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Version: 19.x (unreleased)

MCP Access with Stdio MCP Server

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Teleport can provide secure access to MCP servers with stdio transport.

This guide shows you how to:

  • Enroll a MCP server with stdio transport in your Teleport cluster.
  • Connect to the stdio MCP server via Teleport.

How it works​

Users can configure their MCP clients such as Claude Desktop to start an MCP server using tsh. Once successfully authorized, tsh establishes a session with the Application Service.

The Teleport Application Service starts the MCP server using the command and arguments defined by Teleport administrators in the app definition. Teleport then proxies the connection between the client and the remote MCP server, applying additional role-based access controls such as filtering which tools are available to the user. While proxying, Teleport also logs MCP protocol requests as audit events, providing visibility into user activity.

Prerequisites​

  • A running Teleport (v18.1.0 or higher) cluster accessible at a hostname with a valid TLS certificate. If you want to get started with Teleport, sign up for a free trial or set up a demo environment.

  • The tctl and tsh clients.

    Installing tctl and tsh clients

    1. Determine the version of your Teleport cluster. The tctl and tsh clients must be at most one major version behind your Teleport cluster version. Send a GET request to the Proxy Service at /v1/webapi/find and use a JSON query tool to obtain your cluster version. Replace teleport.example.com:443 with the web address of your Teleport Proxy Service:

      TELEPORT_DOMAIN=teleport.example.com:443
      TELEPORT_VERSION="$(curl -s https://$TELEPORT_DOMAIN/v1/webapi/find | jq -r '.server_version')"

    2. Follow the instructions for your platform to install tctl and tsh clients:

      Download the signed macOS .pkg installer for Teleport, which includes the tctl and tsh clients:

      curl -O https://cdn.teleport.dev/teleport-${TELEPORT_VERSION?}.pkg

      In Finder double-click the pkg file to begin installation.

      danger

      Using Homebrew to install Teleport is not supported. The Teleport package in Homebrew is not maintained by Teleport and we can't guarantee its reliability or security.

    Connecting with TLS routing disabled

    This guide's commands assume your Teleport cluster uses TLS routing (proxy_listener_mode: multiplex), where the tctl and tsh clients reach every Teleport service through the Proxy Service's web address on port 443. If you're not sure whether this applies to your cluster, check with whoever manages it.

    If your cluster uses separate listener ports instead, adjust ports as follows:

    • tsh commands (e.g., tsh login --proxy=...): continue using the Proxy Service web address on port 3080 (or 443 if behind a load balancer). Do not change these to port 3025.

    • Direct tctl or Auth Service API commands: use port 3025 for the Auth Service gRPC listener:

      tctl status --auth-server=teleport.example.com:3025
  • A host, e.g., an EC2 instance, where you will run the Teleport Application Service.
  • Tools on the same host that can launch stdio-based MCP servers like npx or docker.

Step 1/3. Configure the Teleport Application Service​

You can update an existing Application Service or create a new one to enable the the MCP server.

Update an existing service​

If you already have an existing Application Service running, you can add a MCP server in your YAML configuration:

app_service:
  enabled: true
  apps:
  - name: "everything"
    labels:
      env: dev
    description:
    mcp:
      # Command to launch stdio-based MCP servers.
      command: "docker"
      # Args to execute with the command.
      args: ["run", "-i", "--rm", "mcp/everything"]
      # Name of the host user account under which the command will be
      # executed. Required for stdio-based MCP servers. The user account must
      # exist on the host before you run the Teleport Application Service.
      run_as_host_user: "docker"

Replace the MCP details with the MCP server you desire to run then restart the Application Service.

Continue to Step 2.

Create a new service​

Install the Teleport Application Service on the host your prepared before following this guide.

