mcp-secure-remote 0.0.1

Remote proxy for Model Context Protocol servers with mTLS (mutual TLS) client certificate authentication support.

mcp-secure-remote

A stdio ↔ remote bridge for the Model Context Protocol with first-class mTLS (mutual TLS) client-certificate authentication.

Run directly with uvx — no install step needed:

uvx mcp-secure-remote https://mcp.example.com/mcp \
  --tls-cert ./certs/client.crt \
  --tls-key  ./certs/client.key \
  --tls-ca   ./certs/ca-bundle.pem

Works with any MCP-capable AI agent or IDE — Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, Continue, Zed, and any custom client that speaks the MCP stdio transport.

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Contents

1. What it does
2. How it works
3. Prerequisites
4. Install
5. Docker
6. Generate or obtain client certificates
7. Quick start
8. CLI parameters
9. Environment variables
10. AI agent / IDE integration
    • Claude Desktop
    • Claude Code (CLI)
    • Cursor
    • Windsurf
    • Cline (VS Code)
    • Continue (VS Code / JetBrains)
    • Zed
    • Generic MCP client
11. Testing your setup
12. Security notes
13. Troubleshooting
14. Development
15. License

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What it does

mcp-secure-remote spawns as a local stdio MCP server and forwards every JSON-RPC message to a remote MCP server over HTTPS. Every outbound request carries a client certificate you supply, so the remote server sees a cryptographically authenticated connection — no OAuth dance, no bearer tokens on the wire, no shared API keys.

┌──────────────┐   stdio    ┌────────────────────┐   HTTPS + mTLS   ┌───────────────┐
│ MCP client   │───────────▶│ mcp-secure-remote  │─────────────────▶│ Remote MCP    │
│ (Claude,     │            │ (uvx, this proxy)  │                  │ server        │
│  Cursor, …)  │◀───────────│                    │◀─────────────────│               │
└──────────────┘            └────────────────────┘                  └───────────────┘

The remote MCP server can be implemented in any language — Python, Go, Rust, Node.js, etc. The proxy only sees HTTPS + JSON-RPC.

How it works

1. AI agent launches mcp-secure-remote (via uvx) as a local subprocess and talks to it over stdio — the transport every MCP client already supports.
2. Proxy builds an httpx HTTPS client seeded with your client cert, private key, and trusted CA bundle.
3. Proxy opens either a Streamable HTTP or SSE transport to the remote server (configurable). TLS handshake presents the client cert; the server validates it before forwarding the MCP session.
4. JSON-RPC frames flow bidirectionally. All proxy logging goes to stderr so the stdio channel stays clean.

Prerequisites

• Python ≥ 3.10.
• uv installed (curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh on macOS/Linux).
• A client certificate + private key issued by a CA the remote MCP server trusts (or a PKCS#12 bundle containing both).
• The CA bundle used by the remote server, if it is not in your OS trust store (private/corporate CAs almost always need this).
• The remote MCP server URL (typically https://host/mcp or https://host/sse).

Install

uvx runs the package directly from PyPI in an isolated environment — no explicit install step needed:

uvx mcp-secure-remote --help

To install permanently in a uv-managed tool environment:

uv tool install mcp-secure-remote
mcp-secure-remote --help

Docker

Docker lets you run mcp-secure-remote without installing Python or uv. The container reads stdio from its parent process, so MCP clients that spawn subprocesses work exactly the same way — just replace uvx with docker run.

Dockerfile

FROM python:3.12-slim

RUN pip install --no-cache-dir mcp-secure-remote

ENTRYPOINT ["mcp-secure-remote"]

Build the image:

docker build -t mcp-secure-remote .

Run directly

Mount your cert directory (read-only) and pass the usual flags:

docker run --rm -i \
  -v /absolute/path/to/certs:/certs:ro \
  mcp-secure-remote \
  https://mcp.example.com/mcp \
  --tls-cert /certs/client.crt \
  --tls-key  /certs/client.key \
  --tls-ca   /certs/ca-bundle.pem

-i keeps stdin open — required because the proxy reads the MCP stream from the container's stdin. --rm removes the container after it exits.

