Mcity Data Engine MCP Server
OfficialIntegrates with Google Gemini as an alternative LLM provider for the agentic layer, supporting natural language configuration and orchestration of data engine workflows.
Enables natural language interaction with the Mcity Data Engine through OpenAI GPT-4o, allowing users to configure and execute computer vision workflows via conversational commands.
Click on "Install Server".
Wait a few minutes for the server to deploy. Once ready, it will show a "Started" state.
In the chat, type
@followed by the MCP server name and your instructions, e.g., "@Mcity Data Engine MCP ServerAuto-label my dataset for pedestrian detection."
That's it! The server will respond to your query, and you can continue using it as needed.
Here is a step-by-step guide with screenshots.
Acknowledgements
Mcity would like to thank Amazon Web Services (AWS) for their pivotal role in providing the cloud infrastructure on which the Data Engine depends. We couldn’t have done it without their tremendous support!
Agentic Mcity Data Engine
The Agentic MCity Data Engine introduces a conversational AI layer that sits seamlessly on top of the core data engine, enabling natural language interaction with complex computer vision workflows. Built using the Model Context Protocol (MCP), the agent acts as an intelligent orchestrator that guides users through workflow configuration and execution without requiring deep technical knowledge.
This repository (mcity_MSight_agent) currently exposes two workflows through that agentic layer:
Auto Labeling — dataset selection, model configuration, and training/inference against the Mcity Data Engine's own FiftyOne-based pipeline, with export to CVAT or Label Studio for review.
MSight Pipeline — natural-language control of MSight_Vision, a third-party, open-source roadside camera-perception pipeline (RF-DETR detection, tracking, live web viewer). The agent does not vendor or modify MSight_Vision — it drives a separate, independently-checked-out copy entirely through Docker Compose and MSight_Vision's own CLI entry points. See MSight Pipeline Workflow below.
On February 24, 2025, Daniel Bogdoll, a research scholar at Mcity, gave a presentation on the first release of the Mcity Data Engine in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The recording provides insight into the general architecture, its features and ecosystem integrations, and demonstrates successful data curation and model training for improved Vulnerable Road User (VRU) detection:
Related MCP server: agent-orchestrator
Key Features of the Agentic Implementation:
The Agentic Mcity Data Engine extends the Mcity Data Engine with an LLM-agnostic orchestration layer powered by the Model Context Protocol (MCP). This layer transforms each workflow — Auto Labeling and MSight Pipeline — into structured, callable tools that can be accessed either through natural-language interaction or programmatic APIs.
Natural Language Configuration: Configure complex workflows through conversational commands instead of manually editing Python config files. The agent translates natural language requests into correct configuration settings, validates parameters, maintains context across conversation turns, and guides users through multi-step workflow setup with intelligent prompts and error prevention.
Core Components:
- User Interface : A unified entry point for interaction—users can chat via a natural-language web UI or send direct HTTP API requests from the terminal.
- Chat Server: A FastAPI service (port 8001) acting as the bridge between the user, LLM, and backend MCP services. It maintains multi-turn chat history, handles tool invocations, streams Server-Sent Event (SSE) logs, and supports both web-UI and programmatic clients.
- LLM Layer (Model-Agnostic): Connects to OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, or Groq models. The LLM interprets user instructions, determines the appropriate workflow tool call, and sends structured requests back to the chat server for execution.
- MCP Server: A FastAPI-based backend (port 8000) exposing 30+ tools across both workflows — Auto Labeling (dataset selection, ingestion, model configuration, CVAT/Label Studio export, Voxel51 visualization) and MSight Pipeline (Docker Compose lifecycle control, camera-calibration status, video record & archive) — plus shared infrastructure used by both.
- Data Ingestion Server: A dedicated service (port 8002) for uploading and preprocessing datasets. It supports drag-and-drop ingestion of images, videos, and annotations in COCO, YOLO, or CVAT-XML formats, automatically converting them into FiftyOne-compatible datasets. This server streams conversion logs and progress via SSE and updates datasets.yaml dynamically to register new datasets for use across workflows.
- Data Engine Core: The underlying Mcity Data Engine handling data selection, labeling, training, validation, and visualization. The agentic layer orchestrates these modules programmatically via MCP instead of relying on static configuration editing.