Get a join token​

The Application Service requires a valid join token to join your Teleport cluster. Run the following tctl command and save the token output in /tmp/token on the server that will run the Application Service:

tctl tokens add --type=app --format=text
abcd123-insecure-do-not-use-this
Alternative methods

For users with a lot of infrastructure in AWS, or who might create or recreate many instances, consider alternative methods for joining new EC2 instances running Teleport:

Install the Teleport Application Service​

Install Teleport on the host where you will run the Teleport Application Service:

To install Teleport binaries on your Linux server, the recommended installation method is the cluster install script. This script is served by your Teleport cluster's Proxy Service and automatically selects the correct version, edition, and installation mode to match your cluster.

  1. Remove any existing Teleport binaries on your system:

    sudo rm -f /usr/local/bin/{tsh,teleport,tctl,tbot,fdpass-teleport,teleport-update}

  2. Assign teleport.example.com:443 to your Teleport cluster hostname and port, but not the scheme (https://).

  3. Run your cluster's install script:

    curl "https://teleport.example.com:443/scripts/install.sh" | sudo bash

Configure the Teleport Application service​

On the host where you will run the Teleport Application Service, create a file at /etc/teleport.yaml with the following content:

version: v3
teleport:
  join_params:
    token_name: "/tmp/token"
    method: token
  proxy_server: "teleport.example.com:443"
auth_service:
  enabled: false
proxy_service:
  enabled: false
ssh_service:
  enabled: false
app_service:
  enabled: true
  apps:
  - name: "everything"
    labels:
      env: dev
    description:
    mcp:
      # Command to launch stdio-based MCP servers.
      command: "docker"
      # Args to execute with the command.
      args: ["run", "-i", "--rm", "mcp/everything"]
      # Name of the host user account under which the command will be
      # executed. Required for stdio-based MCP servers.
      run_as_host_user: "docker"

Replace teleport.example.com:443 with the host and port of your Teleport Proxy Service or Teleport Cloud tenant, and replace the MCP details with the MCP server you desire to run.

Start the Teleport Application Service​

Start the Application Service. The instructions depend on how you installed the Application Service and whether your system supports systemd:

Configure the Application Service to start automatically when the host boots up by creating a systemd service for it. On the host where you will run the Application Service, enable and start Teleport:

sudo systemctl enable teleport
sudo systemctl start teleport

You can check the status of the Application Service with systemctl status teleport and view its logs with journalctl -fu teleport.

Step 2/3. Configure your Teleport user​

In this step, you will grant your Teleport user access to all MCP servers and their MCP tools.

If you have an existing Teleport user, assign the preset role mcp-user to that user. The mcp-user role allows access to all MCP servers and their tools:

kind: role
version: v8
metadata:
  description: Access to MCP servers
  labels:
    teleport.internal/resource-type: preset
  name: mcp-user
spec:
  allow:
    app_labels:
      'teleport.internal/app-sub-kind': 'mcp'
    mcp:
      tools:
      - '*'

Alternatively, add the above allow permissions to an existing Teleport role.

tip

You can also create and edit roles using the Web UI. Go to Access -> Roles and click Create New Role or pick an existing role to edit.

Step 3/3. Connect​

Log in to Teleport with the user we've just created, my_user:

tsh login --proxy=teleport.example.com:443 --user=my_user

Now we can inspect available MCP servers:

tsh mcp ls
Name       Description           Type  Labels---------- --------------------- ----- ----------everything everything MCP server stdio env=dev

To show configurations for your MCP client to connect:

tsh mcp config everything
Found MCP servers:everything
Here is a sample JSON configuration for launching Teleport MCP servers:{  "mcpServers": {    "teleport-mcp-everything": {      "command": "/path/to/tsh",      "args": ["mcp", "connect", "everything"]    }  }}
Tip: You can use this command to update your MCP servers configuration file automatically.- For Claude Desktop, use --client-config=claude to update the default configuration.- For Cursor, use --client-config=cursor to update the global MCP servers configuration.In addition, you can use --client-config=<path> to specify a config file location that is compatible with the "mcpServers" mapping.For example, you can update a Cursor project using --client-config=<path-to-project>/.cursor/mcp.json

Once your MCP client configuration is updated, you will see teleport-mcp-everything MCP server with allowed tools appear in your MCP client.

Next Steps​

Learn more about protecting MCP servers with Teleport in the following topics: