MCP authorization guide
How to grant teams access to MCP servers and tools.
Overview
MCP Authorization decides what an authenticated MCP caller may see and execute.
The flow is:
MCP caller authenticates
-> gateway auth resolves a team
-> MCP Authorization grants servers/tools to that team
-> allowed calls continue; disallowed calls are blocked
Before you start
Make sure you have:
- At least one MCP auth provider on Identities.
- A trusted team value from the MCP credential, such as API key metadata or a JWT/OIDC tenant claim.
- At least one enabled MCP server.
- Discovered tools for that MCP server.
Create an authorization rule
Navigate to MCP Authorization.
- Click New Authorization.
- Select the team this rule applies to.
- Select the MCP servers the team can reach.
- Expand each server to review its tools.
- Check or uncheck individual tools.
- Save.
Each team can have only one MCP authorization row. Creating a second row for the same team is refused (HTTP 409). Change grants by editing the existing row; that replace is the update path, not create.
Server and tool checkbox behavior
Server checkboxes are hierarchical:
| Action | Result |
|---|---|
| Check a server | Selects all currently discovered tools under that server |
| Uncheck a server | Unselects all tools under that server |
| Check one tool | Grants only that tool, unless other tools are already checked |
| Re-discover tools | Preserves selections for tools that still exist |