MCP Gateway

✓ Official★ 4,000

from IBM

A feature-rich gateway and proxy that federates MCP and REST services, unifying discovery, authentication, rate-limiting, and observability into a single endpoint for AI clients.

🔥🔥🔥🔥✓ VerifiedFreeAdvanced setup

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ContextForge

An open source registry and proxy that federates MCP, A2A, and REST/gRPC APIs with centralized governance, discovery, and observability. Optimizes Agent & Tool calling, and supports plugins.

ContextForge Banner

ContextForge is an open source registry and proxy that federates tools, agents, and APIs into one clean endpoint for your AI clients. It provides centralized governance, discovery, and observability across your AI infrastructure:

Tools Gateway — MCP, REST, gRPC-to-MCP translation, and TOON compression
Agent Gateway — A2A protocol, OpenAI-compatible and Anthropic agent routing
API Gateway — Rate limiting, auth, retries, and reverse proxy for REST services
Plugin Extensibility — 40+ plugins for additional transports, protocols, and integrations
Observability — OpenTelemetry tracing with Phoenix, Jaeger, Zipkin, and other OTLP backends

It runs as a fully compliant MCP server, deployable via PyPI or Docker, and scales to multi-cluster environments on Kubernetes with Redis-backed federation and caching.

Overview & Goals
Quick Start - PyPI
Quick Start - Containers
VS Code Dev Container
Installation
Upgrading
Configuration
Running
Cloud Deployment
API Reference
Testing
Project Structure
Development
Troubleshooting
Contributing

📌 Quick Links

Resource	Description
5-Minute Setup	Get started fast — uvx, Docker, Compose, or local dev
Getting Help	Support options, FAQ, community channels
Issue Guide	How to file bugs, request features, contribute
Full Documentation	Complete guides, tutorials, API reference
Deprecations	Deprecated runtime paths and migration guidance

Overview & Goals

ContextForge is an open source registry and proxy that federates any Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, A2A server, or REST/gRPC API, providing centralized governance, discovery, and observability. It optimizes agent and tool calling, and supports plugins. See the project roadmap for more details.

It currently supports:

Federation across multiple MCP and REST services
A2A (Agent-to-Agent) integration for external AI agents (OpenAI, Anthropic, custom)
gRPC-to-MCP translation via automatic reflection-based service discovery
Virtualization of legacy APIs as MCP-compliant tools and servers
Transport over HTTP, JSON-RPC, WebSocket, SSE (with configurable keepalive), stdio and streamable-HTTP
An Admin UI for real-time management, configuration, and log monitoring (with airgapped deployment support)
Built-in auth, retries, and rate-limiting with user-scoped OAuth tokens and unconditional X-Upstream-Authorization header support
OpenTelemetry observability with Phoenix, Jaeger, Zipkin, and other OTLP backends
Scalable deployments via Docker or PyPI, Redis-backed caching, and multi-cluster federation

ContextForge Architecture

For a list of upcoming features, check out the ContextForge Roadmap

<details> <summary>🔌 Gateway Layer with Protocol Flexibility</summary>

Federates any MCP server or REST API
Lets you choose your MCP protocol version (e.g., 2025-11-25)
Exposes a single, unified interface for diverse backends

</details> <details> <summary>🧩 Virtualization of REST/gRPC Services</summary>

Wraps non-MCP services as virtual MCP servers
Registers tools, prompts, and resources with minimal configuration
gRPC-to-MCP translation via server reflection protocol
Automatic service discovery and method introspection

</details> <details> <summary>🔁 REST-to-MCP Tool Adapter</summary>

Adapts REST APIs into tools with:
- Automatic JSON Schema extraction
- Support for headers, tokens, and custom auth
- Retry, timeout, and rate-limit policies

</details> <details> <summary>🧠 Unified Registries</summary>

Prompts: Jinja2 templates, multimodal support, rollback/versioning
Resources: URI-based access, MIME detection, caching, SSE updates
Tools: Native or adapted, with input validation and concurrency controls

</details> <details> <summary>📈 Admin UI, Observability & Dev Experience</summary>

Admin UI built with HTMX 2.0.3 (bundled) + Alpine.js
Real-time log viewer with filtering, search, and export capabilities
Auth: Basic, JWT, or custom schemes
Structured logs, health endpoints, metrics
7,000+ tests, Makefile targets, live reload, pre-commit hooks

</details> <details> <summary>🔍 OpenTelemetry Observability</summary>

Vendor-agnostic tracing with OpenTelemetry (OTLP) protocol support
Multiple backend support: Phoenix (LLM-focused), Jaeger, Zipkin, Tempo, DataDog, New Relic
Distributed tracing across federated gateways and services
Automatic instrumentation of tools, prompts, resources, and gateway operations
LLM-specific metrics: Token usage, costs, model performance
Zero-overhead when disabled with graceful degradation

See Observability Documentation for setup guides with Phoenix, Jaeger, and other backends.

