| System |
Broker data describing how to get a credential for a product (GitLab, Jira and so on): adapter, base address, supported credential types. Added in the portal under Administration, Systems. |
| Server |
An MCP server: the program that exposes tools. Its manifest names its system. Added in the portal under Administration, Servers, by its address. |
| Manifest |
The description a server publishes at /.well-known/mcp-manifest: its name, system, policies, resource type declarations and tool definitions. The gateway pulls it. |
| Adapter |
The part of the credential broker that knows how to obtain a credential for a kind of product. Adapters: atlassian-dc (Jira, Confluence), gitlab, opensearch, generic-rest. Not to be confused with the generic REST adapter server. |
| Adapter server |
The MCP server mcp-server-adapter, which turns a REST API into tools. |
| Connection (of a user) |
The user’s credential for one system, stored in OpenBao through the portal page “System connections”. |
| Connection (of a server) |
The address and TLS certificate of a server as the gateway sees them. An administrator approves it before policies and tools. |
| Credential type |
How a credential reaches a system. The four types are in the next four rows. |
user-secret |
The user pastes a personal access token in the portal. Used by Jira, Confluence, GitLab and generic-rest. |
user-oauth |
The user signs in to the system through OAuth in the portal. Used by GitLab. |
token-exchange |
The platform exchanges the user’s Keycloak token for a token for the system. Used by OpenSearch. The user connects nothing. |
service-account |
The platform uses a key it holds, the same for all users. The key is in OpenBao KV at secret/mcp/service-accounts/<system>, written by the operator with bao kv put. Used by generic-rest. |
| Approval |
An administrator’s acceptance of what a server reports: first the connection, then the policies, then each tool definition. A change after approval is pending again; until approved, the tools are hidden and refused. |
| Scope mapping |
The document that maps groups from Keycloak to resource scopes (for example a GitLab group). Edited in the portal under Administration, Scope mapping. |
| Policy |
A Cedar rule the gateway evaluates for each call. Servers carry their policies in the manifest. |
| Override |
A single forbid Cedar policy added in the portal that blocks calls for every server or for one server. Adding one needs no second factor. |
| Kill switch |
The emergency switch that cuts one server or one tool for everyone, effective on every gateway within 5 seconds. Switching off needs no second factor; lifting needs a fresh one. |
| Step-up |
A fresh sign-in with OTP (within 5 minutes) that the platform requires for sensitive administration operations, such as approving policies or lifting the kill switch. |
| Confirmation code |
The 6-digit code from the user’s authenticator app that confirms a destructive tool call. The gateway holds the call for 120 seconds. |
| Authenticator |
The TOTP registration of a user in the broker, separate from the Keycloak OTP. Locks after 5 wrong codes. |
| Fingerprint |
The SHA-256 hash of a server’s TLS certificate. The gateway pins it unless the certificate chains to a trusted CA; the administrator compares it when approving the connection. |
| Gateway |
The single MCP address that validates, authorizes, forwards and audits calls. |
| Credential broker |
The component that stores user credentials in OpenBao and issues them to the gateway. |
| Portal |
The web interface for users and administrators. |
| Keycloak |
The identity provider, realm mcp. |
| OpenBao |
The secret store behind the broker. |
mcp-platform-admin |
The Keycloak group of platform administrators. |
| Audit event |
A record the gateway writes for every call and every decision. |
