.

From Local to Remote Tools

Built-in tools today are local and mostly about the robot’s body — move_head, dance, play_emotion, camera, and head_tracking. Sharing or updating those means handing over Python files. For stateless capabilities like search, weather, and lookups, remote tools are the better fit: they live in a Space, run there, and can be published and iterated on independently.

Profiles Control Everything

A tool is only callable if its ID appears in a profile’s tools.txt, alongside the built-ins. The default profile enables the full set; dedicated canary profiles like canary_web_search_weather pair expressive robot tools with remote search and weather tools. tools.txt remains the gatekeeper for remote tools too.

Installs, Namespacing and Canary Tools

Add: tool-spaces add pollen-robotics/reachy-mini-search-tool installs, probes the MCP endpoint, and enables the tool
Namespacing: pollen-robotics/reachy-mini-search-tool becomes pollen_robotics_reachy_mini_search_tool__search_web, avoiding collisions with built-ins
Canaries: two reference tools ship from pollen-robotics — a web search tool and a weather tool (get_day_brief)
Safety: tool names must be unique across the merged set, and the app fails fast on duplicates

Prompt design matters as much as plumbing — the canary instructions tell the model to call both tools in parallel for mixed weather-plus-events questions, then merge the results into one spoken-style answer.

Current Limits

Supported today: public, MCP-compatible Gradio Spaces over the standard /gradio_api/mcp/ endpoint, multiple Spaces at once, and per-profile enablement. Not yet: private or authenticated Spaces, non-Gradio Spaces, or arbitrary raw MCP URLs. Tool discovery failure aborts the install.

What This Means

Three kinds of tools — built-in, local custom, and remote MCP — now share one registry, with profiles deciding what the assistant can reach. The robot’s trusted core stays small while capabilities are added, tested, and swapped without touching the app: a pattern that points toward how embodied agents will be extended with everyday skills.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is MCP?

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is a standard for giving AI models access to tools. In Reachy Mini, the conversation app calls tools hosted in public Hugging Face Spaces over MCP instead of requiring local Python code.

How do I add a tool to Reachy Mini?

Run reachy-mini-conversation-app tool-spaces add owner/space-name to install and enable a tool in the active profile. Use --profile to target a specific profile or --install-only to skip enabling, then list or remove with tool-spaces list and remove.

Can I build my own tool for Reachy Mini?

Yes. Publish a public Gradio Space that exposes the standard MCP endpoint and keep the tool stateless; tag it reachy-mini-tool and mcp so others can find it. Tool discovery happens at install time, and the install fails if the Space does not behave like an MCP server.

What can Reachy Mini already do?

Built-in tools handle the robot's body — move_head, dance and stop_dance, play_emotion, head_tracking, camera, and idle behavior. MCP adds non-physical abilities like web search and weather briefs.