No Authentication

Connect to MCP servers that don’t require any upstream credential.

Overview

auth_type: "none" is the default. Use it for MCP servers that don’t require any upstream authentication — public MCP services, local STDIO tools, internal services already protected at the network layer, etc.

This is also the only valid auth_type for STDIO connections; STDIO subprocesses inherit their environment from the spawning process and there is no per-call header to attach.

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When to use

• Public MCP servers with no auth
• Local STDIO tools (@anthropic/mcp-filesystem, etc.)
• Internal services already gated at the network or VPN layer
• Anything you’d hit with curl and no extra headers

If the upstream eventually adds a key, switch to Headers and refill the headers map. Note: connection_type and auth_type are immutable after creation — to change either, delete the MCP client and re-create it.

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Configuration

Web UI

1. Navigate to MCP Gateway in the sidebar
2. Click New MCP Server
3. Pick a Connection Type (STDIO, HTTP, or SSE) and fill in the connection target
4. Leave Auth Type on None (the default)
5. Optionally configure tools_to_execute / tools_to_auto_execute
6. Click Create

API

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/api/mcp/client \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "public-service",
    "connection_type": "http",
    "connection_string": "https://public-mcp.example.com/mcp",
    "auth_type": "none",
    "tools_to_execute": ["*"]
  }'

Response:

{
  "status": "success",
  "message": "MCP client created"
}

config.json

{
  "mcp": {
    "client_configs": [
      {
        "name": "public-service",
        "connection_type": "http",
        "connection_string": "https://public-mcp.example.com/mcp",
        "auth_type": "none",
        "tools_to_execute": ["*"]
      }
    ]
  }
}

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STDIO example

STDIO connections must use auth_type: "none":

Web UI

1. New MCP Server → Connection Type: STDIO
2. Fill in Command, Args (comma-separated), and Envs (env-var names to pass through)
3. Auth Type stays on None
4. Click Create

API

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/api/mcp/client \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "filesystem",
    "connection_type": "stdio",
    "stdio_config": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@anthropic/mcp-filesystem"],
      "envs": ["HOME", "PATH"]
    },
    "auth_type": "none",
    "tools_to_execute": ["*"]
  }'

config.json

{
  "mcp": {
    "client_configs": [
      {
        "name": "filesystem",
        "connection_type": "stdio",
        "stdio_config": {
          "command": "npx",
          "args": ["-y", "@anthropic/mcp-filesystem"],
          "envs": ["HOME", "PATH"]
        },
        "auth_type": "none",
        "tools_to_execute": ["*"]
      }
    ]
  }
}

Docker users: STDIO connections won’t work if the spawned command (e.g., npx, python) isn’t installed in the container. For STDIO-based MCP servers, build a custom Docker image that includes the dependencies, or host the server separately and connect via HTTP/SSE.

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Next Steps

• Headers — when the upstream needs an API key
• OAuth 2.0 — for shared OAuth services
• Connecting to MCP Servers — connection-type details (STDIO, HTTP, SSE)