# docker/mcp-gateway

docker mcp CLI plugin / MCP Gateway

Repository: https://github.com/docker/mcp-gateway
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/mcp-gateway
Language: Go
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-08-26T16:49:08+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 73/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 60, longevity 35
- inputs: {"age_days": 498, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 48, "gap_med": 3.0, "n_releases_24m": 71}
- flags: prerelease_only
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1543, forks 270 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:01.163382+00:00)

## What it is
A Docker CLI plugin (docker-mcp) that provides the Docker MCP Gateway for securely running and deploying Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers as isolated Docker containers. It gives AI clients a single unified gateway with secrets management, OAuth flows, and dynamic tool discovery.

## Use cases
- run mcp servers securely in docker containers
- expose a single gateway endpoint for multiple mcp servers
- connect claude desktop or cursor to mcp tools via docker
- manage api keys for mcp servers without env vars
- handle oauth for mcp servers needing token flows
- discover and call mcp tools from the command line
- centralize mcp server configuration across ai clients

## When to choose
- you use Docker Desktop and want managed, containerized MCP servers
- you need one consistent gateway for multiple MCP clients like VS Code, Cursor, or Claude Desktop
- you want secrets management and OAuth handled for MCP tool connections
- you need isolation and monitoring for MCP server workloads

## When to avoid
- you only need a single lightweight MCP server without containerization
- you don't use Docker and can't install Docker Desktop
- you need a fully managed cloud MCP hosting solution rather than a local gateway

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: mcp, api-gateway, secrets-management, auth, monitoring, container-runtime, cli, developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools, artificial-intelligence, self-hosted, security
- platform: cross-platform, cli, go
- tags: mcp-gateway, docker-cli-plugin, model-context-protocol, mcp-servers, tool-discovery, oauth, ai-agents, containers, docker

## Member repositories
- docker/mcp-gateway (main) score 73

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:01.163382+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T04:30:41.114942+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/docker/mcp-gateway (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:01.163382+00:00, sha 1ec05ed7c5aa)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.