Using env vars to keep secrets out of command history:

docker run --rm -i \
  -v /absolute/path/to/certs:/certs:ro \
  -e MCP_REMOTE_TLS_CERT=/certs/client.crt \
  -e MCP_REMOTE_TLS_KEY=/certs/client.key \
  -e MCP_REMOTE_TLS_CA=/certs/ca-bundle.pem \
  mcp-secure-remote \
  https://mcp.example.com/mcp

MCP client config

Replace uvx with docker run in any client config. Example for Claude Desktop / Claude Code / Cursor:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "example": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "--rm", "-i",
        "-v", "/absolute/path/to/certs:/certs:ro",
        "mcp-secure-remote",
        "https://mcp.example.com/mcp",
        "--tls-cert", "/certs/client.crt",
        "--tls-key",  "/certs/client.key",
        "--tls-ca",   "/certs/ca-bundle.pem"
      ]
    }
  }
}

To keep secrets out of the config, pass them via -e instead:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "example": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "--rm", "-i",
        "-v", "/absolute/path/to/certs:/certs:ro",
        "-e", "MCP_REMOTE_TLS_CERT=/certs/client.crt",
        "-e", "MCP_REMOTE_TLS_KEY=/certs/client.key",
        "-e", "MCP_REMOTE_TLS_CA=/certs/ca-bundle.pem",
        "mcp-secure-remote",
        "https://mcp.example.com/mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Docker Compose

Useful when you want cert mounts and env vars declared once in version control rather than repeated in every client config.

compose.yml:

services:
  mcp-proxy:
    build: .
    stdin_open: true
    volumes:
      - /absolute/path/to/certs:/certs:ro
    environment:
      MCP_REMOTE_TLS_CERT: /certs/client.crt
      MCP_REMOTE_TLS_KEY:  /certs/client.key
      MCP_REMOTE_TLS_CA:   /certs/ca-bundle.pem
    command:
      - https://mcp.example.com/mcp

Run once to verify the connection:

docker compose run --rm mcp-proxy

Then point MCP clients at docker compose run --rm mcp-proxy as the command (with no extra args — env and volume come from compose.yml):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "example": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": ["compose", "run", "--rm", "mcp-proxy"]
    }
  }
}

---

Generate or obtain client certificates

If your team already issues client certs, skip this section. For local testing, generate a throw-away CA + client cert pair with OpenSSL:

# CA
openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:4096 -sha256 -days 365 -nodes \
  -keyout ca.key -out ca.crt -subj "/CN=dev-ca"

# client key + CSR
openssl req -newkey rsa:4096 -nodes \
  -keyout client.key -out client.csr -subj "/CN=dev-client"

# sign client cert with CA
openssl x509 -req -in client.csr -CA ca.crt -CAkey ca.key -CAcreateserial \
  -out client.crt -days 365 -sha256

Configure the remote MCP server to require client certs signed by ca.crt. Point the proxy at client.crt + client.key + the server's CA bundle.

Quick start

Cert + key pair:

uvx mcp-secure-remote https://mcp.example.com/mcp \
  --tls-cert ./certs/client.crt \
  --tls-key  ./certs/client.key \
  --tls-ca   ./certs/ca-bundle.pem

PKCS#12 bundle:

uvx mcp-secure-remote https://mcp.example.com/mcp \
  --tls-pfx       ./certs/client.p12 \
  --tls-passphrase "$P12_PASSPHRASE" \
  --tls-ca        ./certs/ca-bundle.pem

Force SSE transport + pin minimum TLS:

uvx mcp-secure-remote https://mcp.example.com/sse \
  --transport sse-only \
  --tls-min-version TLSv1.3 \
  --tls-cert ./certs/client.crt \
  --tls-key  ./certs/client.key \
  --tls-ca   ./certs/ca-bundle.pem

CLI parameters

Usage: mcp-secure-remote <server-url> [options]

<server-url> is a positional argument (required). Everything else is a named flag.

General

Flag	Type	Default	Description
<server-url>	string (URL)	—	Required. Remote MCP endpoint. Must be https://… unless --allow-http is set.
--header "Name: value"	string (repeatable)	—	Extra HTTP header on every outbound request. Repeat the flag for multiple headers.
--transport <strategy>	enum	http-first	Transport negotiation. One of http-first, sse-first, http-only, sse-only. -first variants try the preferred transport then fall back; -only variants never fall back.
--allow-http	boolean	false	Permit plain http:// URLs. Off by default; mTLS is meaningless over HTTP.
--debug	boolean	false	Verbose logging to stderr (parsed args, per-message trace, transport selection).
--version	boolean	—	Print version and exit.
-h, --help	boolean	—	Print usage and exit.

