Connecting agents through AI Gateway

Register the clients that can connect to an approved MCP server, and then configure agents to call the server through its AI Gateway MCP server URL.

Overview of connecting agents

An agent connects to an MCP server through AI Gateway in two stages:

An AI steward registers a client for the server, which gives the agent platform its OAuth credentials.
The agent owner configures the agent with the server's AI Gateway connection details and the client's credentials.

Before you start, the MCP server must be in the inventory and approved:

To add the server to the inventory, see Add an MCP server from AI Agent Studio, Add an MCP server from MCP Catalog, or Add an MCP server from AI Control Tower. For an overview of the ways to add a server, see MCP server setup.
To approve the server, see MCP server approval playbook workflow. When the server is approved, the record's header shows Deployed & Approved. Until then, the record's AI Gateway tab shows that the server hasn't been approved.

Register a client

You register clients on the server's record. In AI Control Tower, navigate to Inventory > Assets > MCP servers, select the server name, select the AI Gateway tab, and then select the Setup sub-tab. The CIMD and MCP client integration panel lists the clients registered for the server. If the server has more than one variant, select the variant from the list first. Select Add client, and then choose the client type. MCP client is selected by default.

Choose the client type based on the agent platform:

Client type	Use it for	What you provide	Details
CIMD client	Clients that publish a Client ID Metadata Document. Supported for VS Code.	The URL of the client's metadata document, as the client ID. After you select Validate, you set the sync mode, redirect URLs, logo URL, and security controls, and AI Gateway creates the OAuth client.	Add a CIMD client
MCP client	All other platforms, such as AI Agent Studio, Postman, Claude Desktop, and Microsoft Copilot Studio.	A client name, which must be unique on the instance, and optionally a redirect URL.	Add an MCP client

To change a registered client, select its name, or select Edit from the actions menu on its row. For details, see Edit a registered client. To remove a client, select Delete from the actions menu on its row, and then select Delete in the confirmation dialog. You can't undo a deletion. For an overview of client registration, see Client registration and AI Gateway setup.

When access management is on for the server, a registered client is authorized to use only the tools that its client access policies grant through AI Gateway. For details, see Controlling which tools clients can access.

Connect the agent

How you connect an agent depends on where the agent runs and how the MCP server was registered:

If	Then	Details
An AI Agent Studio agent already uses the MCP server directly	Update the agent's MCP server tool to use the AI Gateway connection details and the client's credentials.	Register via AI Agent Studio
The MCP server was added in AI Control Tower, and the agent runs in AI Agent Studio	Register the server in AI Agent Studio, and then add it to the agent as a tool.	Register an MCP server via AI Control Tower
The agent runs on an external platform, such as Microsoft Copilot Studio, Google Gemini, or Amazon Bedrock	Set the AI Gateway MCP server URL as the agent's MCP server endpoint, and use the registered client's credentials. For the steps, see the platform's documentation.	Configure agents to use MCP servers

Connection details

The AI Gateway MCP server details panel on the Setup sub-tab shows the details that agents use. The same panel also appears on the record's Overview tab. If the server has more than one variant, the panel shows the details for the variant selected in the CIMD and MCP client integration panel. Select the copy icon next to a URL to copy it.

Field	Description
AI Gateway MCP server URL	The URL that agents call instead of the MCP server's own URL, for example `https://<instance>.service-now.com/sncapps/awh/<mcp-server>/mcp`.
Authorization endpoint URL	The OAuth authorization endpoint, `https://<instance>.service-now.com/mcp_auth.do`.
Token endpoint URL	The OAuth token endpoint, `https://<instance>.service-now.com/mcp_token.do`.

title	Connecting agents through AI Gateway
description	Register the clients that can connect to an approved MCP server, and then configure agents to call the server through its AI Gateway MCP server URL.
locale	en-US
canonical_url	https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/intelligent-experiences/ai-gw-connecting-agents.html
release	australia
topic_type	concept
last_updated	2026-10-23
reading_time_minutes	4
keywords	ServiceNow OttoAI Agentsgenerative AIagentic AIuseMCP clientCIMD clientAI Gateway MCP server URL
breadcrumb	AI GatewayConfigureAI Control TowerEstablishing AI governanceEnable AI Experiences