What if the chat became a specialist application?

When text isn’t enough

Some tasks are hard to do in sentences. An engineering design has dozens of parameters, a configurator has many dependencies, and a chart says more than any table. This is where a text-only chat reaches its limits.

MCP apps solve this: an MCP server provides not only tools but also an interactive interface that LIVOI shows directly in the chat. The agent opens the app and fills it with what it knows from the conversation. The user then keeps working in the app itself, with sliders, selections and live charts. Agent and app both work with the same server.

Please start a hot water design for the Lindenstraße apartment building.

MCP App open_design

Domestic hot water design Project: Lindenstraße 12

Apartments

24

People per apartment

2,5

Storage temperature

60 °C

Peak demand –

Suggested storage –

Heating output –

Validate Save PDF report

The design is open. Adjust the values directly. When you choose “Validate”, the server recalculates the result authoritatively. After that, I can create the PDF report.

Try the sliders: figures and chart update instantly. Simplified example calculation for illustration only, not an engineering design.

In practice: designing domestic hot water systems

For a manufacturer in heating and thermal technology, P-CATION built the design of domestic hot water systems as an MCP app. Until now, this required specialized engineering software.

From request to a validated PDF report

• Channel
• MCP
• Project tool

1. 1

   Channel Request in chat

   “Start a design for the apartment building.” The agent looks for similar projects and suggests starting values.

2. 2

   MCP App opens

   Project, demand, draw-off points, circulation and system in six steps, right in the chat.

   open_design
3. 3

   MCP Adjust live

   Sliders update figures and charts instantly in the browser.

4. 4

   Project tool Validate & report

   The calculation engine validates authoritatively. After expert confirmation, the PDF report is generated.

   validate_design

Business logic, reference data and report template live in the project's MCP server. LIVOI itself stays customer-neutral.

Agent and human work together

The agent prepares, finds references and explains results. The expert decides in the interface wherever precise input is needed.

Authoritative results

The app calculates a preview in the browser. Only the result validated by the server is saved and included in the report.

Clear limits for the agent

Some actions are only available in the app, such as maintaining reference data. The PDF report requires explicit expert confirmation.

Reusable

Projects are saved with revisions and can be searched and duplicated as variants – from the app or via chat.

What MCP apps are good for

• Product configurators with dependencies between options
• Engineering designs and calculations with charts and validation rules
• Forms with plausibility checks, for applications or site measurements
• Dashboards and reports that the agent opens for a specific question

The domain process first, then the app

An MCP app is only as good as the process behind it. In projects like this, we first walk through the calculation step by step with the experts: which inputs are really needed, which validation rules apply and where an expert sign-off is required. More on our approach

What changes day to day

Before

• Specialist software only a few people in the company can use
• Requests queue up with the expert team
• Results go back and forth by email and PDF

After with LIVOI

• The specialist application opens where people are already asking
• The agent guides through inputs and explains results
• Validated projects and reports are stored centrally

Technical background

MCP apps are an extension of the Model Context Protocol. A tool points to an interface provided by the MCP server. LIVOI shows it sandboxed in the chat and routes the app’s actions to the same server. More on MCP in LIVOI: What if the agent didn’t just answer, but acted?