MCP Gateway

One endpoint for every MCP server your agent needs — so it reads tool schemas on demand instead of loading them all upfront.

MCP Gateway aggregates multiple MCP servers behind a single headless HTTP/SSE endpoint. Its Code Mode exposes 4 meta-tools (listToolFiles → readToolFile → getToolDocs → executeToolCode) so the agent discovers signatures lazily and executes in a hermetic Starlark sandbox. Manage it from the CLI (mcp-gway, alias mgw) or the built-in admin dashboard: mcp-gway serve --transport http, then open http://127.0.0.1:8080/.

Why this exists

• Fewer wasted tokens — agents fetch only the schemas they use, when they use them.
• One connection to manage — add/remove/refresh servers in one registry; agents see one endpoint.
• Safe local defaults — binds 127.0.0.1, screens local commands through an allow-list, masks secrets, CSRF-protects the dashboard.

Who it is for

• Agent developers wiring Pi, Antigravity, Claude Desktop, or Cursor to many MCP servers through one gateway.
• Operators running local-first infrastructure who want a CLI + dashboard with health probes, Prometheus metrics, and JSON logs.

Features

• Multi-Server Aggregation — Connect to multiple MCP servers (remote / local) and expose them through a single endpoint — one URL for every agent, one registry to manage
• Code Mode — 4 meta-tools that let LLMs discover schemas on demand and execute in a sandbox, instead of loading every tool definition into context
• OAuth 2.0 Support — Built-in OAuth flow with dynamic client registration (RFC 7591) and token storage
• Hermetic Sandbox — Starlark-based sandbox for safe code execution
• MCP Protocol Compliant — Works with Pi, Antigravity, Claude Desktop, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible client

Installation

pip install mcp-gway

Both mcp-gway (canonical) and mgw (shortcut, 1:1) are exposed.

Or with mise:

mise install
uv sync --all-groups  # installs dev group with pre-commit

Quick Start

Config format

Server config schema — remote / local with transport auto-detection. This is the recommended path.

# Remote — auto-detects transport (streamable-http → sse → http)
mcp-gway add youtube --type remote --url https://api.example.com/mcp
# SSRF-guard: private/loopback/link-local hosts rejected (src/mcp_gway/models.py:115-163); localhost only in tests.

# Remote with headers
mcp-gway add supabase --type remote --url https://mcp.supabase.com/mcp --header "Authorization=Bearer TOKEN"

# Remote with pre-registered OAuth
mcp-gway add supabase --type remote --url https://mcp.supabase.com/mcp --oauth-client-id ID --oauth-client-secret SECRET --oauth-scope "openid profile"

> **Shell-history warning:** never pass real secrets via `--header` / `--oauth-client-secret` (they persist in shell history and process lists). Prefer `mcp-gway refresh <name> --auth` or short-lived env vars.

# Remote with timeout and enable toggle
mcp-gway add api --type remote --url https://api.example.com/mcp --timeout 10000 --enabled
mcp-gway add api --type remote --url https://api.example.com/mcp --timeout 10000 --no-enabled

# Local
mcp-gway add filesystem --type local --command "npx -y @anthropic/mcp-filesystem"
mcp-gway add tools --type local --command "python -m my_mcp_server" --env MY_VAR=value --cwd /path/to/workdir
mcp-gway add tools --type local --command "npx -y my-mcp" --env KEY=VALUE --env OTHER=123 --cwd /srv/mcp/workdir

# List and serve (local-first)
mcp-gway list
mcp-gway serve --transport http --port 8080         # binds 127.0.0.1 by default
mcp-gway serve --transport http --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8080
curl -s http://127.0.0.1:8080/health | jq

Server Types (only remote / local)

--type only accepts local|remote (cli.py:50). Legacy values http|stdio|sse|streamable-http are rejected by click, and --args / --docs-url do not exist. For local, --command is a single string (split via shlex).

Management — CLI + Admin Dashboard

Server management (add/remove/list/inspect/refresh/--version) lives in the CLI with full parity in the admin dashboard: mcp-gway serve --transport http, then open http://127.0.0.1:8080/ (pages /admin/*, htmx partials /admin/partials/*). One Gateway(registry, host) process serves /mcp, /health, /ready, /live, /metrics and the admin routes on the same Starlette app. Registry (servers/*.json + servers/*.pyi) is the single source of truth. The dashboard is loopback-only and CSRF-protected; the legacy /dashboard + catalog surfaces stay retired.

Local-First Security

# Secure default — loopback only
mcp-gway serve --transport http --port 8080   # binds 127.0.0.1

# Binding 0.0.0.0 requires explicit opt-in
MCP_GWAY_ALLOW_REMOTE=1 mcp-gway serve --transport http --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8080
# └─ log warning "server exposed on non-loopback host"
# Shield with a firewall + reverse-proxy auth: never expose 0.0.0.0 without both in front.