mTLS / TLS

Flag	Type	Default	Description
--tls-cert <path>	path	—	PEM client certificate (leaf, optionally followed by chain intermediates).
--tls-key <path>	path	—	PEM private key matching --tls-cert. Must be supplied together with --tls-cert.
--tls-ca <path>	path	—	PEM CA bundle used to verify the remote server. Required for private CAs not in the OS trust store.
--tls-pfx <path>	path	—	PKCS#12 (.pfx / .p12) bundle. Mutually exclusive with --tls-cert/--tls-key.
--tls-passphrase <value>	string	—	Passphrase protecting the private key or PFX bundle. Prefer the env var to keep secrets off the command line.
--tls-servername <name>	string	URL hostname	SNI override. Use when the server cert's SAN differs from the URL host (e.g. IP literal, internal DNS).
--tls-min-version <ver>	enum	system default	Minimum TLS version: TLSv1.2 or TLSv1.3.
--tls-insecure-skip-verify, --tls-no-verify	boolean	false	Disable server certificate validation. Dev only. Proxy prints a warning when enabled.

Parameter rules

• --tls-cert and --tls-key must appear together.
• --tls-pfx cannot combine with --tls-cert/--tls-key.
• --allow-http is required for any http:// URL. Supplying mTLS flags with http:// triggers a warning (cert is not sent over plain HTTP).
• Unknown --flags cause parse failure with exit code 2.
• Argument errors exit with code 2; runtime errors exit with code 1.

Environment variables

Every TLS flag has an env-var fallback so secrets can stay out of shell history and MCP client configs.

Variable	Equivalent flag	Values
MCP_REMOTE_TLS_CERT	--tls-cert	path
MCP_REMOTE_TLS_KEY	--tls-key	path
MCP_REMOTE_TLS_CA	--tls-ca	path
MCP_REMOTE_TLS_PFX	--tls-pfx	path
MCP_REMOTE_TLS_PASSPHRASE	--tls-passphrase	string
MCP_REMOTE_TLS_SERVERNAME	--tls-servername	string
MCP_REMOTE_TLS_MIN_VERSION	--tls-min-version	TLSv1.2 | TLSv1.3
MCP_REMOTE_TLS_INSECURE	--tls-insecure-skip-verify	1 / true / yes to disable verify

Precedence: explicit CLI flag overrides env var.

AI agent / IDE integration

Use absolute paths for all cert files — agents do not inherit your shell's working directory.

Claude Desktop

File: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows).

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "example": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-secure-remote",
        "https://mcp.example.com/mcp",
        "--tls-cert", "/absolute/path/client.crt",
        "--tls-key",  "/absolute/path/client.key",
        "--tls-ca",   "/absolute/path/ca-bundle.pem"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Using env vars to keep secrets out of the config file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "example": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["mcp-secure-remote", "https://mcp.example.com/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "MCP_REMOTE_TLS_CERT": "/absolute/path/client.crt",
        "MCP_REMOTE_TLS_KEY":  "/absolute/path/client.key",
        "MCP_REMOTE_TLS_CA":   "/absolute/path/ca-bundle.pem"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop after editing.

Claude Code (CLI)

Add via claude mcp add or edit ~/.claude.json / project .mcp.json:

claude mcp add example uvx -- mcp-secure-remote \
  https://mcp.example.com/mcp \
  --tls-cert /absolute/path/client.crt \
  --tls-key  /absolute/path/client.key \
  --tls-ca   /absolute/path/ca-bundle.pem

Or in .mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "example": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-secure-remote",
        "https://mcp.example.com/mcp",
        "--tls-cert", "/absolute/path/client.crt",
        "--tls-key",  "/absolute/path/client.key",
        "--tls-ca",   "/absolute/path/ca-bundle.pem"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Cursor

File: ~/.cursor/mcp.json (global) or .cursor/mcp.json (per project).