</details>

Upgrading

For upgrade instructions, migration guides, and rollback procedures, see:

Upgrade Guide — General upgrade procedures
MIGRATION.md — Breaking changes and step-by-step upgrade instructions
CHANGELOG.md — Version history and breaking changes

API Reference

Interactive API documentation is available when the server is running:

Swagger UI — Try API calls directly in your browser
ReDoc — Browse the complete endpoint reference

Quick Authentication:

Copy & paste — that's it

# Generate a JWT token
export TOKEN=$(python3 -m mcpgateway.utils.create_jwt_token \
  --username admin@example.com --exp 10080 --secret my-test-key-but-now-longer-than-32-bytes)

# Test API access
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" http://localhost:4444/health

For comprehensive curl examples covering all endpoints, see the API Usage Guide.

Testing

Copy & paste — that's it

make test            # Run unit tests
make lint            # Run all linters
make doctest         # Run doctests
make coverage        # Generate coverage report

See Doctest Coverage Guide for documentation testing details.

Project Structure

Copy & paste — that's it

mcpgateway/          # Core FastAPI application
├── main.py          # Entry point
├── config.py        # Pydantic Settings configuration
├── db.py            # SQLAlchemy ORM models
├── schemas.py       # Pydantic validation schemas
├── services/        # Business logic layer (50+ services)
├── routers/         # HTTP endpoint definitions
├── middleware/      # Cross-cutting concerns
└── transports/      # SSE, WebSocket, stdio, streamable HTTP

tests/               # Test suite (7,000+ tests)
docs/docs/           # Full documentation (MkDocs)
charts/              # Kubernetes/Helm charts
plugins/             # Plugin framework and implementations
mcp-servers/         # Sample/test MCP servers (see note below)

Note: The mcp-servers/ directory contains unsupported sample and test servers, most originating from community contributions, provided for demonstration and integration testing purposes only. They generally lack session management, persistent state, multi-tenancy, authentication, and other production concerns. They do not go through the same review, testing, and security rigor as the core ContextForge codebase and should not be run in production.

Security: Never run untrusted MCP servers directly on your local filesystem. Always use a sandbox, container, or microVM (e.g. gVisor, Firecracker) with restricted capabilities. Exercise caution when registering any remote MCP server, including servers from public catalogs — perform your own security evaluation before granting access to your gateway.

For complete structure, see CONTRIBUTING.md or run tree -L 2.

Development

Copy & paste — that's it

make dev             # Dev server with auto-reload (:8000)
make test            # Run test suite
make lint            # Run all linters
make coverage        # Generate coverage report

Run make to see all available targets.

For development workflows, see:

Developer Workstation Setup
Building & Packaging

Contributing

Fork the repo, create a feature branch.
Run make lint and fix any issues.
Keep make test green.
Open a PR with signed commits (git commit -s).

See CONTRIBUTING.md for full guidelines and Issue Guide #2502 for how to file bugs, request features, and find issues to work on.

Changelog

A complete changelog can be found here: CHANGELOG.md

License

Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 - see LICENSE

Core Authors and Maintainers

Mihai Criveti - Distinguished Engineer, Agentic AI

Special thanks to our contributors for helping us improve ContextForge:

Star History and Project Activity

Copy & paste — that's it

# Quick start with environment variables
BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD=pass \
MCPGATEWAY_UI_ENABLED=true \
MCPGATEWAY_ADMIN_API_ENABLED=true \
[email protected] \
PLATFORM_ADMIN_PASSWORD=changeme \
PLATFORM_ADMIN_FULL_NAME="Platform Administrator" \
uvx --from mcp-contextforge-gateway mcpgateway --host 0.0.0.0 --port 4444

# Or better: use the provided .env.example
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env to customize your settings
uvx --from mcp-contextforge-gateway mcpgateway --host 0.0.0.0 --port 4444

Before it works, you'll need: MCP_AUTHMCP_SERVER_URLMCP_TOOL_CALL_TIMEOUT

Quick Start - PyPI

ContextForge is published on PyPI as mcp-contextforge-gateway.

TLDR;: (single command using uv)

Copy & paste — that's it

# Quick start with environment variables
BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD=pass \
MCPGATEWAY_UI_ENABLED=true \
MCPGATEWAY_ADMIN_API_ENABLED=true \
PLATFORM_ADMIN_EMAIL=admin@example.com \
PLATFORM_ADMIN_PASSWORD=changeme \
PLATFORM_ADMIN_FULL_NAME="Platform Administrator" \
uvx --from mcp-contextforge-gateway mcpgateway --host 0.0.0.0 --port 4444

# Or better: use the provided .env.example
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env to customize your settings
uvx --from mcp-contextforge-gateway mcpgateway --host 0.0.0.0 --port 4444

<details> <summary>📋 Prerequisites</summary>

Python ≥ 3.11
curl + jq - only for the last smoke-test step

</details>

1 - Install & run (copy-paste friendly)

Copy & paste — that's it

# 1️⃣  Isolated env + install from pypi
mkdir mcpgateway && cd mcpgateway
python3 -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
pip install --upgrade pip
pip install mcp-contextforge-gateway

# 2️⃣  Copy and customize the configuration
# Download the example environment file
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/IBM/mcp-context-forge/main/.env.example
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env to customize your settings (especially passwords!)