# Without opt-in → controlled error
mcp-gway serve --transport http --host 0.0.0.0
# Error: binding to non-loopback host '0.0.0.0' requires MCP_GWAY_ALLOW_REMOTE=1
# exit 2

Observability — Logs + Metrics + Health (Approach C, v2.4.0)

Zero vendor lock-in: stdlib json logs (no structlog), vendored MetricsRegistry (no prometheus_client), correlation via X-Request-ID + contextvars, health probes /health|/ready|/live + Prometheus text /metrics. Local-first + masking *** preserved; X-Warning: exposed only on GET /metrics → 403.

Health & Metrics:

curl -s http://127.0.0.1:8080/health | jq
# {"status":"ok","version":"3.1.0","checks":{"registry":"ok","routes":"ok"},"uptime_seconds":42}
curl -s http://127.0.0.1:8080/ready | jq   # 200 ready / 503 not_ready (registry/routes/event_loop checks)
curl -s http://127.0.0.1:8080/live | jq    # 200 alive — no FS I/O, <5ms
curl -s http://127.0.0.1:8080/metrics | head -n 20
# # HELP mcp_gway_http_requests_total Total HTTP requests
# # TYPE mcp_gway_http_requests_total counter
# mcp_gway_http_requests_total{method="GET",path="/health",status="200"} 7

Correlation & JSON logs:

curl -s -H "X-Request-ID: demo123" http://127.0.0.1:8080/health -D - | grep -i X-Request-ID
# X-Request-ID: demo123  ← echo on every response; json log line also has "request_id":"demo123"
uv run mcp-gway serve --transport http --port 8080 2>&1 | head   # each line valid JSON: timestamp, level, logger, message, request_id, method, path, status, duration_ms

• X-Request-ID or X-Correlation-ID accepted, sanitized to ^[A-Za-z0-9_-]{1,64}$, truncated; auto uuid4 if absent.
• Labels bounded: path collapsed to /mcp or /mcp/messages (SSE alias to the same _mcp_post handler, not a separate endpoint; all other routes recorded as-is), server sanitized [^A-Za-z0-9_]→_ 32 chars.
• Metrics: http_requests_total, http_request_duration_seconds (buckets 0.005..5), mcp_tool_calls_total{server,tool,status}, discovery_duration_seconds, sandbox_execute_total{status}, registry_operations_total{op}, gateway_sessions_active.

FEAT-007 hardening (v2.2.1): process/build lifecycle, stdio coverage, upstream telemetry, cardinality cap.

• Lifecycle: build_info{version}, process_start_time_seconds, uptime_seconds (heartbeat, 30s tick), lifetime_seconds (set at shutdown) + a JSON gateway shutdown summary (uptime + totals) on exit.
• stdio (serve --transport stdio, default): per-request stdio_requests_total{method,status} + stdio_request_duration_seconds{method} and a JSON access log (transport:"stdio", same shape as HTTP).
• Upstream CodeMode calls (tool execution): upstream_tool_calls_total{server,tool,status} (ok/timeout/error), upstream_tool_duration_seconds{server,tool}; opt-in retries counted in upstream_retries_total{server}.
• Corruption visibility: code_mode_servers_skipped_total{reason} + structured WARN + degraded banner hint (mcp-gway refresh <name>) when a server fails injection at startup.
• Label cardinality hard-capped per metric (_MAX_LABEL_COMBOS=200); overflow coalesces into a reserved _other series so a label storm cannot grow memory without bound.
• Slow-request WARN: requests over _SLOW_REQUEST_THRESHOLD_MS (1000) additionally log a slow request JSON line with duration.
• CLI structured outcomes: cli <action> <status> JSON events — WARNING always emitted, INFO only when MCP_GWAY_LOG_LEVEL is set (zero operator noise by default).
• New opt-in flag: mcp-gway add --retry-on-transport-error — retries exactly once ONLY when the transport/connect phase fails (never after the tool call starts; non-idempotency-safe, ADR-012 decision 9). Default off → zero behavior change.

Local-first gating: /metrics never leaks secrets; serve on non-loopback without MCP_GWAY_ALLOW_REMOTE=1 exits 2; X-Warning: exposed only on GET /metrics → 403 (src/mcp_gway/observability/health.py:127-139).

Connect from Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop config (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gateway": {
      "url": "http://localhost:8080/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Transport note: gateway pairing is transport-agnostic — the routes are per-transport (serve --transport http → POST /mcp only; serve --transport sse → GET /mcp + POST /mcp/messages only). A mispaired client gets 405 + Allow header telling it which transport serves that method. If you upgrade from v2.x, see MIGRATION.md.

Commands

Types: only --type local|remote (cli.py:50). Legacy http|stdio|sse|streamable-http are rejected by click. There is no --args / --docs-url.

Options for add — 13 flags (cli.py:45-95):

Local Commands — Dynamic Allow-List (feat-006)

Dynamic-no-static: no hardcoded binaries. Operators allow-list once via env; see ADR-009.