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "example": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-secure-remote",
        "https://mcp.example.com/mcp",
        "--tls-cert", "/absolute/path/client.crt",
        "--tls-key",  "/absolute/path/client.key",
        "--tls-ca",   "/absolute/path/ca-bundle.pem"
      ],
      "env": {
        "MCP_REMOTE_TLS_PASSPHRASE": "…optional…"
      }
    }
  }
}

Windsurf

File: ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "example": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-secure-remote",
        "https://mcp.example.com/mcp",
        "--tls-cert", "/absolute/path/client.crt",
        "--tls-key",  "/absolute/path/client.key",
        "--tls-ca",   "/absolute/path/ca-bundle.pem"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Cline (VS Code)

Open the Cline MCP panel → "Configure MCP Servers" or edit cline_mcp_settings.json from its extension storage directly:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "example": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-secure-remote",
        "https://mcp.example.com/mcp",
        "--tls-cert", "/absolute/path/client.crt",
        "--tls-key",  "/absolute/path/client.key",
        "--tls-ca",   "/absolute/path/ca-bundle.pem"
      ],
      "disabled": false,
      "autoApprove": []
    }
  }
}

Continue (VS Code / JetBrains)

File: ~/.continue/config.json (or config.yaml).

{
  "experimental": {
    "modelContextProtocolServers": [
      {
        "transport": {
          "type": "stdio",
          "command": "uvx",
          "args": [
            "mcp-secure-remote",
            "https://mcp.example.com/mcp",
            "--tls-cert", "/absolute/path/client.crt",
            "--tls-key",  "/absolute/path/client.key",
            "--tls-ca",   "/absolute/path/ca-bundle.pem"
          ]
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Zed

File: ~/.config/zed/settings.json.

{
  "context_servers": {
    "example": {
      "command": {
        "path": "uvx",
        "args": [
          "mcp-secure-remote",
          "https://mcp.example.com/mcp",
          "--tls-cert", "/absolute/path/client.crt",
          "--tls-key",  "/absolute/path/client.key",
          "--tls-ca",   "/absolute/path/ca-bundle.pem"
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Generic MCP client

Any client that spawns stdio MCP servers works:

• command: uvx
• args: ["mcp-secure-remote", "<server-url>", …tls-flags]
• Optional env block for MCP_REMOTE_TLS_* variables to keep secrets out of the args array.

Testing your setup

The bundled mcp-secure-remote-client verifies the TLS handshake and enumerates the server's capabilities — no real agent needed:

uvx mcp-secure-remote-client https://mcp.example.com/mcp \
  --tls-cert ./certs/client.crt \
  --tls-key  ./certs/client.key \
  --tls-ca   ./certs/ca-bundle.pem

Output: negotiated capabilities + lists of tools, resources, prompts.

Add --debug for per-message tracing.

For a fully local endpoint that actually requires client-certificate authentication, see LOCAL_MTLS_TESTING.md.

Security notes

• HTTPS only by default. http:// URLs are refused unless --allow-http is explicitly set. Proxy additionally warns when mTLS flags are combined with http:// because the client cert will not be sent.
• Skip-verify prints a warning. --tls-insecure-skip-verify disables server certificate validation; intended for local dev loops only.
• Prefer env vars for passphrases. Anything on the CLI may leak into process listings, shell history, or agent logs.
• Proxy logs to stderr. stdout is reserved for the MCP JSON-RPC stream.
• No credential persistence. Proxy does not write certs, keys, or tokens to disk.
• Pin TLS 1.3 (--tls-min-version TLSv1.3) when the server supports it, to avoid downgrade-prone 1.2 cipher suites.

Troubleshooting

CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED / unable to verify the first certificate Point --tls-ca at the PEM bundle that signed the remote server's cert. OS trust store alone is not enough for private CAs.

Hostname/IP does not match certificate's altnames Set --tls-servername to the SAN the server cert presents.

Private key malformed or passphrase error Ensure the key file is PEM-encoded. If encrypted, supply --tls-passphrase (or MCP_REMOTE_TLS_PASSPHRASE).

TLS handshake failure / alert bad certificate Server rejected your client cert. Check:

• Cert signed by a CA the server trusts.
• Key matches cert: openssl x509 -noout -modulus -in client.crt | openssl md5 vs. openssl rsa -noout -modulus -in client.key | openssl md5.
• Intermediate chain present in --tls-cert.

Agent shows "failed to start server" with no detail. Run the exact same command in a terminal to see stderr. Agents hide subprocess stderr by default.

Remote transport hangs. Try --transport sse-only or --transport http-only to isolate which transport the server actually implements. Add --debug.

Development

# clone and set up dev environment
git clone https://github.com/framedparadox/mcp-secure-remote.git
cd mcp-secure-remote
uv sync

# run directly from source
uv run mcp-secure-remote --help
uv run mcp-secure-remote-client --help

# typecheck
uv run mypy src/

# build wheel + sdist
uv build

License

MIT — see LICENSE.