Getting Started

What is MCP Ambassador?

MCP Ambassador is an enterprise-grade Model Context Protocol (MCP) gateway. It replaces the current model of every developer installing and configuring each MCP server on every machine with a single, governed connection point.

The problem it solves

The MCP ecosystem is growing fast. There are servers for GitHub, databases, cloud providers, web search, Slack, Stripe, monitoring tools, and dozens more. Each one requires individual installation, configuration, and credential management — on every machine, in every AI tool, for every developer.

This creates:

  • Credential sprawl — API keys duplicated across developer machines in plain-text config files
  • Configuration drift — different developers with different MCP versions and settings
  • No governance — no way to revoke access to a compromised server without manually updating every client
  • Onboarding friction — new developers must replicate the entire team's MCP setup from scratch

The solution

MCP Ambassador consists of two components:

Ambassador Client — the only MCP a developer installs. It's lightweight, stateless, and dynamic. On every session, it requests its personalized tool set from the Ambassador Server. Tools appear as native MCP tools in VS Code, Claude Desktop, OpenCode, or any MCP-compatible host.

Ambassador Server — the centralized control plane. It authenticates every client, enforces RBAC per user and group, stores credentials in an AES-256-GCM encrypted vault, routes tool calls to the correct downstream MCP, and provides kill switches for instant server-wide disablement.

How it's positioned

MCP Ambassador does for MCPs what LiteLLM did for LLM providers — a single, unified interface that abstracts away the complexity of connecting to many heterogeneous backends.

Where LiteLLM gives developers one API to call 100+ LLM providers, MCP Ambassador gives organizations one MCP client to govern, secure, and expose any number of downstream MCP servers.

0.8.0-beta.1 ships today

MCP Ambassador 0.8.0-beta.1 was released February 19, 2026. It is:

  • Apache 2.0 — open source, self-hosted, no license fees
  • Single Docker container — docker compose up to start
  • Full-featured — gateway, marketplace, RBAC, encrypted credential vault, kill switches, React SPA
  • 38+ pre-configured MCPs — community registry ready to use

See the Quickstart to get running in under 5 minutes.

Architecture overview

Developer Workstations
  ├── VS Code / Copilot
  ├── Claude Code
  ├── OpenCode
  └── Any MCP Client
         │
         ▼
  Ambassador Client  ← The only MCP developers install
         │ Authenticated + Encrypted
         ▼
  Ambassador Server
    ├── Gateway + AAA Engine (Auth, AuthZ, Audit, Kill Switches)
    ├── Transform Engine
    ├── Router
    └── Service Registry
         │
         ├── GitHub MCP
         ├── Database MCP
         ├── AWS MCP
         ├── Slack MCP
         └── ... 38+ more

See Architecture Overview for the full technical breakdown.

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Quickstart