mlsanityData to 14 Oct 2026

ScaleMCP: Dynamic and Auto-Synchronizing Model Context Protocol Tools for LLM Agents

arXiv 2505.06416 ↗First posted 9 May 2025cs.CLcited by 36

On the map: LLM agents and tool use → Tool learning and function calling

Abstract (arXiv)

Recent advancements in Large Language Models (LLMs) and the introduction of the Model Context Protocol (MCP) have significantly expanded LLM agents' capability to interact dynamically with external tools and APIs. However, existing tool selection frameworks do not integrate MCP servers, instead relying heavily on error-prone manual updates to monolithic local tool repositories, leading to duplication, inconsistencies, and inefficiencies. Additionally, current approaches abstract tool selection before the LLM agent is invoked, limiting its autonomy and hindering dynamic re-querying capabilities during multi-turn interactions. To address these issues, we introduce ScaleMCP, a novel tool selection approach that dynamically equips LLM agents with a MCP tool retriever, giving agents the autonomy to add tools into their memory, as well as an auto-synchronizing tool storage system pipeline through CRUD (create, read, update, delete) operations with MCP servers as the single source of truth. We also propose a novel embedding strategy, Tool Document Weighted Average (TDWA), designed to selectively emphasize critical components of tool documents (e.g. tool name or synthetic questions) during the embedding process. Comprehensive evaluations conducted on a created dataset of 5,000 financial metric MCP servers, across 10 LLM models, 5 embedding models, and 5 retriever types, demonstrate substantial improvements in tool retrieval and agent invocation performance, emphasizing ScaleMCP's effectiveness in scalable, dynamic tool selection and invocation.

Key facts. Cited by 36 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Placed in Tool learning and function calling, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use. Builds on 16 of its 32 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 9 May 2025.

Builds on

16 of 32 references.

Closest ancestors · 9

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2025Divide-Then-Aggregate: An Efficient Tool Learning Method via Parallel Tool Invocation21 Jan
  2. 2024Toolshed: Scale Tool-Equipped Agents with Advanced RAG-Tool Fusion and Tool Knowledge Bases18 Oct
  3. 2024CITI: Enhancing Tool Utilizing Ability in Large Language Models without Sacrificing General Performance20 Sep
  4. 2024Seal-Tools: Self-Instruct Tool Learning Dataset for Agent Tuning and Detailed Benchmark14 May
  5. 2024AnyTool: Self-Reflective, Hierarchical Agents for Large-Scale API Calls6 Feb
  6. 2024EASYTOOL: Enhancing LLM-based Agents with Concise Tool Instruction11 Jan
  7. 2023Gorilla: Large Language Model Connected with Massive APIs24 May
  8. 2023ToolkenGPT: Augmenting Frozen Language Models with Massive Tools via Tool Embeddings19 May
  9. 2023API-Bank: A Comprehensive Benchmark for Tool-Augmented LLMs14 Apr

Other references · 7

  1. 2023Retrieval-Augmented Generation for Large Language Models: A Surveycited by 2,212
  2. 2025Model Context Protocol (MCP): Landscape, Security Threats, and Future Research Directionscited by 265
  3. 2025Agentic Retrieval-Augmented Generation: A Survey on Agentic RAGcited by 249
  4. 2023CRAFT: Customizing LLMs by Creating and Retrieving from Specialized Toolsetscited by 129
  5. 2025MCP Safety Audit: LLMs with the Model Context Protocol Allow Major Security Exploitscited by 63
  6. 2024Re-Invoke: Tool Invocation Rewriting for Zero-Shot Tool Retrievalcited by 52
  7. 2025Hephaestus: Improving Fundamental Agent Capabilities of Large Language Models through Continual Pre-Trainingcited by 6

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 14 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2025: 17; 2026: 19.

36 papers.

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By area:

  1. 2025A Survey of Context Engineering for Large Language Modelscited by 126
  2. 2025A Survey of LLM-based Deep Search Agents: Paradigm, Optimization, Evaluation, and Challengescited by 62
  3. 2025LLM-based Agents Suffer from Hallucinations: A Survey of Taxonomy, Methods, and Directionscited by 50
  4. 2025LiveMCPBench: Can Agents Navigate an Ocean of MCP Tools?cited by 48
  5. 2025MCPEval: Automatic MCP-based Deep Evaluation for AI Agent Modelscited by 36
  6. 2025MemTool: Optimizing Short-Term Memory Management for Dynamic Tool Calling in LLM Agent Multi-Turn Conversationscited by 21
  7. 2025ToolScope: Enhancing LLM Agent Tool Use through Tool Merging and Context-Aware Filteringcited by 19
  8. 2026Don't Break the Cache: An Evaluation of Prompt Caching for Long-Horizon Agentic Taskscited by 19
  9. 2025Tool-to-Agent Retrieval: Bridging Tools and Agents for Scalable LLM Multi-Agent Systemscited by 15
  10. 2026The Orchestration of Multi-Agent Systems: Architectures, Protocols, and Enterprise Adoptioncited by 15
  11. 2026Cited but Not Verified: Parsing and Evaluating Source Attribution in LLM Deep Research Agentscited by 12
  12. 2025MCPAgentBench: A Real-world Task Benchmark for Evaluating LLM Agent MCP Tool Usecited by 9
24 more
  1. 2026ACE-Router: Generalizing History-Aware Routing from MCP Tools to the Agent Webcited by 7
  2. 2025Dynamic ReAct: Scalable Tool Selection for Large-Scale MCP Environmentscited by 6
  3. 2026Real Faults in Model Context Protocol (MCP) Software: a Comprehensive Taxonomycited by 6
  4. 2025Comparison of Text-Based and Image-Based Retrieval in Multimodal Retrieval Augmented Generation Large Language Model Systemscited by 5
  5. 2025Agent-as-a-Graph: Knowledge Graph-Based Tool and Agent Retrieval for LLM Multi-Agent Systemscited by 4
  6. 2026Beyond Rows to Reasoning: Agentic Retrieval for Multimodal Spreadsheet Understanding and Editingcited by 4
  7. 2026Ask Early, Ask Late, Ask Right: When Does Clarification Timing Matter for Long-Horizon Agents?cited by 4
  8. 2026A Guide to Large Language Models in Modeling and Simulation: From Core Techniques to Critical Challengescited by 3
  9. 2026MCPShield: A Security Cognition Layer for Adaptive Trust Calibration in Model Context Protocol Agentscited by 3
  10. 2025Dynamic System Instructions and Tool Exposure for Efficient Agentic LLMscited by 3
  11. 2025Galaxy: A Cognition-Centered Framework for Proactive, Privacy-Preserving, and Self-Evolving LLM Agentscited by 2
  12. 2025Rethinking Retrieval: From Traditional Retrieval Augmented Generation to Agentic and Non-Vector Reasoning Systems in the Financial Domain for Large Language Modelscited by 2
  13. 2026HarnessRisk: A Lifecycle-Oriented Benchmark for Agent Harness Safetycited by 2
  14. 2026Trustworthy Agent Network: Trust in Agent Networks Must Be Baked In, Not Bolted Oncited by 1
  15. 2026HarnessAPI: A Skill-First Framework for Unified Streaming APIs and MCP Toolscited by 1
  16. 2026The Router Within: Eliciting Native Skill Routing from a Frozen LLMcited by 1
  17. 2026What Does a Skill Actually Do? Estimands and Evaluation Validity for Tool and Skill Use in LLM Agents: A Critical Reviewcited by 1
  18. 2025HGMF: A Hierarchical Gaussian Mixture Framework for Scalable Tool Invocation within the Model Context Protocolcited by 0
  19. 2025HuggingR4: A Progressive Reasoning Framework for Discovering Optimal Model Companionscited by 0
  20. 2026STEM Agent: A Self-Adapting, Tool-Enabled, Extensible Architecture for Multi-Protocol AI Agent Systemscited by 0
  21. 2026Agentic Jackal: Live Execution and Semantic Value Grounding for Text-to-JQLcited by 0
  22. 2026Agent JIT Compilation for Latency-Optimizing Web Agent Planning and Schedulingcited by 0
  23. 2026Cross-Domain Hybrid OPD for Generalizable Search Agentscited by 0
  24. 2026What Can Component-Replacement Evidence Establish? A Critical Scoping Review of Local Decisions in LLM Agentscited by 0

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2025MCP-Bench: Benchmarking Tool-Using LLM Agents with Complex Real-World Tasks via MCP Servers
  2. 2025MCP-Flow: Facilitating LLM Agents to Master Real-World, Diverse and Scaling MCP Tools
  3. 2026MCPEvol-Bench: Benchmarking LLM Agent Performance Across Dynamic Evolutions of MCP Servers
  4. 2026DynamicMCPBench: A Trace-Grounded, Effect-Scored Benchmark for LLM Agents over Live MCP Servers
  5. 2026The Evolution of Tool Use in LLM Agents: From Single-Tool Call to Multi-Tool Orchestration
  6. 2025Help or Hurdle? Rethinking Model Context Protocol-Augmented Large Language Models
  7. 2026MCP-Atlas: A Large-Scale Benchmark for Tool-Use Competency with Real MCP Servers
  8. 2026ComplexMCP: Evaluation of LLM Agents in Dynamic, Interdependent, and Large-Scale Tool Sandbox