# Or set environment variables directly:
export MCPGATEWAY_UI_ENABLED=true
export MCPGATEWAY_ADMIN_API_ENABLED=true
export PLATFORM_ADMIN_EMAIL=admin@example.com
export PLATFORM_ADMIN_PASSWORD=changeme
export PLATFORM_ADMIN_FULL_NAME="Platform Administrator"

BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD=pass JWT_SECRET_KEY=my-test-key-but-now-longer-than-32-bytes \
  mcpgateway --host 0.0.0.0 --port 4444 &   # admin/pass

# 3️⃣  Generate a bearer token & smoke-test the API
export MCPGATEWAY_BEARER_TOKEN=$(python3 -m mcpgateway.utils.create_jwt_token \
    --username admin@example.com --exp 10080 --secret my-test-key-but-now-longer-than-32-bytes)

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $MCPGATEWAY_BEARER_TOKEN" \
     http://127.0.0.1:4444/version | jq

<details> <summary>Windows (PowerShell) quick-start</summary>

Copy & paste — that's it

# 1️⃣  Isolated env + install from PyPI
mkdir mcpgateway ; cd mcpgateway
python3 -m venv .venv ; .\.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1
pip install --upgrade pip
pip install mcp-contextforge-gateway

# 2️⃣  Copy and customize the configuration
# Download the example environment file
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/IBM/mcp-context-forge/main/.env.example" -OutFile ".env.example"
Copy-Item .env.example .env
# Edit .env to customize your settings

# Or set environment variables (session-only)
$Env:MCPGATEWAY_UI_ENABLED        = "true"
$Env:MCPGATEWAY_ADMIN_API_ENABLED = "true"
# Note: Basic auth for API is disabled by default (API_ALLOW_BASIC_AUTH=false)
$Env:JWT_SECRET_KEY               = "my-test-key-but-now-longer-than-32-bytes"
$Env:PLATFORM_ADMIN_EMAIL         = "admin@example.com"
$Env:PLATFORM_ADMIN_PASSWORD      = "changeme"
$Env:PLATFORM_ADMIN_FULL_NAME     = "Platform Administrator"

# 3️⃣  Launch the gateway
mcpgateway.exe --host 0.0.0.0 --port 4444

#   Optional: background it
# Start-Process -FilePath "mcpgateway.exe" -ArgumentList "--host 0.0.0.0 --port 4444"

# 4️⃣  Bearer token and smoke-test
$Env:MCPGATEWAY_BEARER_TOKEN = python3 -m mcpgateway.utils.create_jwt_token `
    --username admin@example.com --exp 10080 --secret my-test-key-but-now-longer-than-32-bytes

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $Env:MCPGATEWAY_BEARER_TOKEN" `
     http://127.0.0.1:4444/version | jq

<details> <summary>⚡ Alternative: uv (faster)</summary>

Copy & paste — that's it

# 1️⃣  Isolated env + install from PyPI using uv
mkdir mcpgateway ; cd mcpgateway
uv venv
.\.venv\Scripts\activate
uv pip install mcp-contextforge-gateway

# Continue with steps 2️⃣-4️⃣ above...

</details> </details> <details> <summary>More configuration</summary>

Copy .env.example to .env and tweak any of the settings (or use them as env variables).

</details> <details> <summary>🚀 End-to-end demo (register a local MCP server)</summary>

Copy & paste — that's it

# 1️⃣  Spin up the sample MCP time server using mcpgateway.translate & docker (replace docker with podman if needed)
python3 -m mcpgateway.translate \
     --stdio "docker run --rm -i ghcr.io/ibm/fast-time-server:latest -transport=stdio" \
     --expose-sse \
     --port 8003

# Or using the official mcp-server-git using uvx:
pip install uv # to install uvx, if not already installed
python3 -m mcpgateway.translate --stdio "uvx mcp-server-git" --expose-sse --port 9000

# Alternative: running the local binary
# cd mcp-servers/rust/fast-time-server; make build
# python3 -m mcpgateway.translate --stdio "./dist/fast-time-server -transport=stdio" --expose-sse --port 8002

# NEW: Expose via multiple protocols simultaneously!
python3 -m mcpgateway.translate \
     --stdio "uvx mcp-server-git" \
     --expose-sse \
     --expose-streamable-http \
     --port 9000
# Now accessible via both /sse (SSE) and /mcp (streamable HTTP) endpoints

