Understanding usage: MCP
Workato measures MCP usage in MCP calls. An MCP call is a request processed by an API collection configured as an MCP server. Both API recipe collections and API Proxy collections can serve as MCP servers.
Some plans measure MCP usage by the underlying asset's metric rather than in MCP calls. Refer to your contract or contact your Customer Success Representative for more information.
MCP call calculation rules
MCP usage calculations follow the general usage calculation rules, where successfully executed operations count toward usage and failed operations are excluded.
Workato uses the following additional rules to calculate MCP calls:
- MCP calls made by a Genie or by non-Genie clients are billable.
- An MCP call is counted when an API request is successfully processed.
- Each full-cycle execution of an API recipe or API Proxy counts as one MCP call.
- The job must execute completely without internal errors.
- Jobs that return expected errors, such as
4xx or 5xx responses, defined in the recipe logic are still considered successful.
Usage counting
The total MCP usage of a recipe job is one MCP call per successful execution. If an MCP recipe involves IDP (Intelligent Document Processing) or Event streams capabilities, Pages or Events are calculated in addition to MCP calls.
MCP call usage examples
The following examples demonstrate how Workato calculates usage for different types of MCP operations:
MCP call from an API recipe
API recipe configured for MCP
API recipes configured as an MCP server contribute to MCP calls, with each execution of the recipe counting as one MCP call.
API recipes configured for MCP don't contribute to Business actions, even if the recipe contains steps that would otherwise be considered eligible.
If an API recipe configured for MCP contains an IDP or Event streams operation, the API recipe can also contribute to Pages or Events, in addition to the MCP call.
Usage totals
- MCP calls: 1
- Total usage per job: 1 MCP call
API Proxy recipes configured as MCP servers contribute to MCP calls, with each execution of the recipe counting as one MCP call.
API Proxy recipes configured for MCP don't contribute to Business actions, even if the recipe contains steps that would otherwise be considered eligible.
If an API Proxy recipe configured for MCP contains an IDP or Event streams operation, the recipe can also contribute to Pages or Events, in addition to the MCP call.
- MCP calls: 1
- Total usage per job: 1 MCP call
API recipe with IDP configured for MCP
API recipes configured as MCP servers contribute to MCP calls, with each execution of the recipe counting as one MCP call.
API recipes configured as MCP don't contribute to Business actions, even if the recipe contains steps that would otherwise be considered eligible.
If an API recipe configured as MCP contains an IDP or Event streams operation, the recipe can also contribute to Pages or Events, in addition to the MCP call.
In this example, the IDP operation processes a multi-page document containing two pages, so the total usage is the MCP call + Total Pages.
- MCP calls: 1
- Pages: 2
- Total usage per job: 1 MCP call, 2 Pages
API recipe configured as MCP calls recipe function synchronously
Child recipe called synchronously from an API recipe configured as MCP
In this example, the parent API recipe is configured as an MCP server and calls a recipe function synchronously. Workato treats the child recipe as an extension of the parent MCP call, so it doesn't contribute another MCP call. The steps within the child recipe function don't count toward Business actions.
The total usage for both recipes is 1 MCP call. Similar to an API recipe, if a synchronous recipe function contains IDP or Event streams, recipe usage can also include Pages or Events, in addition to the MCP call.
- Parent API recipe:
- MCP calls: 1
- Business actions: 0
- Child recipe function called synchronously:
- MCP calls: 0
- Business actions: 0
- Total usage per job: 1 MCP call
API recipe configured as MCP calls recipe function asynchronously
Child recipe called asynchronously
In this example, the parent API recipe is configured as an MCP server and calls a recipe function asynchronously. Workato treats the child recipe as a Workflow recipe, so it contributes to Business actions.
The total usage includes one MCP call from the parent recipe and all Business actions in the child recipe. If the child recipe includes IDP or Event streams operations, Workato also counts Pages or Events in addition to Business actions.
- Parent API recipe:
- MCP calls: 1
- Business actions: 0
- Child recipe function called asynchronously:
- MCP calls: 0
- Business actions: 8
- Total usage per job: 1 MCP call, 8 Business actions
API Proxy recipe configured for MCP