Add tools to your agent and grant required permissions in databricks.yml. Use when: (1) Adding MCP servers, Genie spaces, vector search, or UC functions to agent, (2) Permission errors at runtime, (3) User says 'add tool', 'connect to', 'grant permission', (4) Configuring databricks.yml resources.
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Profile reminder: All
databricksCLI commands must include the profile from.env:databricks <command> --profile <profile>
Don't have the resource yet? See create-tools skill first.
After adding any MCP server to your agent, you MUST grant the app access in databricks.yml.
Without this, you'll get permission errors when the agent tries to use the resource.
Step 1: Add MCP server in agent_server/agent.py:
from databricks_openai.agents import McpServer
genie_server = McpServer(
url=f"{host}/api/2.0/mcp/genie/01234567-89ab-cdef",
name="my genie space",
)
agent = Agent(
name="my agent",
model="databricks-claude-3-7-sonnet",
mcp_servers=[genie_server],
)Step 2: Grant access in databricks.yml:
resources:
apps:
agent_migration:
resources:
- name: 'my_genie_space'
genie_space:
name: 'My Genie Space'
space_id: '01234567-89ab-cdef'
permission: 'CAN_RUN'Step 3: Deploy with databricks bundle deploy (see deploy skill)
See the examples/ directory for complete YAML snippets:
| File | Resource Type | When to Use |
|---|---|---|
uc-function.yaml | Unity Catalog function | UC functions |
uc-connection.yaml | UC connection | External MCP servers |
vector-search.yaml | Vector search index | RAG applications |
sql-warehouse.yaml | SQL warehouse | SQL execution |
serving-endpoint.yaml | Model serving endpoint | Model inference |
genie-space.yaml | Genie space | Natural language data |
lakebase-autoscaling.yaml | Lakebase autoscaling postgres | Agent memory storage (autoscaling) |
experiment.yaml | MLflow experiment | Tracing (already configured) |
app.yaml | Databricks App (app-to-app) | Custom MCP servers hosted as Apps |
custom-mcp-server.md | Custom MCP apps | Apps starting with mcp-* |
Declare the target app as an app resource in databricks.yml — the bundle grants CAN_USE on deploy. Requires Databricks CLI v0.298.0+.
resources:
apps:
agent_migration:
resources:
- name: 'mcp_server'
app:
name: 'mcp-my-server'
permission: CAN_USESee examples/custom-mcp-server.md for the full flow (agent code + YAML + deploy).
MCP tool calls can fail (network issues, permission errors, timeouts). The OpenAI Agents SDK catches tool errors by default and returns the error message to the LLM. To customize timeout behavior for MCP servers:
mcp_server = McpServer(
url=f"{host}/api/2.0/mcp/genie/{space_id}",
name="genie",
timeout=60.0, # Increase timeout for slow tools like Genie (default: 20s)
)For local function tools, see create-tools skill > examples/local-python-tools.md for failure_error_function patterns.
resources: listdatabricks bundle deploy after modifying databricks.ymldfeb4ac
If you maintain this skill, you can claim it as your own. Once claimed, you can manage eval scenarios, bundle related skills, attach documentation or rules, and ensure cross-agent compatibility.