mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

MCPMark: A Benchmark for Stress-Testing Realistic and Comprehensive MCP Use

arXiv 2509.24002 ↗First posted 28 Sep 2025cs.CL cs.AIcited by 37

Not on the map. Why?

Cited by 30 in LLM agents and tool use, but placed by its own abstract, which didn’t fit.

Abstract (arXiv)

MCP standardizes how LLMs interact with external systems, forming the foundation for general agents. However, existing MCP benchmarks remain narrow in scope: they focus on read-heavy tasks or tasks with limited interaction depth, and fail to capture the complexity and realism of real-world workflows. To address this gap, we propose MCPMark, a benchmark designed to evaluate MCP use in a more realistic and comprehensive manner. It consists of 127 high-quality tasks collaboratively created by domain experts and AI agents. Each task begins with a curated initial state and includes a programmatic script for automatic verification. These tasks demand richer and more diverse interactions with the environment, involving a broad range of create, read, update, and delete (CRUD) operations. We conduct a comprehensive evaluation of cutting-edge LLMs using a minimal agent framework that operates in a tool-calling loop. Empirical results show that the best-performing model, gpt-5-medium, reaches only 52.56% pass@1 and 33.86% pass4, while other widely regarded strong models, including claude-sonnet-4 and o3, fall below 30% pass@1 and 15% pass4. On average, LLMs require 16.2 execution turns and 17.4 tool calls per task, significantly surpassing those in previous MCP benchmarks and highlighting the stress-testing nature of MCPMark.

Key facts. Cited by 37 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Builds on 29 of its 40 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 28 Sep 2025.

Builds on

29 of 40 references.

References · 29

  1. 2022ReAct: Synergizing Reasoning and Acting in Language Modelscited by 8,355
  2. 2023Toolformer: Language Models Can Teach Themselves to Use Toolscited by 4,072
  3. 2023Reflexion: Language Agents with Verbal Reinforcement Learningcited by 4,064
  4. 2025Gemini 2.5: Pushing the Frontier with Advanced Reasoning, Multimodality, Long Context, and Next Generation Agentic Capabilitiescited by 3,655
  5. 2023Tree of Thoughts: Deliberate Problem Solving with Large Language Modelscited by 3,155
  6. 2023WebArena: A Realistic Web Environment for Building Autonomous Agentscited by 1,908
  7. 2023AutoGen: Enabling Next-Gen LLM Applications via Multi-Agent Conversationcited by 1,906
  8. 2023ToolLLM: Facilitating Large Language Models to Master 16000+ Real-world APIscited by 1,880
  9. 2023MetaGPT: Meta Programming for A Multi-Agent Collaborative Frameworkcited by 1,761
  10. 2024SWE-agent: Agent-Computer Interfaces Enable Automated Software Engineeringcited by 1,628
  11. 2023CAMEL: Communicative Agents for "Mind" Exploration of Large Language Model Societycited by 1,348
  12. 2023Gorilla: Large Language Model Connected with Massive APIscited by 1,302
17 more
  1. 2024τ-bench: A Benchmark for Tool-Agent-User Interaction in Real-World Domainscited by 1,280
  2. 2023Mind2Web: Towards a Generalist Agent for the Webcited by 1,210
  3. 2024OSWorld: Benchmarking Multimodal Agents for Open-Ended Tasks in Real Computer Environmentscited by 1,134
  4. 2024OpenHands: An Open Platform for AI Software Developers as Generalist Agentscited by 956
  5. 2025BrowseComp: A Simple Yet Challenging Benchmark for Browsing Agentscited by 616
  6. 2023AgentVerse: Facilitating Multi-Agent Collaboration and Exploring Emergent Behaviorscited by 580
  7. 2024Executable Code Actions Elicit Better LLM Agentscited by 537
  8. 2025PaperBench: Evaluating AI's Ability to Replicate AI Researchcited by 286
  9. 2025Model Context Protocol (MCP): Landscape, Security Threats, and Future Research Directionscited by 257
  10. 2025DeepResearch Bench: A Comprehensive Benchmark for Deep Research Agentscited by 236
  11. 2025MCP-Universe: Benchmarking Large Language Models with Real-World Model Context Protocol Serverscited by 89
  12. 2025MCP-RADAR: A Multi-Dimensional Benchmark for Evaluating Tool Use Capabilities in Large Language Modelscited by 48
  13. 2025LiveMCPBench: Can Agents Navigate an Ocean of MCP Tools?cited by 47
  14. 2025MCPWorld: A Unified Benchmarking Testbed for API, GUI, and Hybrid Computer Use Agentscited by 37
  15. 2025MCPEval: Automatic MCP-based Deep Evaluation for AI Agent Modelscited by 34
  16. 2025MCP-AgentBench: Evaluating Real-World Language Agent Performance with MCP-Mediated Toolscited by 30
  17. 2025LiveMCP-101: Stress Testing and Diagnosing MCP-enabled Agents on Challenging Queriescited by 15

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2025: 3; 2026: 34.

37 papers.