MSight Pipeline Workflow
The msight_pipeline workflow lets the agent start, stop, and monitor MSight_Vision's live RF-DETR detection pipeline — a separate redis + video_source + rfdetr_detector + detection_viewer Docker Compose stack — from a natural-language conversation, without ever touching MSight_Vision's own source:
Requires an independent MSight_Vision checkout. Set
MSIGHT_VISION_PATHin.envto point at a working copy of MSight_Vision (its owngit clone, withdocker-compose.ymland a Python venv with MSight's CLI entry points installed). This repo never vendors or edits that checkout — it only invokesdocker composeagainst it and shells out to its CLI binaries (msight_launch_image_to_video_aggregator,msight_launch_video_local_dumper,msight_launch_aws_video_pusher) for the record/archive nodes.Demo or custom source: either point the agent at the developer's own test video/stream (
MSIGHT_DEMO_VIDEO_PATHin.env) for a zero-setup demo, or supply your ownvideo_input(file/folder) orrtsp_url.Explicit run confirmation: for a custom source, the first
start_msight_pipelinecall never launches anything — it returns a consent summary (source, calibration status, recording/archiving selection) that the user must confirm before any container actually starts.Camera calibration: upload your own
intrinsics.json+ calibration.npz(built with camera_calibration2) via the web UI's upload button; the agent validates the file formats and reports live calibration status (default/user_calibrated/missing/partial) every turn.Record & Archive: independent, opt-in local video recording and S3 archiving of the annotated feed (bounding boxes/labels/scores drawn in via a small frame-annotator node this agent launches, not MSight_Vision itself) — run as tracked host subprocesses alongside the Docker-based detection pipeline.
GPU vs CPU auto-detected: checks for a working
nvidia-smiand transparently layers in MSight_Vision'sdocker-compose.cpu.ymloverride when no GPU is present — nothing to configure either way.Friendly error handling: known Docker/host failure modes (a host process already bound to Redis's port, a malformed
.envline) are translated into actionable messages instead of rawdocker composeoutput.
Online Demo: Data Selection with Embeddings
To get a first feel for the Mcity Data Engine, we provide an online demo in a Google Colab environment. We will load the Fisheye8K dataset and demonstrate the Mcity Data Engine workflow Embedding Selection. This workflow leverages a set of models to compute image embeddings which are used to determine both representative and rare samples. The dataset is then visualized in the Voxel51 UI, highlighting how often a sample was picked by the workflow.
Note that most of the Mcity Data Engine workflows require a more powerful GPU, so the possibilities within the Colab environment are limited. Other workflows may not work.
Online demo on Google Colab: Mcity Data Engine Web Demo
Local Execution
At least one GPU is required for many of the Mcity Data Engine workflows. Check the hardware setups we have tested in the Wiki. To download the repository and install the requirements run:
git clone git@github.com:mcity/mcity_MSight_agent.git
cd mcity_MSight_agent
# Use python3.12 explicitly -- plain `python3` may resolve to a newer default
# (3.13/3.14) on your system, which several pinned packages (e.g. numba==0.61.0)
# do not yet support.
python3.12 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install --upgrade pip
pip install -r requirements.txt
pip install -r agent_requirements.txt
# fiftyone requires sse-starlette<1, but mcp (via fastmcp) requires >=1.6.1 --
# no version satisfies both, so fiftyone is installed separately with --no-deps
# rather than forcing the wrong one onto the rest of the stack.
pip install "fiftyone==1.4.1" --no-depsLogin with your Weights and Biases and Hugging Face accounts:
wandb login
hf auth loginAgentic Implementation Guide:
Configuration: Create a .env file with your LLM API key.
# Choose your LLM provider (openai, claude, gemini, or groq)
LLM_PROVIDER=openai
# Add your API key
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
# OR
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...
# OR
GEMINI_API_KEY=...
# OR
GROQ_API_KEY=...
# Required only for the MSight Pipeline workflow — path to an independent
# MSight_Vision checkout (see "MSight Pipeline Workflow" above).
MSIGHT_VISION_PATH=/path/to/your/MSight_Vision
# Optional — enables a one-click "Demo" source in the MSight Pipeline workflow
# without asking the user for a video path.
MSIGHT_DEMO_VIDEO_PATH=/path/to/a/demo/video/or/folderLaunch the Agentic Interface: Start all four components one after the other in separate terminals:
# Terminal 1: MCP Tool Server (port 8000)
python mcp_layer/mcp_server.py
# Terminal 2: Chat Server (port 8001)
uvicorn mcp_layer.chat_server:app --port 8001 --reload
# Terminal 3: Data Ingestion Server (port 8002)
uvicorn mcp_layer.ingest_server:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8002 --reload
# Terminal 4: Launch Web UI (port 5225)
python mcp_layer/client_chat.py --uiThe web interface will open automatically at http://localhost:5225.