# 2️⃣  Register it with the gateway
curl -s -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer $MCPGATEWAY_BEARER_TOKEN" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"name":"fast_time","url":"http://localhost:8003/sse"}' \
     http://localhost:4444/gateways

# 3️⃣  Verify tool catalog
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $MCPGATEWAY_BEARER_TOKEN" http://localhost:4444/tools | jq

# 4️⃣  Create a *virtual server* bundling those tools. Use the ID of tools from the tool catalog (Step #3) and pass them in the associatedTools list.
curl -s -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer $MCPGATEWAY_BEARER_TOKEN" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"server":{"name":"time_server","description":"Fast time tools","associated_tools":[<ID_OF_TOOLS>]}}' \
     http://localhost:4444/servers | jq

# Example curl
curl -s -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer $MCPGATEWAY_BEARER_TOKEN" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"server":{"name":"time_server","description":"Fast time tools","associated_tools":["6018ca46d32a4ac6b4c054c13a1726a2"]}}' \
     http://localhost:4444/servers | jq

# 5️⃣  List servers (should now include the UUID of the newly created virtual server)
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $MCPGATEWAY_BEARER_TOKEN" http://localhost:4444/servers | jq

# 6️⃣  Client HTTP endpoint. Inspect it interactively with the MCP Inspector CLI (or use any MCP client)
npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/inspector
# Transport Type: Streamable HTTP, URL: http://localhost:4444/servers/UUID_OF_SERVER_1/mcp,  Header Name: "Authorization", Bearer Token

</details> <details> <summary>🖧 Using the stdio wrapper (mcpgateway-wrapper)</summary>

Copy & paste — that's it

export MCP_AUTH="Bearer ${MCPGATEWAY_BEARER_TOKEN}"
export MCP_SERVER_URL=http://localhost:4444/servers/UUID_OF_SERVER_1/mcp
python3 -m mcpgateway.wrapper  # Ctrl-C to exit

You can also run it with uv or inside Docker/Podman - see the Containers section above.

In MCP Inspector, define MCP_AUTH and MCP_SERVER_URL env variables, and select python3 as the Command, and -m mcpgateway.wrapper as Arguments.

Copy & paste — that's it

echo $PWD/.venv/bin/python3 # Using the Python3 full path ensures you have a working venv
export MCP_SERVER_URL='http://localhost:4444/servers/UUID_OF_SERVER_1/mcp'
export MCP_AUTH="Bearer ${MCPGATEWAY_BEARER_TOKEN}"
npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/inspector

Pass the url and auth as arguments (no need to set environment variables)

Copy & paste — that's it

npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/inspector
command as `python`
Arguments as `-m mcpgateway.wrapper --url "http://localhost:4444/servers/UUID_OF_SERVER_1/mcp" --auth "Bearer <your token>"`

When using a MCP Client such as Claude with stdio:

Copy & paste — that's it

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcpgateway-wrapper": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "mcpgateway.wrapper"],
      "env": {
        "MCP_AUTH": "Bearer your-token-here",
        "MCP_SERVER_URL": "http://localhost:4444/servers/UUID_OF_SERVER_1",
        "MCP_TOOL_CALL_TIMEOUT": "120"
      }
    }
  }
}

</details>

Quick Start - Containers

Use the official OCI image from GHCR with Docker or Podman. Please note: Currently, arm64 is not supported on production. If you are e.g. running on MacOS with Apple Silicon chips (M1, M2, etc), you can run the containers using Rosetta or install via PyPi instead.

🚀 Quick Start - Docker Compose

Get a full stack running with PostgreSQL and Redis in under 30 seconds:

Copy & paste — that's it

# Clone and start the stack
git clone https://github.com/IBM/mcp-context-forge.git
cd mcp-context-forge

# Start with PostgreSQL (recommended for production)
docker compose up -d

# Check status
docker compose ps

# View logs
docker compose logs -f gateway

# Access Admin UI: http://localhost:8080/admin (login with PLATFORM_ADMIN_EMAIL/PASSWORD)
# Generate API token
docker compose exec gateway python3 -m mcpgateway.utils.create_jwt_token \
  --username admin@example.com --exp 10080 --secret my-test-key-but-now-longer-than-32-bytes

What you get:

🗄️ PostgreSQL - Production-ready database with 55+ tables
🚀 ContextForge - Full-featured gateway with Admin UI
📊 Redis - High-performance caching and session storage
🔧 Admin Tools - pgAdmin, Redis Insight for database management
🌐 Nginx Proxy - Caching reverse proxy on port 8080

Enable HTTPS (optional):

