argus-mcp 0.8.3

A central server for MCP servers

Argus MCP

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 - see the LICENSE file for more details.

Project Overview

Argus MCP is a central gateway and management platform for MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers. It connects to and aggregates capabilities from multiple backend MCP servers (stdio, SSE, or streamable-HTTP) and exposes them to upstream MCP clients through SSE (/sse) and Streamable HTTP (/mcp) transports.

The project has a server/client architecture:

• argus-mcp server — Headless server that runs the MCP bridge, management API, and transports.
• argus-mcp build — Pre-build container images for stdio backends.
• argus-mcp tui — Textual-based terminal UI that connects to a running server over HTTP.
• argus-mcp secret — Manage encrypted secrets (set, get, list, delete).
• argus-mcp clean — Remove containers and images created by Argus MCP.

Companion Packages

Package	Entry Point	Description
argus-cli	argus	Client CLI with 20 command groups and an interactive REPL for managing a running server
argus-cli	argus-tui	Alternative TUI launcher from the client package
argusd	argusd	Go sidecar daemon for Docker container and Kubernetes pod management (Unix Domain Socket API)

See the CLI Reference and REPL Guide for details.

Core Advantages:

1. Simplified Client Configuration: MCP clients connect to one Argus MCP address to access all backend services.
2. Capability Aggregation: Aggregates MCP tools, resources, and prompts from multiple sources into a single endpoint.
3. Management API: RESTful API at /manage/v1/ for runtime inspection and control of backend services.
4. Multi-Server TUI: Connect the TUI to multiple Argus MCP servers simultaneously and switch between them.
5. Security: JWT/OIDC authentication, RBAC authorization, encrypted secret storage, and log redaction.

Installation and Setup

Requires Python 3.10+.

From PyPI

uv tool install — fastest, isolated environment, auto-managed (recommended):

uv tool install argus-mcp

pipx — same isolation concept, more established:

pipx install argus-mcp

pip — installs into the current environment:

pip install argus-mcp

Quick try: Run without installing using uv run argus-mcp --help

After installing, verify with:

argus-mcp --help

From Docker

See the Docker usage guide.

docker run --rm diaz3618/argus-mcp:latest --help

From Source

1. Clone Repository

   git clone https://github.com/diaz3618/argus-mcp.git
   cd argus-mcp
   

2. Create and Activate Virtual Environment

   uv venv
   source .venv/bin/activate   # Linux/macOS
   # .venv\Scripts\activate    # Windows
   

3. Install Dependencies

   uv sync              # runtime only
   uv sync --group dev --group test  # runtime + dev + test tools
   

4. Makefile Shortcuts

   make help          # Show available targets
   make test          # Run pytest suite
   make lint          # Run ruff linter
   make typecheck     # Run mypy
   make quality       # Full gate: lint + types + tests + security
   make docker-build  # Build Docker image (local arch)
   make clean         # Remove build artifacts and caches
   

Quick Start

View Help

argus-mcp --help

usage: argus-mcp [-h] {server,build,stop,status,tui,secret,clean} ...

Argus MCP v0.8.2

positional arguments:
  {server,build,stop,status,tui,secret,clean}
    server       Run the headless Argus server (Uvicorn + MCP bridge,
                 with container isolation)
    build        Pre-build container images for all stdio backends
    stop         Stop a detached Argus server
    status       List all running Argus server sessions
    tui          Launch the Textual TUI connected to a running Argus server
    secret       Manage encrypted secrets (set, get, list, delete)
    clean        Remove containers and images created by argus-mcp

options:
  -h, --help     show this help message and exit

Start the Server

# Default: listen on 127.0.0.1:9000, auto-detect config file
argus-mcp server

# Custom host, port, and log level
argus-mcp server --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8080 --log-level debug

# Explicit config file
argus-mcp server --config /path/to/config.yaml

Config file resolution order: --config flag → ARGUS_CONFIG env var → auto-detect (config.yaml → config.yml).

The server exposes:

• SSE endpoint at http://<host>:<port>/sse — for MCP clients using the SSE transport.
• Streamable HTTP endpoint at http://<host>:<port>/mcp — for MCP clients using the newer Streamable HTTP transport.
• Management API at http://<host>:<port>/manage/v1/ — for the TUI and automation.

Set the ARGUS_MGMT_TOKEN environment variable to enable bearer token authentication on the management API.

