Route to a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server through a static address. For more information, see the About MCP topic.

Before you begin link

1. Install Gloo Gateway and enable the Solo Enterprise for agentgateway integration.

2. Verify that the Solo Enterprise for agentgateway integration is enabled.

     helm get values gloo-gateway -n gloo-system -o yaml
     

   Example output:

     
   agentgateway:
     enabled: true
     

Step 1: Deploy an MCP server link

Deploy a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that you want Solo Enterprise for agentgateway to proxy traffic to. The following example sets up a simple MCP server with one tool, fetch, that retrieves the content of a website URL that you pass in.

1. Create the MCP server workload. Notice the following details about the Service:

   • appProtocol: kgateway.dev/mcp (required): Configure your service to use the MCP protocol. This way, the Solo Enterprise for agentgateway proxy uses the MCP protocol when connecting to the service.
   • kgateway.dev/mcp-path annotation (optional): The default values are /sse for the SSE protocol or /mcp for the Streamable HTTP protocol. If you need to change the path of the MCP target endpoint, set this annotation on the Service.

     kubectl apply -f- <<EOF
   apiVersion: apps/v1
   kind: Deployment
   metadata:
     name: mcp-website-fetcher
   spec:
     selector:
       matchLabels:
         app: mcp-website-fetcher
     template:
       metadata:
         labels:
           app: mcp-website-fetcher
       spec:
         containers:
         - name: mcp-website-fetcher
           image: ghcr.io/peterj/mcp-website-fetcher:main
           imagePullPolicy: Always
   ---
   apiVersion: v1
   kind: Service
   metadata:
     name: mcp-website-fetcher
     labels:
       app: mcp-website-fetcher
   spec:
     selector:
       app: mcp-website-fetcher
     ports:
     - port: 80
       targetPort: 8000
       appProtocol: kgateway.dev/mcp
   EOF
     

2. Create a Backend that sets up the Solo Enterprise for agentgateway target details for the MCP server.

     kubectl apply -f- <<EOF
   apiVersion: gateway.kgateway.dev/v1alpha1
   kind: Backend
   metadata:
     name: mcp-backend
   spec:
     type: MCP
     mcp:
       targets:
       - name: mcp-target
         static:
           host: mcp-website-fetcher.default.svc.cluster.local
           port: 80
           protocol: SSE   
   EOF
     

Step 2: Route with agentgateway link

Route to the MCP server with Solo Enterprise for agentgateway.

1. Create a Gateway resource that uses the agentgateway-enterprise GatewayClass. Kgateway automatically spins up an Solo Enterprise for agentgateway proxy for you.

     kubectl apply -f- <<EOF
   apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1
   kind: Gateway
   metadata:
     name: agentgateway
   spec:
     gatewayClassName: agentgateway-enterprise
     listeners:
     - protocol: HTTP
       port: 8080
       name: http
       allowedRoutes:
         namespaces:
           from: All
   EOF
     

2. Verify that the Gateway is created successfully. You can also review the external address that is assigned to the Gateway. Note that depending on your environment it might take a few minutes for the load balancer service to be assigned an external address. If you are using a local Kind cluster without a load balancer such as metallb, you might not have an external address.

     kubectl get gateway agentgateway
     

   Example output:

     NAME            CLASS          ADDRESS                                  PROGRAMMED   AGE
   agentgateway   agentgateway   1234567890.us-east-2.elb.amazonaws.com   True         93s
     

3. Create an HTTPRoute resource that routes to the Backend that you created in the previous step.

     kubectl apply -f- <<EOF
   apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1
   kind: HTTPRoute
   metadata:
     name: mcp
   spec:
     parentRefs:
     - name: agentgateway
     rules:
       - backendRefs:
         - name: mcp-backend
           group: gateway.kgateway.dev
           kind: Backend   
   EOF
     

Step 3: Verify the connection link

Use the MCP Inspector tool to verify that you can connect to your sample MCP server through agentgateway.

1. Get the agentgateway address.

     export INGRESS_GW_ADDRESS=$(kubectl get gateway agentgateway -o=jsonpath="{.status.addresses[0].value}")
   echo $INGRESS_GW_ADDRESS
     

     kubectl port-forward deployment/agentgateway 8080:8080
     

2. From the terminal, run the MCP Inspector command. Then, the MCP Inspector opens in your browser. If the MCP inspector tool does not open automatically, run mcp-inspector.

     npx modelcontextprotocol/inspector#0.16.2
     

3. From the MCP Inspector menu, connect to your agentgateway address as follows:

   • Transport Type: Select Streamable HTTP.
   • URL: Enter the agentgateway address, port, and the /mcp path. If your agentgateway proxy is exposed with a LoadBalancer server, use http://<lb-address>:8080/mcp. In local test setups where you port-forwarded the agentgateway proxy on your local machine, use http://localhost:8080/mcp.
   • Click Connect.

   

   

4. From the menu bar, click the Tools tab. Then from the Tools pane, click List Tools and select the fetch tool.

5. From the fetch pane, in the url field, enter a website URL, such as https://lipsum.com/, and click Run Tool.

6. Verify that you get back the fetched URL content.

   

   

Cleanup link

  kubectl delete Deployment mcp-website-fetcher
kubectl delete Service mcp-website-fetcher
kubectl delete Backend mcp-backend
kubectl delete Gateway agentgateway
kubectl delete HTTPRoute mcp
  

link