Show HN: MCP Adapter – Universal gateway for AI tool coordination

3 months ago 1

Enterprise MCP Gateway Architecture - Production-ready solution that solves tool bloat, authentication complexity, and operational overhead in enterprise MCP deployments.

mcp.adapter.demo.consulting.launch.mp4

git clone https://github.com/startakovsky/mcp-adapter.git cd mcp-adapter docker-compose up -d mkdir limericks && cd limericks npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code claude mcp add -t http mcp_adapter http://localhost:8080 -s project claude

Try: "Create a PDF limerick about MCP gateways and give me the download link."

This creates a .mcp.json file in your project with the MCP Adapter configuration. The .mcp.json format is Claude Code's standard configuration for project-scoped MCP servers, designed to be checked into version control for team collaboration.

The Enterprise MCP Problem

Traditional MCP deployments create operational complexity through:

Tool Bloat - Every application maintains its own tool sets, leading to duplication and inconsistency
Authentication Complexity - Each MCP server handles its own auth, creating fragmented security policies
N×M Integration Problem - M applications × N tools = exponential integration overhead where each application needs custom auth, error handling, and maintenance for every tool connection
No Centralized Control - Distributed authorization decisions with no unified monitoring or session management
Operational Overhead - Complex multi-tenant resource isolation with scaling challenges

MCP Adapter transforms the N×M integration problem into M+N standardized connections through enterprise gateway architecture, where M applications and N tools connect through a single gateway rather than requiring M×N individual connections:

✅ Centralized Authentication - Single OAuth 2.1 endpoint for all MCP services
✅ Unified Authorization Matrix - Three-dimensional tenant×client×resource mapping
✅ Gateway-Managed Connections - Session pooling and routing at the perimeter
✅ MCP Servers Focus on Domain Logic - Backend servers act as pure resource providers

Current Implementation: Production-ready MCP Adapter demonstrating enterprise gateway architecture with session management and security controls.

graph TD WebApp[AI Agent Web App] -->|Single MCP Interface| Gateway[MCP Adapter Gateway :8080 Unified Enterprise Interface] Cursor[Cursor IDE] -->|Single MCP Interface| Gateway ClaudeDesktop[Claude Desktop] -->|Single MCP Interface| Gateway ClaudeCode[Claude Code CLI] -->|Single MCP Interface| Gateway Gateway -.->|exposes| Hello[Hello World MCP Server :8001 Backend Service] Gateway -.->|exposes| LaTeX[LaTeX MCP Server :8002 Backend Service] Gateway -.->|exposes| FileServer[File Server :8003 HTTP Service] Hello -.-> HelloTools[greet add_numbers get_timestamp] LaTeX -.-> LaTeXTools[upload_latex_file compile_latex_by_id compile_from_template list_templates] FileServer -.-> FileOps[upload download list files] Gateway ==> UnifiedInterface[Single MCP Endpoint All Backend Capabilities Namespaced & Aggregated] style Gateway fill:#e1f5fe style UnifiedInterface fill:#c8e6c9 style WebApp fill:#fff3e0 style Cursor fill:#fff3e0 style ClaudeDesktop fill:#fff3e0 style ClaudeCode fill:#fff3e0

Gateway Pattern Benefits:

Tool Aggregation: Single MCP interface exposing namespaced tools from multiple backends
Session Management: Concurrent session pools with automatic load balancing
Service Mesh: Isolated container networking with centralized routing
Monitoring: Real-time session statistics and operational dashboards

{ "name": "MCP Adapter", "version": "0.3.0", "description": "Aggregates tools from multiple backend MCP servers", "connected_servers": "<dynamic_backend_discovery>", "available_tools": "<namespaced_tools_from_all_backends>", "tool_count": "<aggregated>", "server_count": "<backend_services>" }

First, start the MCP Adapter network from the project root:

Then add the MCP Adapter tools to Claude:

claude mcp add -s user -t http http://localhost:8080

Technical Specification - Complete guide to production MCP Adapter HTTP gateways
CLAUDE.md - Development context and commands for Claude Code
tests/CLAUDE.md - Comprehensive testing documentation

scripts/: Developer tools and workflow scripts
tests/: All test code and test utilities
latex-server/, hello-world/, gateway/: Service implementations

Enterprise-Grade Security & Features

Production-Ready Security Architecture:

OAuth 2.1 Integration - Complete OAuth flow with PKCE and token validation
Session Management - Stateless HTTP with secure session pooling and automatic cleanup
Input Validation - Comprehensive sanitization preventing injection attacks
Path Traversal Protection - Blocks directory escape attempts (../../../etc/passwd → sanitized)
File Injection Defense - Validates uploads and prevents system file access
Docker Isolation - Service mesh networking with container-level security
Security Testing - 192 tests covering real attack vectors and defensive measures

Gateway Architecture Benefits:

Centralized Authentication - Single OAuth endpoint eliminates auth complexity
Tool Consolidation - Eliminates tool bloat by providing unified access to all backend capabilities
Unified Authorization - Three-dimensional tenant×client×resource mapping with RBAC foundation
High Availability - Fault-tolerant design with circuit breaker patterns
Session Pooling - Concurrent session management with automatic load balancing
Tool Aggregation - Namespace-aware discovery and routing across backend servers
Service Discovery - Dynamic backend registration with health monitoring

Enterprise Readiness:

RBAC Foundation - Role-based access control framework ready for multi-tenant deployment
Monitoring & Observability - Structured logging, metrics, and session analytics
Scalable Design - Stateless operation supporting horizontal scaling patterns
Configuration Management - Environment-based configuration with Docker Compose
Operational Excellence - User-friendly URLs, collision-free file management, clean downloads

Production Gateway Architecture

MCP Adapter demonstrates enterprise gateway patterns that solve tool bloat, authentication complexity, and operational overhead:

Gateway Server: Central aggregation point that transforms N×M complexity into M+N standardized connections
Backend MCP Servers: Pure resource providers focusing on domain logic (hello-world, latex-server)
Service Mesh: Isolated container networking with centralized routing and discovery
Session Management: Concurrent session pools with automatic load balancing and failover

Implementation Highlights:

Multi-server aggregation with namespace prefixing and unified tool discovery
Concurrent session pools with automatic allocation and load balancing
Real-time monitoring at /sessions endpoint with session statistics
Emergency scaling capability to exceed pool limits under high load

For detailed architecture patterns and deployment strategies, see Technical Specification.

All service images are automatically built and published to GitHub Container Registry (GHCR):

# Available images ghcr.io/startakovsky/mcp-adapter/gateway:latest ghcr.io/startakovsky/mcp-adapter/hello-world:latest ghcr.io/startakovsky/mcp-adapter/latex-server:latest ghcr.io/startakovsky/mcp-adapter/file-server:latest # Version-specific tags also available ghcr.io/startakovsky/mcp-adapter/gateway:sha-1234567

Production Deployment: Images are automatically built and tested via CI/CD pipeline on every push to main.

Phase 1: Multi-Tenant Architecture (Q2 2025)