Connect an external MCP server

If a tool already exists — a managed SaaS integration, or an MCP server you or a third party runs — connect it rather than build one. This page covers registering a server by URL. Have source code instead? See Deploy your own server.

Everyone connects with their own credential or OAuth grant — sharing never hands over the owner’s login. A custom MCP server is invisible to everyone but its owner until shared.

Probe before registering

nasiko mcp connector probe https://mcp.example.com/mcp

curl -X POST https://your-control-plane/api/mcp/connectors/probe \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url": "https://mcp.example.com/mcp"}'

The probe checks for OAuth discovery metadata, then falls back to a live initialize handshake.

{
  "data": {
    "url": "https://mcp.example.com/mcp",
    "auth_type": "oauth2",
    "requires": "oauth_flow",
    "supports_dcr": true,
    "hint": "This server supports OAuth 2.1 with automatic client registration — no client credentials needed."
  },
  "status_code": 200,
  "message": "Connector probed successfully"
}

supports_dcr: false means you’ll need to supply your own OAuth client ID and secret. A server wanting a bearer token reports "auth_type": "bearer".

Register the connector

nasiko mcp connector register my-internal-api https://mcp.example.com/mcp \
  --auth-type bearer \
  --description "Internal ticketing API"

nasiko mcp connector register my-internal-api https://mcp.example.com/mcp \
  --auth-type oauth2 \
  --oauth-client-id "$CLIENT_ID" \
  --oauth-client-secret "$CLIENT_SECRET"

POST /api/mcp/connectors
{
  "name": "my-internal-api",
  "url": "https://mcp.example.com/mcp",
  "transport": "streamable_http",
  "auth_type": "bearer",
  "description": "Internal ticketing API"
}

`auth_type`	Injected on every call	Notes
`none`	Nothing	—
`bearer`	`Authorization: Bearer <token>`	Custom header via `--credential-header-name`; auto-prefixed with `Bearer`
`basic`	`Authorization: Basic <base64(user:pass)>`	Encoded on connect
`url_param`	`?<param>=<value>` on the request URL	Name it with `--url-param-name`
`oauth2`	`Authorization: Bearer <access_token>`	Refreshed automatically as it nears expiry

Repeat --header "Key: Value" for extra static headers the server requires.

Registration validates the URL against private, loopback, link-local, and cloud-metadata ranges, and the outbound client re-resolves and re-checks at connect time. A hostname that resolves publicly at registration and privately later is still rejected. Custom MCP servers must be publicly reachable.

Connect your credential

Registering connects nobody. Each person connects with their own credential:

nasiko mcp connect --connector-id <connector-id> --value "$MY_API_TOKEN"

curl -X POST https://your-control-plane/api/mcp/connect \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"connector_id": "<connector-id>", "credentials": {"value": "'"$MY_API_TOKEN"'"}}'

For none, bearer, basic, and url_param this connects immediately. For oauth2 it starts the OAuth flow below.

nasiko mcp credential set <connector-id> "$MY_API_TOKEN"
nasiko mcp credential status <connector-id>
nasiko mcp credential delete <connector-id>

Credential endpoints are write-only — credential status reports only whether a value is stored, and no response ever echoes a credential.

OAuth 2.1

nasiko mcp oauth authorize <connector-id>
# opens or prints an authorization URL; after consent, the platform's
# callback exchanges the code and stores your token

nasiko mcp oauth status <connector-id>
nasiko mcp oauth revoke <connector-id>

REST — begin the flow

POST /api/mcp/connectors/{id}/oauth/authorize

The redirect target, GET /api/mcp/oauth/callback, is public and state-verified rather than JWT-gated — a browser redirect can’t carry your session. It validates the signed PKCE state before exchanging the code and storing encrypted tokens. A connector is private until shared. Share with a user, publicly, or with a specific agent:

nasiko mcp connector share add <connector-id> --user alice

nasiko mcp connector share add <connector-id> --public

nasiko mcp connector grant-agent <connector-id> <agent-name-or-id>

nasiko mcp connector share list <connector-id>
nasiko mcp connector share remove <connector-id> --user alice
nasiko mcp connector revoke-agent <connector-id> <agent-name-or-id>
nasiko mcp connector consumers <connector-id>

Once shared, a connector is usable on every agent that person runs immediately. Team and department sharing is an org-level operation — see per-agent tool permissions.

Revoking a share also removes the grantee’s stored credential, so a re-grant starts from a clean reconnect.

MCP overview — the gateway, delegation token, and request flow
Deploy your own server — build from source instead
Per-agent tool permissions — restricting tools, team sharing
Access control overview

Getting Started

CLI

ADLC

Dashboard

Platform

MCP Gateway

MCP Hub

Agents in Artifact Registry

Probe before registering

Register the connector

Connect your credential

OAuth 2.1

​Probe before registering

​Register the connector

​Connect your credential

​OAuth 2.1

​Share it

​Related

Probe before registering

Register the connector

Connect your credential

OAuth 2.1

Share it

Related