MCP Builder:add Auth

Add Authentication

You are helping the user add authentication to their MCP server using the MCP Authorization Specification.

Overview

MCP supports OAuth 2.1 with PKCE for authentication. This enables:

• User-specific data access
• Scoped permissions per tool
• Audit logging with user context

When to Add Auth

Add authentication when:

• Tools access user-specific data
• Tools perform actions on behalf of users
• You need audit trails with user identity
• Multi-tenant data isolation is required

MCP Authorization Spec

The spec requires:

1. Protected Resource Metadata endpoint
2. OAuth Metadata (authorization server discovery)
3. Token verification in tool handlers
4. WWW-Authenticate challenges on 401

Workflow

Phase 1: Choose Auth Provider

Phase 2: Configure Auth0

1. Create Auth0 Application

   • Go to Auth0 Dashboard → Applications → Create
   • Choose "Regular Web Application"
   • Note: Client ID, Client Secret, Domain

2. Configure Allowed Callbacks

   Allowed Callback URLs: https://your-server.com/callback
   Allowed Logout URLs: https://your-server.com
   

3. Create API in Auth0

   • APIs → Create API
   • Identifier: https://your-server.com/api
   • Add scopes: read:tasks, write:tasks, delete:tasks

Phase 3: Implement Server Endpoints

Python (FastMCP):

from fastapi import Request, HTTPException
from fastapi.responses import JSONResponse
import httpx
import jwt

AUTH0_DOMAIN = os.environ["AUTH0_DOMAIN"]
AUTH0_AUDIENCE = os.environ["AUTH0_AUDIENCE"]

# Protected Resource Metadata
@mcp.custom_route("/.well-known/oauth-protected-resource", methods=["GET"])
async def protected_resource_metadata(request: Request):
    return JSONResponse({
        "resource": AUTH0_AUDIENCE,
        "authorization_servers": [f"https://{AUTH0_DOMAIN}/"],
        "scopes_supported": ["read:tasks", "write:tasks", "delete:tasks"],
        "bearer_methods_supported": ["header"],
    })

# Token verification middleware
async def verify_token(request: Request) -> dict:
    auth_header = request.headers.get("Authorization", "")
    if not auth_header.startswith("Bearer "):
        raise HTTPException(
            status_code=401,
            headers={"WWW-Authenticate": f'Bearer realm="{AUTH0_AUDIENCE}"'}
        )

    token = auth_header[7:]

    # Get JWKS
    jwks_url = f"https://{AUTH0_DOMAIN}/.well-known/jwks.json"
    async with httpx.AsyncClient() as client:
        jwks = (await client.get(jwks_url)).json()

    # Verify token
    try:
        payload = jwt.decode(
            token,
            jwks,
            algorithms=["RS256"],
            audience=AUTH0_AUDIENCE,
            issuer=f"https://{AUTH0_DOMAIN}/"
        )
        return payload
    except jwt.InvalidTokenError as e:
        raise HTTPException(status_code=401, detail=str(e))

# Get user from token in tool handlers
def get_user_id(request: Request) -> str:
    """Extract user ID from verified token."""
    token_payload = request.state.token_payload
    return token_payload.get("sub")

Phase 4: Scope Tool Access

Implement tool-level permissions:

TOOL_SCOPES = {
    "search-tasks": ["read:tasks"],
    "create-task": ["write:tasks"],
    "delete-task": ["delete:tasks"],
}

async def check_scope(request: Request, tool_name: str):
    """Verify user has required scope for tool."""
    required_scopes = TOOL_SCOPES.get(tool_name, [])
    token_scopes = request.state.token_payload.get("scope", "").split()

    for scope in required_scopes:
        if scope not in token_scopes:
            raise HTTPException(
                status_code=403,
                detail=f"Missing required scope: {scope}"
            )

Phase 5: User-Scoped Data

Filter data by authenticated user:

@mcp.tool()
async def search_tasks(query: str, request: Request) -> str:
    """Search tasks for the authenticated user."""
    user_id = get_user_id(request)

    # Query only this user's tasks
    results = await db.fetch(
        "SELECT * FROM tasks WHERE user_id = $1 AND subject ILIKE $2",
        user_id, f"%{query}%"
    )

    return json.dumps(results)

Environment Variables

# .env
AUTH0_DOMAIN=your-tenant.auth0.com
AUTH0_AUDIENCE=https://your-server.com/api
AUTH0_CLIENT_ID=your-client-id
AUTH0_CLIENT_SECRET=your-client-secret

Testing Auth

1. Get test token from Auth0:

   curl --request POST \
     --url https://YOUR_DOMAIN/oauth/token \
     --header 'content-type: application/json' \
     --data '{"client_id":"YOUR_CLIENT_ID","client_secret":"YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET","audience":"YOUR_API_AUDIENCE","grant_type":"client_credentials"}'
   

2. Test authenticated request:

   curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" \
     http://localhost:8000/mcp
   

Update State

{
  "auth": {
    "provider": "auth0",
    "domain": "your-tenant.auth0.com",
    "scopes": ["read:tasks", "write:tasks", "delete:tasks"]
  }
}

Security Checklist

• Token verification uses JWKS (not hardcoded secret)
• All sensitive tools require authentication
• Scopes are granular (read vs write vs delete)
• User data is isolated by user_id
• Audit logs include user identity