NetFoundry MCP Gateway overview

NetFoundry MCP Gateway enables secure, isolated access to Model Context Protocol (MCP) tools across distributed systems without exposing public endpoints. The project is open source and can be found at: github.com/openziti/mcp-gateway.

The problem it solves

MCP servers typically run locally via stdio. To access tools on remote machines or share them across a team, you'd normally need to expose endpoints — creating security risks. NetFoundry MCP Gateway solves this by running everything over OpenZiti's overlay network, so services never listen on public IPs and require cryptographic identity to access.

Components

NetFoundry MCP Gateway consists of three tools that can be used independently or together:

• mcp-bridge: Takes a local stdio MCP server and exposes it over a zrok private share on the overlay network.
• mcp-gateway: Aggregates multiple backends (stdio, HTTP, or other bridges) into a single secure zrok share, with namespacing and tool filtering.
• mcp-tools: Connects an MCP client to a remote share, bridging it back to stdio or a local HTTP endpoint.

How it works

All traffic between components travels over an OpenZiti overlay network via zrok. Nothing is ever exposed on a public IP. Only authorized parties with a valid zrok environment can connect to a share. This model functions transparently through NATs and firewalls.

The gateway creates an isolated session for each connecting client. Each client gets dedicated backend connections — no shared state, no cross-talk between sessions.

Quick example

1. Share a local MCP server over the overlay:

   mcp-bridge mcp-filesystem ~/Documents

   Output

   {"share_token":"a1b2c3d4e5f6"}

2. Connect to it from anywhere with a zrok-enabled environment:

   mcp-tools run a1b2c3d4e5f6