Copy & paste — that's it

# Start with TLS enabled (auto-generates self-signed certs)
make compose-tls

# Access via HTTPS: https://localhost:8443/admin

# Or bring your own certificates:
# Unencrypted key:
mkdir -p certs
cp your-cert.pem certs/cert.pem && cp your-key.pem certs/key.pem
make compose-tls

# Passphrase-protected key:
mkdir -p certs
cp your-cert.pem certs/cert.pem && cp your-encrypted-key.pem certs/key-encrypted.pem
echo "KEY_FILE_PASSWORD=your-passphrase" >> .env
make compose-tls

☸️ Quick Start - Helm (Kubernetes)

Deploy to Kubernetes with enterprise-grade features:

Copy & paste — that's it

# Add Helm repository (when available)
# helm repo add mcp-context-forge https://ibm.github.io/mcp-context-forge
# helm repo update

# For now, use local chart
git clone https://github.com/IBM/mcp-context-forge.git
cd mcp-context-forge/charts/mcp-stack

# Install with PostgreSQL (default)
helm install mcp-gateway . \
  --set mcpContextForge.secret.PLATFORM_ADMIN_EMAIL=admin@yourcompany.com \
  --set mcpContextForge.secret.PLATFORM_ADMIN_PASSWORD=changeme \
  --set mcpContextForge.secret.JWT_SECRET_KEY=your-secret-key

# Check deployment status
kubectl get pods -l app.kubernetes.io/name=mcp-context-forge

# Port forward to access Admin UI
kubectl port-forward svc/mcp-gateway-mcp-context-forge 4444:80
# Access: http://localhost:4444/admin

# Generate API token
kubectl exec deployment/mcp-gateway-mcp-context-forge -- \
  python3 -m mcpgateway.utils.create_jwt_token \
  --username admin@yourcompany.com --exp 10080 --secret your-secret-key

SSRF note: Helm defaults to strict SSRF settings (SSRF_ALLOW_PRIVATE_NETWORKS=false). If you register in-cluster tool URLs (for example fast-time or fast-test services), allow only your cluster CIDRs via mcpContextForge.config.SSRF_ALLOWED_NETWORKS or, for local-only benchmark setups, temporarily set SSRF_ALLOW_PRIVATE_NETWORKS=true. See docs/docs/manage/configuration.md#ssrf-protection and docs/docs/deployment/helm.md.

Enterprise Features:

🔄 Auto-scaling - HPA with CPU/memory targets
🗄️ Database Choice - PostgreSQL (prod), SQLite (dev)
📊 Observability - Prometheus metrics, OpenTelemetry tracing
🔒 Security - RBAC, network policies, secret management
🚀 High Availability - Multi-replica deployments with Redis clustering
📈 Monitoring - Built-in Grafana dashboards and alerting

🐳 Docker (Single Container)

Copy & paste — that's it

docker run -d --name mcpgateway \
  -p 4444:4444 \
  -e MCPGATEWAY_UI_ENABLED=true \
  -e MCPGATEWAY_ADMIN_API_ENABLED=true \
  -e HOST=0.0.0.0 \
  -e JWT_SECRET_KEY=my-test-key-but-now-longer-than-32-bytes \
  -e AUTH_REQUIRED=true \
  -e PLATFORM_ADMIN_EMAIL=admin@example.com \
  -e PLATFORM_ADMIN_PASSWORD=changeme \
  -e PLATFORM_ADMIN_FULL_NAME="Platform Administrator" \
  -e DATABASE_URL=sqlite:///./mcp.db \
  -e SECURE_COOKIES=false \
  ghcr.io/ibm/mcp-context-forge:1.0.0-RC-3

# Tail logs and generate API key
docker logs -f mcpgateway
docker run --rm -it ghcr.io/ibm/mcp-context-forge:1.0.0-RC-3 \
  python3 -m mcpgateway.utils.create_jwt_token --username admin@example.com --exp 10080 --secret my-test-key-but-now-longer-than-32-bytes

Browse to http://localhost:4444/admin and login with PLATFORM_ADMIN_EMAIL / PLATFORM_ADMIN_PASSWORD.

<details> <summary>Advanced: Persistent storage, host networking, airgapped</summary>

Persist SQLite database:

Copy & paste — that's it

mkdir -p $(pwd)/data && touch $(pwd)/data/mcp.db && chmod 777 $(pwd)/data
docker run -d --name mcpgateway --restart unless-stopped \
  -p 4444:4444 -v $(pwd)/data:/data \
  -e DATABASE_URL=sqlite:////data/mcp.db \
  -e MCPGATEWAY_UI_ENABLED=true -e MCPGATEWAY_ADMIN_API_ENABLED=true \
  -e HOST=0.0.0.0 -e JWT_SECRET_KEY=my-test-key-but-now-longer-than-32-bytes \
  -e PLATFORM_ADMIN_EMAIL=admin@example.com -e PLATFORM_ADMIN_PASSWORD=changeme \
  ghcr.io/ibm/mcp-context-forge:1.0.0-RC-3

Host networking (access local MCP servers):

Copy & paste — that's it

docker run -d --name mcpgateway --network=host \
  -v $(pwd)/data:/data -e DATABASE_URL=sqlite:////data/mcp.db \
  -e MCPGATEWAY_UI_ENABLED=true -e HOST=0.0.0.0 -e PORT=4444 \
  ghcr.io/ibm/mcp-context-forge:1.0.0-RC-3

Airgapped deployment (no internet):

Copy & paste — that's it

docker build -f Containerfile -t mcpgateway:airgapped .
docker run -d --name mcpgateway -p 4444:4444 \
  -e MCPGATEWAY_UI_AIRGAPPED=true -e MCPGATEWAY_UI_ENABLED=true \
  -e HOST=0.0.0.0 -e JWT_SECRET_KEY=my-test-key-but-now-longer-than-32-bytes \
  mcpgateway:airgapped

</details>

🦭 Podman (rootless-friendly)

Copy & paste — that's it

podman run -d --name mcpgateway \
  -p 4444:4444 -e HOST=0.0.0.0 -e DATABASE_URL=sqlite:///./mcp.db \
  ghcr.io/ibm/mcp-context-forge:1.0.0-RC-3

<details> <summary>Advanced: Persistent storage, host networking</summary>

Persist SQLite:

Copy & paste — that's it

mkdir -p $(pwd)/data && chmod 777 $(pwd)/data
podman run -d --name mcpgateway --restart=on-failure \
  -p 4444:4444 -v $(pwd)/data:/data \
  -e DATABASE_URL=sqlite:////data/mcp.db \
  ghcr.io/ibm/mcp-context-forge:1.0.0-RC-3

Host networking:

Copy & paste — that's it

podman run -d --name mcpgateway --network=host \
  -v $(pwd)/data:/data -e DATABASE_URL=sqlite:////data/mcp.db \
  ghcr.io/ibm/mcp-context-forge:1.0.0-RC-3

</details>

<details> <summary>✏️ Docker/Podman tips</summary>

.env files - Put all the -e FOO= lines into a file and replace them with --env-file .env. See the provided .env.example for reference.
Pinned tags - Use an explicit version (e.g. 1.0.0-RC-3) instead of latest for reproducible builds.

JWT tokens - Generate one in the running container:

Copy & paste — that's it

docker exec mcpgateway python3 -m mcpgateway.utils.create_jwt_token --username admin@example.com --exp 10080 --secret my-test-key-but-now-longer-than-32-bytes

Upgrades - Stop, remove, and rerun with the same -v $(pwd)/data:/data mount; your DB and config stay intact.

</details>

<details> <summary>🚑 Smoke-test the running container</summary>

Copy & paste — that's it

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $MCPGATEWAY_BEARER_TOKEN" \
     http://localhost:4444/health | jq
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $MCPGATEWAY_BEARER_TOKEN" \
     http://localhost:4444/tools | jq
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $MCPGATEWAY_BEARER_TOKEN" \
     http://localhost:4444/version | jq

</details>

<details> <summary>🖧 Running ContextForge stdio wrapper</summary>

The mcpgateway.wrapper lets you connect to the gateway over stdio while keeping JWT authentication. You should run this from the MCP Client. The example below is just for testing.

Copy & paste — that's it

# Set environment variables
export MCPGATEWAY_BEARER_TOKEN=$(python3 -m mcpgateway.utils.create_jwt_token --username admin@example.com --exp 10080 --secret my-test-key-but-now-longer-than-32-bytes)
export MCP_AUTH="Bearer ${MCPGATEWAY_BEARER_TOKEN}"
export MCP_SERVER_URL='http://localhost:4444/servers/UUID_OF_SERVER_1/mcp'
export MCP_TOOL_CALL_TIMEOUT=120
export MCP_WRAPPER_LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG  # or OFF to disable logging

docker run --rm -i \
  -e MCP_AUTH=$MCP_AUTH \
  -e MCP_SERVER_URL=http://host.docker.internal:4444/servers/UUID_OF_SERVER_1/mcp \
  -e MCP_TOOL_CALL_TIMEOUT=120 \
  -e MCP_WRAPPER_LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG \
  ghcr.io/ibm/mcp-context-forge:1.0.0-RC-3 \
  python3 -m mcpgateway.wrapper

</details>

Quick Start: VS Code Dev Container

Clone the repo and open in VS Code—it will detect .devcontainer and prompt to "Reopen in Container". The container includes Python 3.11, Docker CLI, and all project dependencies.

For detailed setup, workflows, and GitHub Codespaces instructions, see Developer Onboarding.

