MCP Server Authentication

This document covers authentication for MCP backend servers such as Notion, Raindrop, Elasticsearch, and internal HTTP MCP services. It is separate from LLM runtime authentication for Claude, Codex, or OpenCode. For runtime credentials, see credential-pipeline.md. For the catalog of known MCP servers, see mcp-servers/README.md.

Ownership Model

Remote MCP authentication is owned by the gateway-side MCP client pool:

agent runtime ->  fracta gateway MCP -> remote MCP server -> upstream API

Agents do not receive MCP backend secrets directly. The gateway builds the remote transport, resolves configured secrets, attaches headers or OAuth token stores, and proxies tools to agents.

Auth Types

Type	Use when	Credential shape
`none`	The remote MCP server is internal or unauthenticated	No auth block required
`bearer`	The server accepts `Authorization: Bearer <token>`	`token` as a `SecretValue`
`header`	The server expects an API key or custom header	`header_name` plus `header_value`
`basic`	Legacy HTTP Basic auth	`username` and `password`
`oauth`	Hosted MCP OAuth, mounted OAuth tokens, or client credentials	OAuth fields below

The auth field is intentionally symmetric: non-OAuth and OAuth credentials all live in the same per-server remote.auth block.

Secret Values

Secret fields use the same SecretValue shape everywhere. Exactly one source must be set:

token:
  value: "literal-string"   # development only
  env: "ENV_VAR_NAME"       # read from the process environment
  file: "/path/to/file"     # read from a mounted file; trailing newline stripped

Supported fields include token, header_value, username, password, client_id, client_secret, access_token, and refresh_token.

Non-OAuth Examples

Bearer token:

mcp_servers:
  servers:
    raindrop:
      remote:
        url: https://mcp.raindrop.io/mcp
        transport: streamable-http
        auth:
          type: bearer
          token:
            env: RAINDROP_TOKEN

Custom header:

mcp_servers:
  servers:
    custom:
      remote:
        url: https://mcp.example.com/mcp
        transport: streamable-http
        auth:
          type: header
          header_name: X-API-Key
          header_value:
            file: /run/secrets/custom-api-key

Basic auth:

mcp_servers:
  servers:
    legacy:
      remote:
        url: https://mcp.example.com/sse
        transport: sse
        auth:
          type: basic
          username:
            value: admin
          password:
            env: LEGACY_PASSWORD

OAuth Cycle

OAuth has two phases: interactive authorization and runtime consumption.

local machine                                    keyring                     deployment
--------------                                   -------                     ----------
fracta config mcp auth login <server>
  reads fracta.yaml
  discovers OAuth metadata
  dynamically registers client if needed
  opens browser or device flow
  exchanges code for token                  ->    server:token
                                                 server:client

fracta config mcp auth export <server>      <-     reads stored token
  writes env, files, or K8s Secret

gateway starts in Compose/K8s
  reads token_file or env values
  builds OAuth transport
  refreshes in memory during process lifetime

The old top-level forms fracta mcp login / fracta mcp export / fracta mcp auth-status still work as a one-release deprecation alias. See fracta mcp (deprecated alias) for the remapping table.

1. Configure the OAuth server

For hosted MCP OAuth with browser login:

mcp_servers:
  servers:
    notion:
      remote:
        url: https://mcp.notion.com/mcp
        transport: streamable-http
        auth:
          type: oauth
          scopes: []

remote.url is used for MCP protected-resource discovery. metadata_url, when set, must point to OAuth authorization server metadata, not protected-resource metadata. If the server supports dynamic client registration, client_id can be omitted. If it does not, provide a client identity:

auth:
  type: oauth
  client_id:
    env: NOTION_CLIENT_ID
  client_secret:
    env: NOTION_CLIENT_SECRET

Run login from a machine that can open a browser:

bin/fracta --config fracta.yaml mcp login notion

The login command:

Reads the named MCP server from config.
Starts the local callback server before opening the browser.
Discovers OAuth metadata from remote.url and optional metadata_url.
Dynamically registers a client if no client identity is configured or stored.
Uses authorization code flow with PKCE S256 by default.
Exchanges the callback code for a token.
Stores the token and dynamic client registration in the local OS keyring.

