mcp-gateway: Route MCP Servers and REST APIs Through One Endpoint

Overview

MCP Gateway is a single-binary router for AI clients that need to use tools from multiple MCP servers and REST APIs. Instead of listing every backend tool to the client, it exposes a compact meta-tool surface for searching and invoking tools on demand.

It is most useful when a growing tool catalog is difficult to manage or when one endpoint, shared routing, and centralized controls are preferable to configuring each client with every backend. The discovery hop can add tokens and a turn to completed tasks, so the compact surface is a catalog-management tradeoff rather than a guaranteed reduction in task cost.

Key Features

• Aggregates MCP backends and REST API capabilities behind one endpoint.
• Provides meta-tools for searching and invoking backend tools on demand.
• Supports stdio, Streamable HTTP, SSE, and WebSocket transports.
• Bridges MCP protocol revisions, with support described for versions from 2024-11-05 to 2026-07-28 in the repository description.
• Imports REST capabilities from OpenAPI specifications and supports built-in capability definitions.
• Offers authentication, per-client tool scopes, rate limiting, and optional security controls.
• Includes a CLI setup wizard, client configuration export, health checks, and a web UI.

Use Cases

• Teams with many MCP servers: consolidate backend connections behind one endpoint instead of configuring each server separately in every AI client.
• AI agents with large tool catalogs: let agents search for tools as needed when loading every definition into context is impractical.
• Integrations with REST services: expose selected REST operations as MCP tools without building a separate MCP server for each API.
• Mixed MCP client and server versions: use the gateway as a compatibility layer when connected components speak different supported protocol revisions.

Getting Started

Install with Cargo:

cargo install mcp-gateway

Then run mcp-gateway setup wizard --configure-client to import existing servers and configure detected clients. See the README for configuration, deployment, and security details.

Alternatives

• magictunnel: MagicTunnel also unifies MCP tools behind a discovery-and-invocation surface, but adds a dashboard and service supervision instead of focusing on MCP revision bridging and REST routing.
• kong: Kong offers broader, infrastructure-oriented API gateway routing with MCP support, rather than a Rust gateway centered on on-demand MCP tool discovery and protocol bridging.
• mcpo: mcpo exposes MCP tools as OpenAPI HTTP endpoints, rather than aggregating MCP servers and REST APIs behind a compact meta-tool interface.

Considerations

• The repository describes personal and noncommercial use as free, while commercial use requires a commercial license. The provided repository metadata reports the license as NOASSERTION, so review the project’s license documentation before use.
• Tool discovery adds an extra hop. The README notes that its checked-in live benchmark found higher input-token use and one additional turn for the meta-tool path, so it should not be treated as a universal token-saving solution.
• A gateway adds another component to operate and secure. Review authentication, network binding, backend credentials, and deployment guidance before exposing it beyond a local environment.
• The project has 39 open issues. Check current releases and documentation for compatibility and operational details before adopting it in a production setup.