Installation

Copy & paste — that's it

make venv install-dev      # create .venv + install deps + build Admin UI
make serve                 # gunicorn on :4444

Rust workspace note:

Workspace-owned Rust crates live under crates/ and are picked up by the root Cargo.toml via crates/*.
Run cargo build, cargo test, and cargo check from the repo root to cover the shared workspace.
Rust sample servers under mcp-servers/rust/ are usually managed separately; workspace-owned ones are listed explicitly in the root Cargo.toml.
make venv install-dev creates the root .venv, which is also reused by the workspace's PyO3/maturin builds.

<details> <summary>Alternative: UV or pip</summary>

Copy & paste — that's it

# UV (faster)
uv venv && source .venv/bin/activate
uv pip install -e '.[dev]'

# pip
python3 -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[dev]"

</details> <details> <summary>PostgreSQL adapter setup</summary>

Install the psycopg driver for PostgreSQL:

Copy & paste — that's it

# Install system dependencies first
# Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt-get install libpq-dev
# macOS: brew install libpq

uv pip install 'psycopg[binary]'   # dev (pre-built wheels)
# or: uv pip install 'psycopg[c]'  # production (requires compiler)

Connection URL format:

Copy & paste — that's it

DATABASE_URL=postgresql+psycopg://user:password@localhost:5432/mcp

Quick Postgres container:

Copy & paste — that's it

docker run --name mcp-postgres \
  -e POSTGRES_USER=postgres -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=mysecretpassword \
  -e POSTGRES_DB=mcp -p 5432:5432 -d postgres

</details>

Configuration

⚠️ If any required .env variable is missing or invalid, the gateway will fail fast at startup with a validation error via Pydantic.

Copy the provided .env.example to .env and update the security-sensitive values below.

🔐 Required: Change Before Use

These variables have insecure defaults and must be changed before production deployment:

Variable	Description	Default	Action Required
`JWT_SECRET_KEY`	Secret key for signing JWT tokens (32+ chars)	`my-test-key-but-now-longer-than-32-bytes`	Generate with `openssl rand -hex 32`
`AUTH_ENCRYPTION_SECRET`	Passphrase for encrypting stored credentials	`my-test-salt`	Generate with `openssl rand -hex 32`
`BASIC_AUTH_USER`	Username for HTTP Basic auth	`admin`	Change for production
`BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD`	Password for HTTP Basic auth	`changeme`	Set a strong password
`PLATFORM_ADMIN_EMAIL`	Email for bootstrap admin user	`admin@example.com`	Use real admin email
`PLATFORM_ADMIN_PASSWORD`	Password for bootstrap admin user	`changeme`	Set a strong password
`PLATFORM_ADMIN_FULL_NAME`	Display name for bootstrap admin	`Admin User`	Set admin name

🔒 Security Defaults (Secure by Default)

These settings are enabled by default for security—only disable for backward compatibility:

Variable	Description	Default
`REQUIRE_JTI`	Require JTI claim in tokens for revocation support	`true`
`REQUIRE_TOKEN_EXPIRATION`	Require exp claim in tokens	`true`
`PUBLIC_REGISTRATION_ENABLED`	Allow public user self-registration	`false`

🛡️ Content Security

Content size limits prevent DoS attacks and ensure system stability:

Variable	Description	Default
`CONTENT_MAX_RESOURCE_SIZE`	Maximum resource content size (bytes)	`102400` (100KB)
`CONTENT_MAX_PROMPT_SIZE`	Maximum prompt template size (bytes)	`10240` (10KB)

Note: Size limits apply only to new create/update operations. Existing content is not retroactively validated.

🌐 UAID Cross-Gateway Routing Security

UAID Security Configuration

Production Requirements:

Cross-gateway UAID routing requires explicit security configuration:

Configure Domain Allowlist:

Copy & paste — that's it

UAID_ALLOWED_DOMAINS=["gateway1.example.com", "gateway2.example.com"]

Ensure JWT Trust:
- Both gateways must trust the same JWT issuer
- Option A: Shared secret (same JWT_SECRET_KEY on all gateways)
- Option B: Federated SSO (Google, GitHub, Entra ID)
Enable Authentication:
Copy & paste — that's it
```
AUTH_REQUIRED=true
UAID_FORWARD_AUTH=true
```

Authentication Flow:

Cross-gateway calls forward the user's bearer token via the Authorization header. Remote gateways validate tokens through existing auth middleware, preserving RBAC context.

Security Features:

✅ Fail-closed default: Empty allowlist blocks all cross-gateway routing
✅ Bearer token forwarding: User authentication preserved across hops
✅ Audit trail: Source gateway and user tracked in headers
✅ Clear error messages: Misconfigurations caught at startup and runtime

Troubleshooting:

"UAID_ALLOWED_DOMAINS not configured" error: Add trusted domains to allowlist in .env
401/403 from remote gateway: Verify both gateways trust same JWT issuer
"proceeding without authentication token" warning: Check auth middleware extracts token to request.state.bearer_token

For detailed security architecture, see docs/security/uaid-cross-gateway-auth.md.