Device code flow is available for servers that support it:

bin/fracta --config fracta.yaml mcp login notion --device-code

Device code flow requires a configured client_id.

3. Inspect or clear local credentials

bin/fracta --config fracta.yaml mcp auth-status
bin/fracta --config fracta.yaml mcp auth-status notion
bin/fracta --config fracta.yaml mcp logout notion

Local OAuth credentials use the configured token_store. The default is:

token_store:
  driver: auto

auto and keyring both use the OS keyring through zalando/go-keyring. Stored items use:

service: fracta.oauth
account: <server>:token
account: <server>:client

The file token store driver is not implemented. For headless deployments, export from the local keyring and mount the exported files or K8s Secret.

4. Export for headless deployments

Export formats:

bin/fracta --config fracta.yaml mcp export notion --format env
bin/fracta --config fracta.yaml mcp export notion --format files --output-dir ./secrets/mcp
bin/fracta --config fracta.yaml mcp export notion --format k8s-secret > /tmp/fracta-mcp-notion.yaml

env emits variables such as:

FRACTA_MCP_NOTION_ACCESS_TOKEN=...
FRACTA_MCP_NOTION_REFRESH_TOKEN=...
FRACTA_MCP_NOTION_CLIENT_ID=...
FRACTA_MCP_NOTION_CLIENT_SECRET=...

files writes:

<output-dir>/notion-token.json
<output-dir>/notion-client-registration.json

k8s-secret emits a Secret named fracta-mcp-<server> with keys:

token.json
client-registration.json

client-registration.json is only emitted when fracta has a stored dynamic client registration.

Runtime OAuth Config

Local-process gateway

For local development, the gateway can read directly from the local keyring:

mcp_servers:
  servers:
    notion:
      remote:
        url: https://mcp.notion.com/mcp
        transport: streamable-http
        auth:
          type: oauth

Run fracta config mcp auth login notion once before starting the gateway. The transport token store reads and updates the OS keyring.

Kubernetes gateway

Use k8s-secret export and mount the Secret into the gateway pod:

mcp_servers:
  servers:
    notion:
      remote:
        url: https://mcp.notion.com/mcp
        transport: streamable-http
        auth:
          type: oauth
          token_file: /run/secrets/fracta-mcp-notion/token.json
          client_registration_file: /run/secrets/fracta-mcp-notion/client-registration.json

Mount example:

volumeMounts:
  - name: notion-oauth
    mountPath: /run/secrets/fracta-mcp-notion
    readOnly: true

volumes:
  - name: notion-oauth
    secret:
      secretName: fracta-mcp-notion

If the exported Secret does not contain client-registration.json, omit client_registration_file.

Docker Compose gateway

Use files export and Compose secrets:

bin/fracta --config fracta.yaml mcp export notion --format files --output-dir ./secrets/mcp

Compose example:

services:
  fracta-gateway:
    secrets:
      - source: notion_token
        target: notion-token.json
      - source: notion_client_registration
        target: notion-client-registration.json

secrets:
  notion_token:
    file: ./secrets/mcp/notion-token.json
  notion_client_registration:
    file: ./secrets/mcp/notion-client-registration.json

Gateway config:

mcp_servers:
  servers:
    notion:
      remote:
        url: https://mcp.notion.com/mcp
        transport: streamable-http
        auth:
          type: oauth
          token_file: /run/secrets/notion-token.json
          client_registration_file: /run/secrets/notion-client-registration.json

If there is no client registration file, omit client_registration_file.

