Test Your MCP Server With Postman

Directly connecting your Agent Payment MCP server to Postman allows you to test your integrated tools and verify data responses before building complex agent prompts. This is a critical step for debugging and ensuring your tools function as expected.

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1. Setting Up the MCP Server Connection

You must establish a new connection in Postman for the MCP server.

Step 1: Create a New Request

1. In Postman, click New or navigate to the New menu.
2. Select the MCP request type.

Step 2: Specify the MCP Server Path

1. In the Untitled Request tab that opens, make sure the Studio tab is selected in the request pane.
2. Enter the file path to your agent-payment-router executable in the command/URL field.
3. Note: If you installed the router using the npm install command from a previous lesson, the path might look similar to this (adjust for your operating system):

2. Configuring Environment Variables

Your MCP server requires authentication keys to link requests to your Agent Payment budget and account.

Step 3: Add Authentication Keys

1. Click the Settings tab within your new request.
2. Add the following required keys and their corresponding values, which you can retrieve from the Dashboard and Account Details pages of your Agent Payment account:

X_BUDGET_KEY (Required)

X_API_KEY (Required)

X_INSTANCE_METADATA (Optional)

1. Value Source: Custom JSON
2. Description: Used for logging, helps identify the request origin in your dashboard.

If using the optional X_INSTANCE_METADATA, the value should be a JSON string. An example for Postman is:

Step 4: Connect to the Server

1. Click the Connect button on the far right of the request URL bar.
2. A successful connection will show a green "Connected" status and load the available tools in the Message tab.

3. Testing an Integrated Tool

Once connected, you can use the Message tab to test any tools you have enabled on your Agent Payment budget.

Step 5: Execute a Tool Request

1. Switch to the Message tab.
2. Scroll down to the list of available tools (e.g., Complex-Mathematics-Engine).
3. Click on the tool you wish to test. This will populate the request with the required parameters.
4. Enter a test expression in the arguments field.

1. Note: The exact format and required parameters for the tool will be displayed in the interface.
2. Click the Run button.

4. Validating the Results

The response will appear in the Response pane at the bottom of the screen.

Step 6: Review the Local Response

1. Check the Response pane. The JSON output will contain the tool's result, execution time, and other metadata.
2. Look for the result field to confirm the expected output was generated by the tool.

Step 7: Verify the Transaction in the Dashboard

All requests made through the MCP server are logged in your Agent Payment account.

1. Log in to your Agent Payment Dashboard.
2. Navigate to the Agent Activity tab.
3. Select your budget from the dropdown menu.
4. Find the log entry corresponding to your Postman request. The Instance Metadata you set will help you identify it.
5. Click on the entry to view the full transaction details, including:
6. The exact Request Payload sent to the tool.
7. The complete Response Data from the tool.

This process ensures that your tools are correctly configured and provides clear visibility into all inputs and outputs before you start integrating them into your agent's language model prompts.