Launch the TUI

# Connect to a local server
argus-mcp tui --server http://127.0.0.1:9000

# With authentication
argus-mcp tui --server http://127.0.0.1:9000 --token YOUR_TOKEN

# Multi-server mode (uses ~/.config/argus-mcp/servers.json)
argus-mcp tui --servers-config /path/to/servers.json

Multi-Server Configuration

Create a servers.json file to manage multiple Argus MCP servers:

{
  "servers": [
    {
      "name": "local",
      "url": "http://127.0.0.1:9000"
    },
    {
      "name": "production",
      "url": "https://argus.example.com:9000",
      "token": "your-production-token"
    }
  ],
  "active": "local"
}

Default location: ~/.config/argus-mcp/servers.json

MCP Client Connection

After starting the server, connect any MCP-compatible client to one of the transport endpoints:

Transport	URL
SSE	http://<host>:<port>/sse
Streamable HTTP	http://<host>:<port>/mcp

Supported clients include Claude Desktop, Cursor, Cline, and any other MCP-compatible application.

Logs

Runtime logs are saved in the logs/ directory with timestamped filenames.

Configuration

The configuration file defines both server settings and backend MCP server connections.

Config Format (YAML)

The config uses a versioned YAML format with server settings and backend definitions:

version: "1"

server:
  host: "0.0.0.0"
  port: 9000
  transport: sse                # "sse" or "streamable-http"
  management:
    enabled: true
    token: "${ARGUS_MGMT_TOKEN}"

backends:
  my_stdio_server:
    type: stdio
    command: python
    args: ["path/to/server.py"]
    env:
      API_KEY: "${MY_API_KEY}"

  remote_sse:
    type: sse
    url: "https://mcp.example.com/sse"

  remote_streamable:
    type: streamable-http
    url: "https://mcp.example.com/mcp"

Backend Types

stdio — Local MCP server processes managed by Argus MCP.

Field	Required	Description
type	Yes	"stdio"
command	Yes	Executable to run
args	No	Command arguments (default: [])
env	No	Environment variables
container	No	Container isolation config (enabled by default for stdio)

sse — Connect to MCP servers over SSE; optionally start a local process.

Field	Required	Description
type	Yes	"sse"
url	Yes	SSE endpoint URL
command	No	Optional local process to start
args	No	Command arguments
headers	No	Extra HTTP headers
auth	No	Outgoing auth config (static, oauth2, or pkce)

streamable-http — Connect to MCP servers using Streamable HTTP transport.

Field	Required	Description
type	Yes	"streamable-http"
url	Yes	Streamable HTTP endpoint URL
headers	No	Extra HTTP headers
auth	No	Outgoing auth config (static, oauth2, or pkce)

Streamable HTTP backends must always set type: streamable-http explicitly.

Common Backend Options

All backend types also support:

Field	Default	Description
group	"default"	Logical server group name
filters	—	Per-capability allow/deny lists (tools, resources, prompts)
tool_overrides	—	Rename or override descriptions for individual tools
timeouts	—	Per-backend timeout overrides (init, cap_fetch, sse_startup)

Environment Variable Expansion

All string values support ${VAR_NAME} syntax for environment variable expansion.

Secret References

String values can use secret:name syntax to resolve values from encrypted storage (see argus-mcp secret).

Management API

The management API is mounted at /manage/v1/ and provides:

Endpoint	Method	Description
/manage/v1/health	GET	Health check (uptime, backend health summary)
/manage/v1/ready	GET	Readiness probe (returns 503 until backends connect)
/manage/v1/status	GET	Server status (version, config, endpoints, feature flags)
/manage/v1/backends	GET	List all backends with connection state and capabilities
/manage/v1/groups	GET	List logical server groups
/manage/v1/capabilities	GET	Aggregated tools, resources, prompts
/manage/v1/sessions	GET	Active MCP client sessions
/manage/v1/events	GET	Recent event log entries
/manage/v1/events/stream	GET	Live SSE event stream
/manage/v1/batch	GET	Combined status, backends, capabilities, and events in one response
/manage/v1/reload	POST	Hot-reload configuration
/manage/v1/reconnect/{name}	POST	Reconnect a specific backend
/manage/v1/reauth/{name}	POST	Trigger interactive re-authentication for a backend
/manage/v1/shutdown	POST	Graceful server shutdown
/manage/v1/registry/search	GET	Search external MCP server registries
/manage/v1/skills	GET	List all discovered skills with status
/manage/v1/skills/{name}/enable	POST	Enable a skill by name
/manage/v1/skills/{name}/disable	POST	Disable a skill by name
/manage/v1/tools/call	POST	Proxy an MCP tools/call to the correct backend
/manage/v1/resources/read	POST	Proxy an MCP resources/read to the correct backend

When ARGUS_MGMT_TOKEN is set, include Authorization: Bearer <token> in requests.