Docker / AWS Deployment:
agent_deployment/ does not contain a Dockerfile for running the agent itself in a
local container. Instead:
agent_deployment/Docker/is a small Flask app (App.py+cloudFormationManager.py+redisManager.py) that provides a web form for launching a remote AWS EC2 sandbox running this repo via CloudFormation.docker-compose.ymlthere runs that launcher app itself (plus a Redis instance it depends on) — it does not run the data engine. Copyagent_deployment/Docker/env_sampletoagent_deployment/Docker/.envand fill in your AWS credentials before runningdocker compose upin that directory.agent_deployment/Full-install/andagent_deployment/Using-AMI/contain the CloudFormation templates (deploy-agent.yml,deploy-agent-AWS-AMI.yml) that the Flask app submits — these boot a plain EC2 instance (or one from a pre-baked AMI) and run the same "Launch the Agentic Interface" steps above via cloud-init.
If you're looking to containerize the agent itself for local testing, that setup doesn't exist yet in this repo.
Talk to Task: Example Run
User: Hi, I would like to explore the data engine for processing my data.
Agent: Great! I can help you with Auto Labeling — training or running an object
detection model on your dataset. Which dataset would you like to use?
User: fisheye8k
Agent: Dataset 'fisheye8k' confirmed. Do you have credentials configured for
CVAT or Label Studio? I detected Label Studio credentials — using
Label Studio for annotation. How would you like to annotate your
dataset?
- Manual Labeling: export your dataset for manual annotation.
- Auto Generated Labeling: run a detection model to generate
predictions automatically, then review/correct them.
User: Auto Generated Labeling.
Agent: Here are the available model sources and models: [...]
Which model would you like to use?
User: rfdetr_2xlarge
Agent: rfdetr_2xlarge (roboflow) has been configured.
Here are the current hyperparameters: [...]
Would you like to modify any of these hyperparameters, or are you
ready to start?
User: Let's go with the defaults.
Agent: Here's a summary of what will be run: [...] Shall I proceed with
auto-labeling?
User: Yes, proceed.
[Data Engine Server]: Running auto-labeling — live logs are streamed here and to Weights and Biases.
Agent: Auto-labeling completed. Predictions have been exported to Label Studio
for review. Let me know when you're done and I'll import your labels
back, or I can launch Voxel51 so you can explore the results now.MSight Pipeline: Example Run
User: I want to run the MSight camera detection pipeline.
Agent: Welcome to MSight Agent! Would you like to:
- Demo: see it running immediately with a test video.
- Run your own pipeline: set up your own camera calibration,
video/RTSP source, recording & archiving, and optionally
auto-labeling — in any order.
User: I want to run my own pipeline.
Agent: Here's your checklist — do these in any order, come back anytime:
1. Camera calibration (currently: default demo calibration)
2. Video/RTSP source (currently: not set)
3. Record & Archive (available once a real source is running)
4. Auto Labeling (optional, if you don't have a labeled dataset yet)
Which would you like to start with?
User: Use this video file: /data/gs_mcity_1/2026-07-01.mp4
Agent: Here's what will run:
- Source: /data/gs_mcity_1/2026-07-01.mp4
- Calibration: default demo calibration (no user upload yet)
- Recording: off · Archiving: off
Shall I start the pipeline with these settings?
User: Yes, go ahead.
Agent: MSight_Vision pipeline started. Watch live detections at
http://localhost:9010. You can also check status, view logs,
stop it, or restart with a different input — just ask.
User: How's it doing?
Agent: All 4 containers are running (redis, video_source, rfdetr_detector,
detection_viewer). No errors in the last 200 log lines.Notebooks and Submodules
To exclude the output of jupyter notebooks from git tracking, add the following lines to your .git/config :
[filter "strip-notebook-output-engine"]
clean = <your_path>/mcity_MSight_agent/.venv/bin/jupyter nbconvert --ClearOutputPreprocessor.enabled=True --ClearMetadataPreprocessor.enabled=True --to=notebook --stdin --stdout
smudge = cat
required = trueand those to .git/modules/mcity_data_engine_scripts/config
[filter "strip-notebook-output-scripts"]
clean = <your_path>/mcity_MSight_agent/.venv/bin/jupyter nbconvert --ClearOutputPreprocessor.enabled=True --ClearMetadataPreprocessor.enabled=True --to=notebook --stdin --stdout
smudge = cat
required = trueIn order to keep the submodules updated, add the following lines to the top of your .git/hooks/pre-commit:
git submodule update --recursive --remote
git add .gitmodules $(git submodule foreach --quiet 'echo $name')Repository Structure
.
