mcp_need — AgentTeamsModule

The agent MCP-need protocol for teams under "write_policy": "orchestrator-only". It decides whether a specific non-orchestrator agent needs an MCP server, and which one, from evidence in the runner's ledger rather than from the agent's own account. It runs parallel to the skill capability-gap protocol.

Source: agentteams/mcp_need.py. Shipped by cli/render_pipeline.py (the reference) and liaison_logs.init_csv_stubs(..., mcp_needs=True) (the register) only under the switch, so other teams are byte-identical. Context: write_policy, proposals.

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Public surface

Name	Purpose
MCP_NEEDS_CSV	mcp-needs.csv: the need register in the team's references/. Only the orchestrator writes it.
MCP_NEEDS_HEADERS	The register's columns. verified is yes only when evidence cites runner-ledger lines; an agent's gap note never counts as evidence by itself (C-4).
REFERENCE_PATH	references/mcp-need.reference.md.
seed_rows(manifest, today) -> list[dict]	Phase N4: register rows for the brief's mcp_hints, one per agent (none for the orchestrator), from mcp_candidates[].per_agent. Every row is source = brief-hint, verified = no. Generation writes them only when it creates the register.
reference_doc() -> str	The procedure: gap-note and ledger-evidence triggers; the ordered per-agent decision rule (Q0 orchestrator; Q1 writes or network reach, refused; Q2 the security hard gate; Q3 a measured threshold; Q4 runner-path fixes; then a runner-hosted or passive-reader proposal with exact tool names); the gates; granting and retirement, reviewed at each pilot phase close-out; the register, kept per team.

What it changes in a generated team (under the switch)

• Non-orchestrator agents: the "Return Proposals" section tells them to attach a gap note to their handoff when they can't do what a task needs, instead of opening a plan or proposing a server.
• The orchestrator: the "Applying Proposals" section makes it the owner of every capability-gap plan, the skill protocol's included (other agents can't write files). It records gap notes in the register and decides per the reference.

Nothing here grants a capability. The per-agent MCP tool grant is added with the first approved server.

The evidence comes from mcp_need_report (agentteams --mcp-need-report).