Provider Types

Providers are at the heart of UTCP's flexibility. They define the specific communication protocol and configuration needed to interact with a tool. This design allows UTCP to support a wide range of existing and future communication methods.

Overview

Each tool in UTCP is associated with a provider that specifies:

• The communication protocol to use (HTTP, WebSocket, CLI, etc.)
• The connection details (URL, host, port, command name, etc.)
• Authentication requirements (if any)

This provider-based approach offers several benefits:

• Eliminates the need for middleman servers
• Allows direct use of a tool's native interface
• Enables seamless integration with tools across different protocols

Core Provider Attributes

All providers share some common attributes:

{
  "name": "provider_name",
  "provider_type": "provider_type",
  ... (protocol-specific attributes)
}

Field	Description
name	A unique identifier for the provider
provider_type	The protocol type (e.g., "http", "websocket", "cli")

Supported Provider Types

UTCP supports the following provider types:

Provider Type	Description
http	RESTful HTTP/HTTPS APIs
sse	Server-Sent Events
http_stream	HTTP Chunked Transfer Encoding
cli	Command Line Interface tools
websocket (WIP)	WebSocket bidirectional connection
grpc (WIP)	gRPC (Google Remote Procedure Call)
graphql	GraphQL query language
tcp (WIP)	Raw TCP socket
udp (WIP)	User Datagram Protocol
webrtc (WIP)	Web Real-Time Communication
mcp	Model Context Protocol (for interoperability)
text	Local file-based tool definitions

Each provider type has its own specific configuration options, which are detailed in the individual provider documentation pages.

Variable Substitution

UTCP supports variable substitution in provider configurations. Any value prefixed with $ or enclosed in ${...} will be treated as a variable to be resolved at runtime.

{
  "url": "https://${DOMAIN}/api/v1",
  "auth": {
    "auth_type": "api_key",
    "api_key": "$API_KEY"
  }
}

Variable resolution follows this order:

1. Client configuration variables
2. Environment variables

If a variable cannot be resolved, the client will raise an error indicating which variable is missing.

This approach enables:

• Secure handling of sensitive credentials
• Environment-specific configurations
• Separation of provider definition from runtime secrets

Authentication

Many providers require authentication to access their tools. UTCP supports several authentication methods:

API Key Authentication

{
  "auth": {
    "auth_type": "api_key",
    "api_key": "$YOUR_API_KEY",
    "var_name": "X-API-Key"
  }
}

Basic Authentication

{
  "auth": {
    "auth_type": "basic",
    "username": "user",
    "password": "pass"
  }
}

OAuth2 Authentication

{
  "auth": {
    "auth_type": "oauth2",
    "client_id": "$YOUR_CLIENT_ID",
    "client_secret": "$YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET",
    "token_url": "https://auth.example.com/token"
  }
}

Provider Selection Guidelines

When choosing a provider type for your tool:

1. Use the native protocol: Select the provider type that matches your tool's native interface
2. Consider performance: Some protocols (like HTTP) have more overhead than others (like gRPC)
3. Think about streaming: For tools that generate data incrementally, use streaming protocols like SSE, WebSockets, or HTTP Stream
4. Security requirements: Consider authentication and encryption needs

In the following sections, we'll explore each provider type in detail, with configuration examples and best practices.