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Azure AI Search tools for the Azure MCP Server

Use the Azure MCP Server to manage Azure AI Search resources, including search services, indexes, and queries with natural language prompts. You don't need to remember specific command syntax.

Azure AI Search (formerly Azure Cognitive Search) is a cloud search service that provides APIs and tools for building applications and agents that follow the Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) pattern to connect AI models with external data, as well as for more traditional scenarios such as catalog and document search. It can play the role of a vector database or of a comprehensive retrieval system with vector and keyword retrieval, reranking, and most recently agentic retrieval support.

Note

The Azure MCP Server tools define parameters for data they need to complete tasks. Some of these parameters are specific to each tool and are documented below. Other parameters are global and shared by all tools. For more information, see Tool parameters.

Index: Get index details

Use the Azure MCP Server to retrieve detailed information about AI Search indexes. You can view the index schema, fields, analyzers, scoring profiles, and other index properties.

Example prompts include:

  • Get index details: "Show me details of the 'products' index in my 'mysearchservice' service."
  • View index schema: "What fields are in the 'users' index?"
  • Index structure: "Describe the schema for 'documents' index in my search service."
Parameter Required or optional Description
Service Required The name of the Azure AI Search service (for example, my-search-service).
Index Optional The name of the search index within the Azure AI Search service. Will list all indexes if not specified.

Index: Query index

Use the Azure MCP Server to run search queries against an AI Search index. This feature helps you find specific content using search terms.

Example prompts include:

  • Simple query: "Search for 'machine learning' in the 'documents' index of my 'my-search-service' service."
  • Sampling query: "Sample data talking about 'ML' or 'AI' or 'data science' in index 'documents' and tell me what they talk about."
  • Text search: "Search my 'content' index in 'my-search-service' for anything mentioning 'climate change'."
Parameter Required or optional Description
Subscription Optional Specifies the Azure subscription to use. Accepts either a subscription ID (GUID) or display name.
Service Required The name of the Azure AI Search service (for example, my-search-service).
Index Required The name of the search index within the Azure AI Search service.
Query Required The search query to execute against the Azure AI Search index.

Knowledge: Get knowledge base

Gets the details of Azure AI Search knowledge bases. Knowledge bases encapsulate retrieval and reasoning capabilities over one or more knowledge sources or indexes. If a specific knowledge base name isn't provided, the command returns details for all knowledge bases within the specified service.

Example prompts include:

  • Get knowledge base details: "Show me details of the 'support' knowledge base in my search service."
  • View all knowledge bases: "List all knowledge bases in my AI Search service."
  • Knowledge base info: "What knowledge bases are available in 'my-search-service'?"
Parameter Required or optional Description
Service Required The name of the Azure AI Search service (for example, my-search-service).
Knowledge base Optional The name of the knowledge base within the Azure AI Search service.

Knowledge: Retrieve from a knowledge base

Execute a retrieval operation using a specific Azure AI Search knowledge base, effectively searching and querying the underlying data sources as needed to find relevant information. Provide either a query for single-turn retrieval or one or more conversational messages. Specifying both query and messages isn't allowed.

Example prompts include:

  • Retrieve with query: "Search the 'support' knowledge base in service 'my-search-service' for information about troubleshooting."
  • Conversational retrieval: "Ask the 'docs' knowledge base in 'help-search-service': How do I configure authentication?"
  • Knowledge base search: "Query the 'products' knowledge base in 'retail-search-service' for pricing information."
Parameter Required or optional Description
Service Required The name of the Azure AI Search service (for example, my-search-service).
Knowledge base Required The name of the knowledge base within the Azure AI Search service.
Query Optional Natural language query for retrieval when a conversational message history isn't provided.
Messages Optional Conversation history messages passed to the knowledge base. Able to specify multiple messages entries. Each entry formatted as role:content, where role is user or assistant (for example, user:How many docs?).

Knowledge: Get source

Gets the details of Azure AI Search knowledge sources. A knowledge source can point directly at an existing Azure AI Search index, or can represent external data (for example, a blob storage container) that Azure AI Search has indexed internally. These knowledge sources are used by knowledge bases during retrieval. If a specific knowledge source name isn't provided, the command returns details for all knowledge sources within the specified service.

Example prompts include:

  • Get source details: "Show me details of the 'documents' knowledge source in my search service."
  • View all sources: "List all knowledge sources in my AI Search service."
  • Source information: "What knowledge sources are configured in 'my-search-service'?"
Parameter Required or optional Description
Service Required The name of the Azure AI Search service (for example, my-search-service).
Knowledge source Optional The name of the knowledge source within the Azure AI Search service.

Service: List services

Use the Azure MCP Server to list all AI Search services in a subscription. This command gives you a quick overview of your search services.

Example prompts include:

  • List services: "List all my AI Search services in my subscription."
  • Show services: "What AI Search services do I have?"
  • Find services: "I need to see my Azure AI Search resources"
Parameter Required or optional Description
Subscription Optional Specifies the Azure subscription to use. Accepts either a subscription ID (GUID) or display name.

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