DXH Gateway

Self-hosted governance for MCP tools: connect your MCP servers once, group them into profiles, and give every AI client exactly the tools it needs, with permissions, approvals and an audit trail.

This repository holds installation materials and public documentation for the Community Edition (CE) container image. Service source is private.

Quick start with Docker Compose

You need Docker with Compose v2 and a shell with openssl (macOS, Linux or WSL). Copy the whole block. The last line inside .env accepts the CE terms, so read them first: CE is free for production use in companies with up to 50 employees, and for evaluation at any company.

mkdir mcp-gateway && cd mcp-gateway
curl -fsSLO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DXHeroes/mcp-gateway/main/compose.yaml
cat > .env <<EOF
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=$(openssl rand -hex 32)
AUTH_SECRET=$(openssl rand -base64 32)
GATEWAY_ENCRYPTION_KEY=$(openssl rand -base64 32)
GATEWAY_CE_TERMS_ACCEPTED=2026-09-18.1
EOF
chmod 600 .env
docker compose up -d --wait

Open http://localhost:3001 and create an account. The first account owns the gateway and gets a default profile. On the Dashboard, Add server connects your first MCP server; MCP Servers → Catalog lists the ready-made ones.

Keep .env. It holds the key that encrypts the credentials stored in the database, and without it they cannot be read again.

Quick start with docker run

The same setup without Compose: one network, a PostgreSQL container and the gateway.

mkdir mcp-gateway && cd mcp-gateway
DB_PASSWORD=$(openssl rand -hex 32)
cat > gateway.env <<EOF
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://gateway:${DB_PASSWORD}@mcp-gateway-db:5432/gateway
AUTH_SECRET=$(openssl rand -base64 32)
GATEWAY_ENCRYPTION_KEY=$(openssl rand -base64 32)
GATEWAY_CE_TERMS_ACCEPTED=2026-09-18.1
EOF
chmod 600 gateway.env

docker network create mcp-gateway
docker run -d --name mcp-gateway-db --network mcp-gateway --restart unless-stopped \
  -e POSTGRES_USER=gateway -e POSTGRES_DB=gateway -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD="$DB_PASSWORD" \
  -v mcp-gateway-db:/var/lib/postgresql/data \
  postgres:17-alpine
docker run -d --name mcp-gateway --network mcp-gateway --restart unless-stopped \
  --env-file gateway.env -p 127.0.0.1:3001:3001 \
  dxheroes/mcp-gateway-ce:v1.4.0

The gateway waits for the database and applies migrations itself, so a connection refused line in docker logs -f mcp-gateway while PostgreSQL starts is expected. Then open http://localhost:3001 as above.

Image

The CE image is public on Docker Hub as dxheroes/mcp-gateway-ce and on GitHub Container Registry as ghcr.io/dxheroes/mcp-gateway-ce, with the same tags and digests. Tags are release versions (vX.Y.Z); there is no latest, so docker pull without a tag fails.

Next to each release there are two moving tags: vX.Y is the newest patch of that minor and vX the newest release of that major, so v1 takes every 1.x release as it comes and never crosses a breaking change — those bump the major. Before 1.0.0 a minor may break compatibility, so no v0 exists. Pin a release or a digest for a deployment that never changes under you; pin a line when you want the updates automatically.

To use GHCR, add GATEWAY_IMAGE=ghcr.io/dxheroes/mcp-gateway-ce:v1.4.0 to .env (Compose) or use that name in the docker run command.

The repositories also carry vX.Y.Z-beta.N builds and a moving beta tag from the development branch, for trying a fix before it is released. They are not supported releases: pin a release tag. The beta branch of this repository holds these instructions for the newest beta.

Signatures belong to the repository they were published in, so verify the reference that release.json names, not a copy of it: see image verification.

Connect an AI client

The Dashboard shows the gateway endpoint, which serves your default profile. On a new installation it is http://localhost:3001/api/mcp/organization/gateway:

claude mcp add --transport http mcp-gateway http://localhost:3001/api/mcp/organization/gateway

Other clients that support remote MCP servers over HTTP use the same URL:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-gateway": { "type": "http", "url": "http://localhost:3001/api/mcp/organization/gateway" }
  }
}

The client signs you in through the browser (OAuth). See Get started for profiles, tool permissions and approvals.

Update, stop, remove

• Update (Compose): download compose.yaml again and run docker compose up -d --wait. The new image migrates the database on start. Back up the database before you update.
• Update (docker run): docker rm -f mcp-gateway, then run the gateway command again with the new tag.
• Stop: docker compose down, or docker stop mcp-gateway mcp-gateway-db. Data stays in the volume.
• Remove everything, including data: docker compose down -v, or remove both containers, the mcp-gateway-db volume and the mcp-gateway network.

Before you go to production

• Put the gateway behind a TLS reverse proxy and set PUBLIC_URL to its address. The defaults publish port 3001 on loopback only.
• After the owner account exists, set AUTH_SIGNUP_MODE=invite_only and restart.
• Pin the image by digest from release.json and verify its signature: see image verification.
• Back up the database and .env together.

The full procedure, Helm (Kubernetes/OpenShift) and upgrades are in installation.

Editions

CE includes 25 active accounts, one organization, one REST/OpenAPI connection and one active gateway instance. MCP connections, profiles and tool calls have no commercial quota. Enterprise Edition (EE) adds enterprise identity, automation, log export, longer retention and multiple gateway replicas, with offline-verified paid or trial licenses. See editions.

Support and EE/trial requests: hello@dxheroes.io. Report public issues without credentials or private tool results.

Claude marketplace

Install assisted administration skills directly from this public repository:

claude plugin marketplace add DXHeroes/mcp-gateway
claude plugin install mcp-gateway@mcp-gateway

The plugin provides install, connect, upgrade, backup-restore, and diagnose. Each skill runs read-only preflight checks, displays the exact plan, and waits for explicit administrator approval before writing files, starting or replacing containers, registering an MCP endpoint, or restoring data.

License

The public repository is Apache-2.0 for documentation, Compose, Helm, and plugin materials. The CE and EE container images use the separate terms shipped here (CE, EE). No service source is published.