MCP Gateway

🚀 MCP Server Gateway

A service gateway that bridges the Model Context Protocol (MCP) implementations based on standard input/output (stdio), such as Claude Desktop, with MCP servers using HTTP/SSE (Server-Sent Events). This resolves the protocol compatibility issue, as currently, Claude Desktop only supports stdio-based MCP servers. For related discussions, see here.

🚀 Quick Start

This gateway serves as a protocol converter, enabling Claude Desktop to communicate with any HTTP/SSE MCP server. It accepts stdio from Claude Desktop, transforms and forwards requests to the HTTP/SSE MCP server, and converts SSE responses back to stdio format for Claude Desktop.

✨ Features

• Bridges stdio-based MCP implementations (e.g., Claude Desktop) with HTTP/SSE MCP servers.
• Solves the protocol compatibility issue between Claude Desktop and HTTP/SSE MCP servers.

📦 Installation

Install the gateway globally using npm:

npm install -g @mcphub/gateway

📚 Documentation

Configuration

1. Find the Gateway Path

After installation, find the location of the npm-installed gateway using the following commands:

# Display the root directory of global packages
npm root -g

# The gateway is located at:
<npm_global_root>/@mcphub/gateway/dist/src/mcphub-gateway.js

Common global installation paths:

• macOS (using Homebrew Node): /opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@mcphub/gateway/dist/src/mcphub-gateway.js
• macOS (default): /usr/local/lib/node_modules/@mcphub/gateway/dist/src/mcphub-gateway.js
• Windows: %AppData%\npm\node_modules\@mcphub\gateway\dist\src\mcphub-gateway.js

Verify the installation and path:

npm list -g @mcphub/gateway

2. Configure Claude Desktop

Create or update your Claude Desktop configuration file:

On macOS

Location: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude Desktop/config.json

On Windows

Location: %APPDATA%\Claude Desktop\config.json

Add the following configuration (using the actual path found in step 1):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "server-name": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/@mcphub/gateway/dist/src/mcphub-gateway.js"]
    }
  }
}

Note: Replace the path in args with the actual path you found.

3. Configure MCP Server Connection

The gateway uses environment variables to specify which MCP server to connect to:

# Set the MCP server URL (optional)
export MCP_SERVER_URL=https://your-mcp-server.com/api/mcp

By default, the gateway connects to the MCP Hub server https://server.mcphub.ai/api/mcp, which provides access to various pre-configured MCP services.

4. Start Claude Desktop

Start or restart Claude Desktop to apply the changes.

Troubleshooting

1. If the gateway path cannot be found:

   # List all global packages and find @mcphub/gateway
   npm list -g
   
   # Or specifically check the gateway
   npm list -g @mcphub/gateway
   

2. Verify your Node.js installation:

   # Check the Node version
   node --version
   
   # Check the npm version
   npm --version
   

3. Common issues:

   • If using Homebrew on macOS, ensure Node.js is correctly linked:

     brew doctor
     brew link node
     

   • If you encounter permission errors, you may need to use sudo for installation.

📄 License

Apache 2.0 License

💪 Support

If you encounter issues or have any questions, submit an issue on GitHub.

👏 Contribution

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to submit a Pull Request.