MCP-Bench: Benchmarking Tool-Using LLM Agents with Complex Real-World Tasks via MCP Servers

We introduce M C P-Be nc h, a benchmark for evaluating large language models (LLMs) on realistic, multi-step tasks that demand tool use, cross-tool coordination, precise parameter control, and planning/reasoning for solving tasks. Built on the Model Context Protocol (MCP), M C P-Be nc h connects LLMs to 28 representative live MCP servers spanning 250 tools across domains such as finance, traveling, scientific computing, and academic search. Unlike prior API-based benchmarks, each MCP server provides a set of complementary tools designed to work together, enabling the construction of authentic, multi-step tasks with rich input-output coupling. Also, tasks in M C P-Be nc h test agents' ability to retrieve relevant tools from fuzzy instructions without explicit tool names, plan multi-hop execution trajectories for complex objectives, ground responses in intermediate tool outputs, and orchestrate cross-domain workflows-capabilities not adequately evaluated by existing benchmarks that rely on explicit tool specifications, shallow few-step workflows, and isolated domain operations. We propose a multi-faceted evaluation framework covering tool-level schema understanding and usage, trajectorylevel planning and task completion. Experiments on 20 advanced LLMs reveal persistent challenges in M C P-Be nc h. Code and data: https://github.com/Accenture/mcp-bench .