├── main.py # Entry point of the framework → Terminal 1
├── session_v51.py # Script to launch Voxel51 session → Terminal 2
├── workflows/ # Workflows for the Mcity Data Engine
├── config/ # Local configuration files
├── utils/ # General-purpose utility functions
├── cloud/ # Scripts run in the cloud to pre-process data
├── docs/ # Documentation generated with `pdoc`
├── tests/ # Tests using Pytest
├── custom_models/ # External models with containerized environments
├── MSight/ # Offline dataset geolocation (not the live pipeline — see MSight/README.md)
│ ├── localize_dataset.py # Fisheye ground-contact + lat/lon localization
│ ├── utils/
│ │ ├── fiftyone_to_msight_det.py # FiftyOne detections -> MSight detection objects
│ │ └── load_locamaps.py # Calibration NPZ/intrinsics loading + pixel localizer
│ ├── data/ # Hardcoded single-camera (Ashley/Huron) calibration files
│ └── install.sh # Installs msight_base/msight_core into the active venv
├── mcp_layer/ # Agentic (MCP) layer
│ ├── mcp_server.py # MCP tool registry (port 8000)
│ ├── chat_server.py # FastAPI chat endpoint (port 8001) + /msight/upload_calibration
│ ├── ingest_server.py # File upload & processing (port 8002)
│ ├── client_chat.py # Web/terminal client (port 5225)
│ ├── chat_pipeline.py # Tool dispatch, state routing, reply formatting
│ ├── pipeline_handlers/ # Per-workflow handler mixins for ChatPipeline
│ │ ├── auto_labeling.py
│ │ └── msight_pipeline.py
│ ├── pipeline_common.py # Shared routing/sentinel primitives for the handlers above
│ ├── progress_relay.py # Relays live docker-compose build output to the active /chat/stream
│ ├── validate_workflow_state.py # Pydantic workflow state machine (both workflows)
│ ├── host_utils.py # AWS IMDSv2 host/IP resolution for the viewer URL
│ ├── mcptools/ # Tool implementations
│ │ ├── __init__.py
│ │ ├── workflow_selector.py
│ │ ├── auto_labeling.py
│ │ ├── data_ingest.py
│ │ ├── cvat_export.py
│ │ ├── label_studio_export.py
│ │ ├── msight_docker.py # start/stop/status/logs — docker compose control for MSight_Vision
│ │ ├── msight_record_archive.py # Local recording + S3 archiving as tracked host subprocesses
│ │ ├── msight_calibration_helper.py # Fisheye-intrinsics auto-detect (not yet registered)
│ │ └── v51.py # Voxel51 integration
│ ├── msight_nodes/ # Standalone MSight nodes (not MCP tools) launched as
│ │ │ # subprocesses via MSight_Vision's own venv interpreter
│ │ └── annotated_frame_publisher.py # Draws detection boxes, republishes for Record & Archive
│ ├── llm_clients.py # Multi-LLM support (OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, Groq)
│ ├── tool_schema.py # Tool definitions exposed to the LLM
│ ├── prompts/ # System + per-workflow prompt text
│ │ ├── state_hints.txt # Per-turn SESSION_STATE hint fragments
│ │ └── workflows/
│ │ ├── auto_labeling.txt
│ │ └── msight_pipeline.txt
│ ├── tests/ # Pytest coverage for state routing/tool filtering
│ └── ui/ # Web interface assets
│ └── index.html
├── agent_deployment/ # AWS CloudFormation / Docker launcher for the agent
├── mcity_data_engine_scripts/ # Experiment scripts and one-time operations (Mcity internal)
├── .vscode # Settings for VS Code IDE
├── .github/workflows/ # GitHub Action workflows
├── .gitignore # Files and directories to be ignored by Git
├── .gitattributes # Rules for handling files like Notebooks during commits
├── .gitmodules # Configuration for managing Git submodules
├── .secret # Secret tokens (not tracked by Git)
└── requirements.txt # Python dependencies (pip install -r requirements.txt)Training
Training runs are logged with Weights and Biases (WandB).
In order to change the standard WandB directory, run
echo 'export WANDB_DIR="<your_path>/mcity_MSight_agent/logs"' >> ~/.profile
source ~/.profileContribution
Contributions are very welcome! The Mcity Data Engine is a blueprint for data curation and model training and will not support every use case out of the box. Please find instructions on how to contribute here:
Special thanks to these amazing people for contributing to the Mcity Data Engine! 🙌
Citation
If you use the Mcity Data Engine in your research, feel free to cite the project:
@article{bogdoll2025mcitydataengine,
title={Mcity Data Engine},
author={Bogdoll, Daniel and Anata, Rajanikant Patnaik and Stevens, Gregory},
journal={GitHub. Note: https://github.com/mcity/mcity_data_engine},
year={2025}
}This server cannot be installed
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