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| 1 | +--- |
| 2 | +title: MCP Gateway |
| 3 | +description: "Docker's MCP Gateway provides secure, centralized, and scalable orchestration of AI tools through containerized MCP servers—empowering developers, operators, and security teams." |
| 4 | +keywords: MCP Gateway |
| 5 | +params: |
| 6 | + sidebar: |
| 7 | + group: Open source |
| 8 | +--- |
| 9 | + |
| 10 | +The MCP Gateway is Docker's open-source enterprise-ready solution for orchestrating and |
| 11 | +managing [Model Context Protocol (MCP)](https://spec.modelcontextprotocol.io/) servers |
| 12 | +securely across development and production environments. |
| 13 | +It is designed to help organizations connect AI |
| 14 | +agents from the [Docker MCP Catalog](https://hub.docker.com/mcp) to internal infrastructure |
| 15 | +without compromising security, visibility, or control. |
| 16 | + |
| 17 | +By unifying multiple MCP servers into a single, secure endpoint, the MCP Gateway offers |
| 18 | +the following benefits: |
| 19 | + |
| 20 | +- Secure by Default: MCP servers run in isolated Docker containers with restricted |
| 21 | + privileges, network access, and resource usage. |
| 22 | +- Unified Management: One gateway endpoint centralizes configuration, credentials, |
| 23 | + and access control for all MCP servers. |
| 24 | +- Enterprise Observability: Built-in monitoring, logging, and filtering tools ensure |
| 25 | + full visibility and governance of AI tool activity. |
| 26 | + |
| 27 | +## Who is the MCP Gateway designed for? |
| 28 | + |
| 29 | +The MCP Gateway solves problems encountered by various groups: |
| 30 | + |
| 31 | +- Developers: Deploy MCP servers locally and in production using Docker Compose, |
| 32 | + with built-in support for protocol handling, credential management, and security policies. |
| 33 | +- Security Teams: Achieve enterprise-grade isolation and visibility into AI tool |
| 34 | + behavior and access patterns. |
| 35 | +- Operators: Scale effortlessly from local development environments to production |
| 36 | + infrastructure with consistent, low-touch operations. |
| 37 | + |
| 38 | +## Key features |
| 39 | + |
| 40 | +- Server Management: List, inspect, and call MCP tools, resoures and prompts from multiple servers |
| 41 | +- Container-based Servers: Run MCP servers as Docker containers with proper isolation |
| 42 | +- Secrets Management: Secure handling of API keys and credentials via Docker Desktop |
| 43 | +- OAuth Integration: Built-in OAuth flows for service authentication |
| 44 | +- Server Catalog: Manage and configure multiple MCP catalogs |
| 45 | +- Dynamic Discovery: Automatic tool, prompt, and resource discovery from running servers |
| 46 | +- Monitoring: Built-in logging and call tracing capabilities |
| 47 | + |
| 48 | +## Install the MCP Gateway |
| 49 | + |
| 50 | +### Prerequisites |
| 51 | + |
| 52 | +- Docker Desktop is installed. |
| 53 | +- The MCP Toolkit feature is [enabled](/manuals/ai/mcp-catalog-and-toolkit/toolkit.md#enable-docker-mcp-toolkit). |
| 54 | +- Go 1.24+ (for development) |
| 55 | + |
| 56 | +### Install as Docker CLI Plugin |
| 57 | + |
| 58 | +The MCP CLI is already installed on recent versions of Docker Desktop. |
| 59 | +To update to the latest version: |
| 60 | + |
| 61 | +```bash |
| 62 | +# Clone the repository |
| 63 | +git clone https://github.com/docker/docker-mcp.git |
| 64 | +cd docker-mcp |
| 65 | + |
| 66 | +# Build and install the plugin |
| 67 | +make docker-mcp |
| 68 | +``` |
| 69 | + |
| 70 | +You can now use the `mcp` command: |
| 71 | + |
| 72 | +``` |
| 73 | +docker mcp --help |
| 74 | +``` |
| 75 | + |
| 76 | +## Use the MCP Gateway |
| 77 | + |
| 78 | +To view all the commands and configuration options, go to the [docker-mcp repository](https://github.com/docker/docker-mcp). |
| 79 | + |
| 80 | +## Related pages |
| 81 | + |
| 82 | +- [Docker MCP toolkit and catalog](/manuals/ai/mcp-catalog-and-toolkit/_index.md) |
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