Inline pre-authorized tokens

Inline token fields are useful when another system injects credentials as env vars or mounted files:

mcp_servers:
  servers:
    notion:
      remote:
        url: https://mcp.notion.com/mcp
        transport: streamable-http
        auth:
          type: oauth
          access_token:
            env: FRACTA_MCP_NOTION_ACCESS_TOKEN
          refresh_token:
            env: FRACTA_MCP_NOTION_REFRESH_TOKEN

This path does not preserve full token metadata such as expires_at. Prefer token_file when you have the JSON exported by fracta.

Client Credentials Grant

Use client_credentials for service-to-service MCP servers that do not need a user browser session:

mcp_servers:
  servers:
    internal:
      remote:
        url: https://mcp.internal.example/mcp
        transport: streamable-http
        auth:
          type: oauth
          grant_type: client_credentials
          client_id:
            env: INTERNAL_MCP_CLIENT_ID
          client_secret:
            file: /run/secrets/internal-mcp-client-secret
          scopes:
            - tools.read

The token endpoint is discovered from metadata_url if set, otherwise from remote.url using authorization server discovery. Client credentials tokens are fetched when the transport is created and attached as a bearer token. They are not stored in the local keyring.

Token Refresh And Restart Behavior

For local keyring-backed OAuth, refreshed tokens are saved back to the keyring by the OAuth token store. For token_file, mounted files are read-only bootstrap inputs. The gateway can refresh tokens in memory during its process lifetime, but refreshed tokens are not written back to the mounted file. On restart, the gateway re-reads the original file. If the provider rotates refresh tokens, periodically re-run:

bin/fracta --config fracta.yaml mcp login <server>
bin/fracta --config fracta.yaml mcp export <server> --format k8s-secret

then update the deployment Secret.

Validation Rules And Gotchas

auth.type must be one of none, bearer, header, basic, or oauth.
SecretValue requires exactly one of value, env, or file.
remote.headers.Authorization cannot be combined with auth types that generate Authorization.
auth.type: header rejects case-insensitive collisions with existing remote.headers.
OAuth grant_type must be authorization_code, client_credentials, or device_code.
client_credentials requires client_id and client_secret.
access_token and token_file are mutually exclusive.
client_registration_file is a hard requirement if configured. Remove it when the exported credentials do not include that file.
The gateway pod or container must have outbound network access to the hosted MCP server and OAuth issuer.
OAuth scope step-up on 403 insufficient_scope is not implemented yet. Re-login with the required scopes if a provider rejects the token.

Introduction

Getting Started

Swarm

Strategies

Patterns

Guides

Reference

Operations

Development

Contributing

MCP Server Authentication

Ownership Model

Auth Types

Secret Values

Non-OAuth Examples

OAuth Cycle

1. Configure the OAuth server

3. Inspect or clear local credentials

4. Export for headless deployments

Runtime OAuth Config

Local-process gateway

Kubernetes gateway

Docker Compose gateway

Inline pre-authorized tokens

Client Credentials Grant

Token Refresh And Restart Behavior

Validation Rules And Gotchas

​Ownership Model

​Auth Types

​Secret Values

​Non-OAuth Examples

​OAuth Cycle

​1. Configure the OAuth server

​2. Login locally

​3. Inspect or clear local credentials

​4. Export for headless deployments

​Runtime OAuth Config

​Local-process gateway

​Kubernetes gateway

​Docker Compose gateway

​Inline pre-authorized tokens

​Client Credentials Grant

​Token Refresh And Restart Behavior

​Validation Rules And Gotchas

Ownership Model

Auth Types

Secret Values

Non-OAuth Examples

OAuth Cycle

1. Configure the OAuth server

2. Login locally

3. Inspect or clear local credentials

4. Export for headless deployments

Runtime OAuth Config

Local-process gateway

Kubernetes gateway

Docker Compose gateway

Inline pre-authorized tokens

Client Credentials Grant

Token Refresh And Restart Behavior

Validation Rules And Gotchas