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Identity providers

Configuring Okta

The MCP Gateway can use Okta as the identity provider behind its downstream OAuth flow. The mcp-okta-oauth-inbound policy is an Okta-friendly wrapper around the generic mcp-oauth-inbound policy: provide your Okta domain, a client ID, and a client secret, and the policy derives the OIDC issuer, JWKS URL, and authorize and token URLs for you.

This guide walks through the Okta admin console setup, then wires the policy into a gateway project. Read the authentication overview first for the two-layer model and the role each policy plays.

The wrapper supports both Okta's org authorization server (the default) and custom authorization servers. Custom authorization servers give you control over scopes and audiences; the org server is fine for the gateway's identity-only use of Okta.

Set up Okta

The MCP Gateway acts as an OAuth 2.1 authorization server in front of Okta. Okta handles browser login and identity; the gateway issues its own access tokens that bind to MCP routes. The Okta application you create represents the gateway's identity against Okta, not the MCP client.

Create an OIDC application

1. In the Okta Admin Console, open Applications → Applications and click Create App Integration.
2. Choose OIDC - OpenID Connect as the sign-in method and Web Application as the application type. Click Next.
3. Give the integration a name (for example, Zuplo MCP Gateway).
4. Under Grant types, leave Authorization Code checked. The gateway does not need refresh tokens from Okta — it uses Okta only for browser identity, not as a long-running token source.
5. Set Sign-in redirect URIs to your gateway's https://<gateway-host>/__zuplo/oauth/callback. Add http://localhost:9000/__zuplo/oauth/callback for local development with zuplo dev.
6. Under Assignments, restrict access to the groups or users who should be able to authenticate against the gateway.
7. Click Save.

Note the Client ID and Client Secret from the application's General tab. You'll wire these into the policy in the next section.

Optional: pick a custom authorization server

By default the policy uses the Okta org authorization server, which is enough for gateway browser identity. If you already operate a custom authorization server, open Security → API → Authorization Servers in the Okta admin console and note the server's name (such as default or customer-portal). You'll pass that name as the authorizationServerId option.

Wire the policy into the gateway

Add the policy to config/policies.json:

Code
{
  "name": "okta-managed-oauth",
  "policyType": "mcp-okta-oauth-inbound",
  "handler": {
    "module": "$import(@zuplo/runtime/mcp-gateway)",
    "export": "McpOktaOAuthInboundPolicy",
    "options": {
      "oktaDomain": "$env(OKTA_DOMAIN)",
      "clientId": "$env(OKTA_CLIENT_ID)",
      "clientSecret": "$env(OKTA_CLIENT_SECRET)"
    }
  }
}

Set the three environment variables in your project's environment configuration. OKTA_DOMAIN goes in plain config; the secret values belong in the project secret store.

To use a custom authorization server, add authorizationServerId:

Code
{
  "options": {
    "oktaDomain": "$env(OKTA_DOMAIN)",
    "authorizationServerId": "default",
    "clientId": "$env(OKTA_CLIENT_ID)",
    "clientSecret": "$env(OKTA_CLIENT_SECRET)"
  }
}

Attach the policy to each MCP route in config/routes.oas.json:

Code
{
  "paths": {
    "/mcp/linear-v1": {
      "get,post": {
        "operationId": "linear-mcp-server",
        "x-zuplo-route": {
          "corsPolicy": "none",
          "handler": {
            "module": "$import(@zuplo/runtime/mcp-gateway)",
            "export": "McpProxyHandler",
            "options": {
              "rewritePattern": "https://mcp.linear.app/mcp",
            },
          },
          "policies": {
            "inbound": ["okta-managed-oauth", "mcp-token-exchange-linear"],
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

Register the gateway plugin in modules/zuplo.runtime.ts:

Code
import { RuntimeExtensions } from "@zuplo/runtime";
import { McpGatewayPlugin } from "@zuplo/runtime/mcp-gateway";

export function runtimeInit(runtime: RuntimeExtensions) {
  runtime.addPlugin(new McpGatewayPlugin());
}

One MCP OAuth policy serves every MCP route in the project — attach the same policy by name to each route.

Full options reference

Option	Required	Default	Notes
oktaDomain	yes	—	Bare hostname (acme.okta.com). No scheme.
authorizationServerId	no	unset (org server)	Name of an Okta custom authorization server, e.g. default.
clientId	yes	—	Okta application client ID.
clientSecret	yes	—	Okta application client secret. Use $env(...).
scope	no	openid profile email	OIDC scopes requested during browser login.
gateway.accessTokenTtlSeconds	no	900	Gateway-issued access token lifetime.
gateway.refreshTokenTtlSeconds	no	long-lived	Gateway-issued refresh token lifetime. Override only if you need to shorten sessions.
gateway.cimdEnabled	no	true	Advertise CIMD support in AS metadata.
browserLoginOverrides.sessionTtlSeconds	no	28800	Browser session cookie lifetime (8 hours).
browserLoginOverrides.stateTtlSeconds	no	900	Browser-login state record lifetime.
browserLoginOverrides.remoteTimeoutMs	no	10000	Outbound timeout to Okta (token exchange, JWKS fetch).

Test the configuration

The fastest sanity check is to connect an MCP client:

1. Open Claude Desktop, Cursor, Claude Code, or another OAuth-aware MCP client.
2. Add a remote MCP server pointing at one of your /mcp/{slug} routes on the gateway.
3. The client should redirect you to Okta's login page. After login, the gateway's consent screen renders. Approve it.
4. The client receives an access token and can call tools/list.

If something fails partway through, walk the flow manually using the manual OAuth testing guide — it exercises every endpoint with curl so you can see the raw responses.

Common issues

• "Invalid Okta domain" at boot. oktaDomain includes a scheme prefix, trailing slash, or path. Use acme.okta.com.
• Browser login redirects but the callback fails. The https://<gateway-host>/__zuplo/oauth/callback URL isn't on the application's Sign-in redirect URIs allow-list in Okta.
• invalid_audience from the gateway's token endpoint. The MCP client is reusing a token bound to a different route. Each gateway-issued token binds to one MCP route.
• MCP client can't discover the AS. Confirm the mcp-okta-oauth-inbound policy is attached to the route in routes.oas.json and the McpGatewayPlugin is registered in modules/zuplo.runtime.ts. The internal OAuth endpoints register only when both are present.

Related

• Authentication overview
• Configuring Auth0 — the most-used wrapper
• Configuring a generic OIDC provider — for IdPs without a first-class wrapper.
• Per-user OAuth to upstream MCP servers