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By area:

  1. 2026Kimi K3: Open Frontier Intelligencecited by 99
  2. 2026MCP-Atlas: A Large-Scale Benchmark for Tool-Use Competency with Real MCP Serverscited by 46
  3. 2026Unsafer in Many Turns: Benchmarking and Defending Multi-Turn Safety Risks in Tool-Using Agentscited by 28
  4. 2026AgencyBench: Benchmarking the Frontiers of Autonomous Agents in 1M-Token Real-World Contextscited by 26
  5. 2026Qwen-AgentWorld: Language World Models for General Agentscited by 22
  6. 2026OmniGAIA: Towards Native Omni-Modal AI Agentscited by 21
  7. 2025TokenCake: A KV-Cache-centric Serving Framework for LLM-based Multi-Agent Applicationscited by 16
  8. 2026ClawMark: A Living-World Benchmark for Multi-Turn, Multi-Day, Multimodal Coworker Agentscited by 15
  9. 2026LOCA-bench: Benchmarking Language Agents Under Controllable and Extreme Context Growthcited by 12
  10. 2026World of Workflows: A Benchmark for Bringing World Models to Enterprise Systemscited by 10
  11. 2026Agentic Environment Engineering for Large Language Models: A Survey of Environment Modeling, Synthesis, Evaluation, and Applicationcited by 8
  12. 2026OccuBench: Evaluating AI Agents on Real-World Professional Tasks via Language Environment Simulationcited by 6
25 more
  1. 2026CodeDelegator: Mitigating Context Pollution via Role Separation in Code-as-Action Agentscited by 4
  2. 2026From Tool Orchestration to Code Execution: A Study of MCP Design Choicescited by 3
  3. 2026PHMForge: Evaluating LLM Agents on Industrial Prognostics through MCP-Native, Algorithm-Grounded Toolscited by 3
  4. 2026ARTIS: Agentic Risk-Aware Test-Time Scaling via Iterative Simulationcited by 2
  5. 2026Trust No Tool: Evaluating and Defending LLM Agents under Untrusted Tool Feedbackcited by 2
  6. 2026One Success Isn't Reliability: Thinkingbox, a Sandbox and Benchmark for Agents in Stateful Business Workflowscited by 2
  7. 2026PeakBench: Benchmarking Resource-Aware Tool Invocation in LLM Agentscited by 2
  8. 2026What Makes Good Agentic Data? An ACE Lens on Data Generation for LLM Agentscited by 2
  9. 2026AgentBrew: Offline Tool-Use Agent Learning from Raw Real-World Trajectoriescited by 2
  10. 2025EdgeRunner 20B: Military Task Parity with GPT-5 while Running on the Edgecited by 1
  11. 2025Can LLM Infer Risk Information From MCP Server System Logs?cited by 1
  12. 2026MCP-DPT: A Defense-Placement Taxonomy and Coverage Analysis for Model Context Protocol Securitycited by 1
  13. 2026E-Bench: Benchmarking Multi-Step Tool-Use Agents in Real-World Product Scenarioscited by 1
  14. 2026Hidden in Plain Sight: Benchmarking Agent Safety Against Decomposition Attacks with DECOMPBENCHcited by 0
  15. 2026Autonomous Event-Driven Multi-Agent Orchestration for Enterprise AI at Scalecited by 0
  16. 2026Learning with a Single Rollout via Monte Carlo Pass@k Criticcited by 0
  17. 2026ToolAtlas: Learning Once, Reusing Everywhere with Tool-Side Memorycited by 0
  18. 2026Nanbeige4.2-3B on Apple Silicon: Fixing Deployment Bugs and Decreasing Looped Transformer Memory Overheadcited by 0
  19. 2026AgentMercury: Your Agent Can Synthesize Verifiable Environments for Business Scenarios at scalecited by 0
  20. 2026CraftBench-UE: Deterministic Evaluation for Coding Agents in Unreal Enginecited by 0
  21. 2026Where Does Exactly-Once Live? Model, Harness, and Tool-Contract Effects on Duplicate Side Effects in LLM Agentscited by 0
  22. 2026Qwen-Planner-Agent: A Closed-Loop AI-for-AI Framework for Real-World Mobile Planner Agentscited by 0
  23. 2026Beyond Approved Actions: Runtime Validation of Persistent Outcomes in Agent Workflowscited by 0
  24. 2026On the Behavioral Traits of LLM Agentscited by 0
  25. 2026ControlScope: Workflow Revision and Reliability 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. 2026MCPEvol-Bench: Benchmarking LLM Agent Performance Across Dynamic Evolutions of MCP Servers
  3. 2026MCP-GRANITE Benchmark: GRANularity Interface TEsting for MCP-Based LLM Agents
  4. 2025MCPAgentBench: A Real-world Task Benchmark for Evaluating LLM Agent MCP Tool Use
  5. 2026DynamicMCPBench: A Trace-Grounded, Effect-Scored Benchmark for LLM Agents over Live MCP Servers
  6. 2026AgentPerfBench: A Benchmarking and Evaluation Suite for Inference Performance of Agentic LLMs
  7. 2026ComplexMCP: Evaluation of LLM Agents in Dynamic, Interdependent, and Large-Scale Tool Sandbox
  8. 2025MCP-Flow: Facilitating LLM Agents to Master Real-World, Diverse and Scaling MCP Tools