mcp-guard

MCP security without the infrastructure tax.

One binary. One config file. Production-ready in 5 minutes.

Quick Start • Features • Pricing • Documentation

The Problem

Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers are powerful. Most are deployed with zero authentication.

If your AI agent can access it, so can anyone else.

The Solution

mcp-guard is a security gateway that wraps any MCP server with production-grade protection.

┌─────────────┐      ┌─────────────┐      ┌─────────────┐
│   Client    │─────▶│  mcp-guard  │─────▶│ MCP Server  │
│  (Claude)   │      │   Gateway   │      │  (yours)    │
└─────────────┘      └─────────────┘      └─────────────┘
                            │
                     Authentication
                     Authorization
                     Rate Limiting
                     Audit Logging

Quick Start

Three commands. That's it.

# 1. Install
curl -fsSL https://mcp.guard/install.sh | sh

# 2. Configure
mcp-guard init

# 3. Run
mcp-guard run

Test that it works:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer mcp_YOUR_KEY" http://localhost:3000/health

# From crates.io (requires Rust)
cargo install mcp-guard

# Homebrew (macOS/Linux)
brew install mcp-guard/tap/mcp-guard

# Download binary directly
curl -fsSL https://github.com/mcp-guard/mcp-guard/releases/latest/download/mcp-guard-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m).tar.gz | tar -xz

Features

Authentication

Transport

Security & Observability

Configuration

mcp-guard init generates a config file with sensible defaults:

# mcp-guard.toml

[server]
listen = "0.0.0.0:3000"

[upstream]
transport = "stdio"
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem", "./"]

[rate_limit]
requests_per_second = 10
burst_size = 20

[[auth.api_keys]]
key_hash = "sha256:..."
user_id = "developer-1"
allowed_tools = ["read_file", "list_directory"]

[auth.jwt]
mode = "simple"
secret = "your-secret-key"
issuer = "https://your-issuer.com"
audience = "mcp-guard"

[auth.jwt.scope_mapping]
"read" = ["read_file", "list_directory"]
"write" = ["write_file", "create_directory"]
"admin" = ["*"]

[auth.oauth]
provider = "github"  # or "google", "okta", "custom"
client_id = "your-client-id"
client_secret = "your-client-secret"

[auth.oauth.scope_mapping]
"repo" = ["read_file", "write_file"]
"admin:org" = ["*"]

[[servers]]
name = "filesystem"
path_prefix = "/fs"
transport = "stdio"
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem", "./"]

[[servers]]
name = "database"
path_prefix = "/db"
transport = "http"
url = "http://localhost:8080"

Performance

Your agents stay fast. Your infrastructure stays simple.

Pricing

_{Founder pricing: 40% off forever for early adopters. Lock in your discount →}

CLI Reference

mcp-guard <command>

Commands:
  init             Generate config file with demo API key
  validate         Check config file for errors
  keygen           Generate a new API key
  run              Start the gateway
  check-upstream   Test upstream server connectivity
  version          Show version and build info

Options:
  -c, --config     Config file path (default: mcp-guard.toml)
  -h, --help       Show help

Documentation

Security

Security vulnerabilities should be reported via security@mcp.guard.

See SECURITY.md for our security policy.

Contributing

We welcome contributions. See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

# Clone and build
git clone https://github.com/mcp-guard/mcp-guard
cd mcp-guard
cargo build

# Run tests
cargo test

# Run lints
cargo clippy -- -D warnings

License

AGPL-3.0. See LICENSE.

Commercial licenses available for Pro and Enterprise tiers.