⚙️ Project Defaults (Dev Setup)

These values differ from code defaults to provide a working local/dev setup:

Variable	Description	Default
`HOST`	Bind address	`0.0.0.0`
`MCPGATEWAY_UI_ENABLED`	Enable Admin UI dashboard	`true`
`MCPGATEWAY_ADMIN_API_ENABLED`	Enable Admin API endpoints	`true`
`DATABASE_URL`	SQLAlchemy connection URL	`sqlite:///./mcp.db`
`SECURE_COOKIES`	Set `false` for HTTP (non-HTTPS) dev	`false`

📚 Full Configuration Reference

For the complete list of 300+ environment variables organized by category (authentication, caching, SSO, observability, etc.), see the Configuration Reference.

Running

Quick Reference

Command	Server	Port	Database	Use Case
`make dev`	Uvicorn	8000	SQLite	Development (single instance, auto-reload)
`make serve`	Gunicorn	4444	SQLite	Production single-node (multi-worker)
`make serve-ssl`	Gunicorn	4444	SQLite	Production single-node with HTTPS
`make compose-up`	Docker Compose + Nginx	8080	PostgreSQL + Redis	Full stack (3 replicas, load-balanced)
`make compose-sso`	Docker Compose + Keycloak	8080 / 8180	PostgreSQL + Redis	Local SSO testing (Keycloak profile)
`make testing-up`	Docker Compose + Nginx	8080	PostgreSQL + Redis	Testing environment

Development Server (Uvicorn)

Copy & paste — that's it

make dev                 # Uvicorn on :8000 with auto-reload and SQLite
# or
./run.sh --reload --log debug --workers 2

run.sh is a wrapper around uvicorn that loads .env, supports reload, and passes arguments to the server.

Key flags:

Flag	Purpose	Example
`-e, --env FILE`	load env-file	`--env prod.env`
`-H, --host`	bind address	`--host 127.0.0.1`
`-p, --port`	listen port	`--port 8080`
`-w, --workers`	gunicorn workers	`--workers 4`
`-r, --reload`	auto-reload	`--reload`

Production Server (Gunicorn)

Copy & paste — that's it

make serve               # Gunicorn on :4444 with multiple workers
make serve-ssl           # Gunicorn behind HTTPS on :4444 (uses ./certs)

Docker Compose (Full Stack)

Copy & paste — that's it

make compose-up          # Start full stack: PostgreSQL, Redis, 3 gateway replicas, Nginx on :8080
make compose-sso         # Start SSO stack with Keycloak on :8180
make sso-test-login      # Run SSO smoke checks (providers + login URL + test users)
make compose-logs        # Tail logs from all services
make compose-down        # Stop the stack

Manual (Uvicorn)

Copy & paste — that's it

uvicorn mcpgateway.main:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port 4444 --workers 4

Cloud Deployment

ContextForge can be deployed to any major cloud platform:

Platform	Guide
AWS	ECS/EKS Deployment
Azure	AKS Deployment
Google Cloud	Cloud Run
IBM Cloud	Code Engine
Kubernetes	Helm Charts
OpenShift	OpenShift Deployment

For comprehensive deployment guides, see Deployment Documentation.

Troubleshooting

Common issues and solutions:

Issue	Quick Fix
SQLite "disk I/O error" on macOS	Avoid iCloud-synced directories; use `~/mcp-context-forge/data`
Port 4444 not accessible on WSL2	Configure WSL integration in Docker Desktop
Gateway exits immediately	Copy `.env.example` to `.env` and configure required vars
`ModuleNotFoundError`	Run `make install-dev`

For detailed troubleshooting guides, see Troubleshooting Documentation.

ContextForge

Table of Contents

📌 Quick Links

Overview & Goals

Upgrading

API Reference

Testing

Project Structure

Development

Contributing

Changelog

License

Core Authors and Maintainers

Star History and Project Activity

Quick Start - PyPI

1 - Install & run (copy-paste friendly)

Quick Start - Containers

🚀 Quick Start - Docker Compose

☸️ Quick Start - Helm (Kubernetes)

🐳 Docker (Single Container)

🦭 Podman (rootless-friendly)

Quick Start: VS Code Dev Container

Installation

Configuration

🔐 Required: Change Before Use

🔒 Security Defaults (Secure by Default)

🛡️ Content Security

🌐 UAID Cross-Gateway Routing Security

UAID Security Configuration

⚙️ Project Defaults (Dev Setup)

📚 Full Configuration Reference

Running

Quick Reference

Development Server (Uvicorn)

Production Server (Gunicorn)

Docker Compose (Full Stack)

Manual (Uvicorn)

Cloud Deployment

Troubleshooting