Salesforce External MCP Server — AWS Hosted

A Python FastAPI MCP server deployed on AWS EC2 with nginx reverse proxy and Let's Encrypt SSL, registered as an External MCP Server inside Salesforce and called by an Agentforce Employee Agent ("A[...]

Business Problem

Enterprises need Agentforce to reach external systems that aren't natively connected to Salesforce — legacy CRMs, loyalty platforms, custom order systems. This proves the pattern end to end: host[...]

Architecture

How It Works

1. Agentforce Employee Agent ("AWS") has the MCP tools registered as available actions
2. User asks something like "What's the status of order 1001?"
3. Agent matches intent to the get_order_status tool
4. Salesforce authenticates via OAuth 2.0 Client Credentials against /token
5. Authenticated call routes through Named Credential to /mcp
6. nginx terminates SSL, reverse proxies to uvicorn on port 8000
7. FastAPI server processes the MCP JSON-RPC call, returns structured data
8. Agent composes a natural language reply

Tools Exposed

Tool	Input	Output
get_order_status	order_id	status, carrier, eta
check_loyalty_points	customer_id	points, tier

Salesforce Components

Component	Type	Purpose
AWS	Agentforce Employee Agent	Calls the MCP tools as actions
NorthstarMCP	External Credential	OAuth 2.0 Client Credentials auth
NorthstarMCP	Named Credential	Secure endpoint URL
NorthstarMCP	External Service Registration	MCP tool registration
Agentforce Agent AWS Permissions	Permission Set	Grants agent access to MCP tools

OAuth 2.0 Configuration

Field	Value
Flow	Client Credentials with Client Secret
Identity Provider URL	https://northstar-mcp.mooo.com/token
Scope	mcp.read
Named Credential URL	https://northstar-mcp.mooo.com/mcp
Principal	MCPAuthentication

Live Verification

curl https://northstar-mcp.mooo.com/

{"status":"ok","info":"Dummy MCP server. POST /token for OAuth, POST /mcp for MCP JSON-RPC."}

Verified live on AWS EC2 — uvicorn process confirmed running, nginx confirmed listening on 443 with valid Let's Encrypt certificate.

Problems Faced & How They Were Solved

Problem	Root Cause	Fix
Salesforce couldn't reach localhost server	Not internet-accessible	Deployed to AWS EC2 with public domain
Salesforce rejecting HTTP connection	No SSL configured	nginx reverse proxy with Let's Encrypt via Certbot
Agent couldn't call the tools	Permission Set missing agent access	Created Agentforce Agent AWS Permissions with agentAccesses enabled

Prerequisites

• Salesforce org with Agentforce + MCP Server registration enabled
• Domain with DNS pointed to your server
• AWS EC2 instance, nginx, Certbot
• Python 3.9+, FastAPI, uvicorn

Deployment

# Python server (on EC2)
pip3 install -r requirements.txt
python3 external_dummy_mcp_server.py

# SSL setup (one-time)
sudo certbot --nginx -d northstar-mcp.mooo.com

# Salesforce metadata
sf project deploy start --manifest package.xml
sf org assign permset --name Agentforce_Agent_AWS_Permissions

Admin Configuration

Step	Action
1	External Credential → add Client Secret for MCPAuthentication principal
2	Verify Named Credential URL points to /mcp endpoint
3	Confirm both tools show Active under MCP Servers
4	Add MCP tools to Agent → Actions
5	Activate the Agent

Demo

Salesforce MCP Server registration

Agent action configuration

Live agent response

Production Considerations

Area	Current State	Production Fix
Data layer	In-memory Python dicts	Real database (RDS/PostgreSQL)
Credentials	Hardcoded in code	AWS Secrets Manager or env vars
Process management	Manual uvicorn process	systemd service for auto-restart

Key Insight

Most demos show an AI agent calling into Salesforce. This shows a Salesforce Agentforce agent calling OUT to an externally hosted MCP server with proper SSL and OAuth — proving Agentforce can i[...]

Tech Stack

• Salesforce Agentforce (Employee Agent)
• External Service Registration (Model Context Protocol)
• Named Credentials + External Credentials (OAuth 2.0)
• Python FastAPI · AWS EC2 · nginx · Let's Encrypt