Allow-list: MCP_GWAY_ALLOW_LOCAL_COMMANDS (CSV basenames; unset/blank → defaults npx,bunx,uvx,pipx); */paths/invalid entries → deny + warn.

Recommended: MCP_GWAY_ALLOW_LOCAL_COMMANDS="npx,uvx,python3,bunx".

# Allow-list (CSV basenames, `*` = invalid → deny + warn)
export MCP_GWAY_ALLOW_LOCAL_COMMANDS="npx,uvx,python3,bunx"
mcp-gway add fs --type local --command "npx -y @anthropic/mcp-filesystem" --cwd /srv/mcp/workdir

• CISO opt-in note: bunx is docs-recommended only (not a code default; empty allow-list still denies); opt-in only with pin + owner + 90-day re-gate; bun runtime stays out; denylist EXACT PATH,PATHEXT,SYSTEMROOT,COMSPEC,LD_PRELOAD,LD_LIBRARY_PATH,PYTHONPATH,PYTHONHOME,NODE_OPTIONS,NODE_PATH,NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS,NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED + PREFIXES DYLD_,NPM_CONFIG_,BUN_,UV_ + controlled PATH (NODE_ENV allowed, not denylisted); *, paths, and shell are prohibited.

• Internal tag v2.0.0 — not published, no external announcement. After upgrading, delete the stale cache manually: rm ~/.config/mcp-gway/catalog.json.

• unset returns to allow-list mode.

• CLI add/refresh enforces the allow-list plus re-validation before persist.

• cwd must be absolute + real + is_dir, else reason_code=invalid_cwd. Env denylist (PATH, LD_PRELOAD, PYTHONPATH, …) → reason_code=denied_env.

• Spawn only resolved via PATH lookup (shutil.which(basename)); never shell=True / cmd /c / sh -c. Errors carry reason_code (not_allowlisted, binary_not_found, …).

Code Mode

When connected, the gateway exposes 4 meta-tools:

OAuth Authentication

For servers requiring OAuth (e.g., Supabase):

# Trigger the OAuth flow (preferred — keeps secrets out of shell history)
mcp-gway refresh supabase --auth

# Or store a token manually (fallback only; chmod 600 required)
mkdir -p ~/.config/mcp-gway/tokens
echo '{"access_token": "YOUR_TOKEN"}' > ~/.config/mcp-gway/tokens/supabase.json
chmod 600 ~/.config/mcp-gway/tokens/supabase.json

Development

# Install dependencies
uv sync --all-groups  # installs dev group with pre-commit
uv run pre-commit install  # once per clone — hooks already configured in .pre-commit-config.yaml

# Run checks
uv run pre-commit run --all-files  # ruff + ruff-format + hygiene (trailing-whitespace, end-of-file-fixer, check-yaml, check-added-large-files)
uv run pytest -v  # 570 tests — CLI, MCP, Code Mode, stdio, OAuth, observability
uv run ruff check src/ tests/
uv run ruff format --check src/ tests/

# Verification probes (no Node, no build)
curl -s http://127.0.0.1:8080/health | jq .status             # "ok"
curl -s http://127.0.0.1:8080/ready | jq .status              # "ready"
curl -s http://127.0.0.1:8080/metrics | head -n 5             # # HELP mcp_gway_...

# Local-first check
mcp-gway serve --transport http --host 0.0.0.0 2>&1 | grep -q "requires MCP_GWAY_ALLOW_REMOTE" && echo "gate ok"

Pre-commit is already in place (.pre-commit-config.yaml — ruff v0.16.4, ruff-format, trailing-whitespace, end-of-file-fixer, check-yaml, check-added-large-files).

Architecture

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                        MCP Gateway v4.0.0                          │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  CLI (click)              │  Gateway (Starlette + uvicorn, CSP)      │
│  - add remote/local       │  - POST /mcp (JSON-RPC)      [http]      │
│  - remove/inspect/list    │  - GET  /mcp (SSE endpoint event)  [sse] │
│  - refresh --auth         │  - POST /mcp/messages (alias) [sse]      │
│  - serve --host 127.0.0.1 │  - GET  /health                          │
│  (local-first default)    │  - GET  /ready, /live, /metrics           │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  Code Mode (4 meta-tools)      │  Starlark Sandbox                    │
│  - listToolFiles               │  - Hermetic execution                │
│  - readToolFile                │  - Server injection                  │
│  - getToolDocs                 │                                      │
│  - executeToolCode             │                                      │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  Registry (single source)      │  OAuth2 (RFC 7591, reutilizado)      │
│  - servers/*.pyi = signatures  │  - Dynamic registration              │
│  - servers/*.json = config     │  - PKCE + FileTokenStorage           │
│  - last-write-wins, atomic     │  - tokens/ never exposed via API     │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
         │                │                │
    ┌────┴────┐      ┌────┴────┐      ┌────┴────┐
    │ Server1 │      │ Server2 │      │ Server3 │
    │ (remote)│      │ (local) │      │ (remote)│
    └─────────┘      └─────────┘      └─────────┘

License

MIT