@authplane/mcp

Authplane JWT validation adapter for the official MCP TypeScript SDK. Bearer-token auth on your MCP server in a few lines.

Install

npm install @authplane/sdk @authplane/mcp @modelcontextprotocol/sdk express zod

Requires Node.js 20 LTS or newer.

Quickstart

import express from "express";
import { McpServer } from "@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/server/mcp.js";
import { authplaneMcpAuth } from "@authplane/mcp";
import { z } from "zod";

const server = new McpServer({ name: "weather", version: "1.0.0" });
server.tool(
  "get_weather",
  { city: z.string() },
  async ({ city }) => ({ content: [{ type: "text", text: `${city}: sunny` }] }),
);

const auth = await authplaneMcpAuth({
  issuer: "https://auth.example.com",
  resource: "https://mcp.example.com/mcp",
  scopes: ["tools/get_weather"],
});

const app = express();
app.use(express.json());
app.get(auth.protectedResourceMetadataPath, auth.protectedResourceMetadataHandler);
app.all("/mcp", auth.bearerAuth /* , transport handlers */);
app.listen(3000);

auth.bearerAuth is an Express middleware that validates the bearer token, enforces scopes, and attaches req.auth (MCP's AuthInfo).

Per-tool scope enforcement

Two requireScope symbols exist; use the right one:

• requireScope(scope, extra.authInfo) from @authplane/mcp — call inside an MCP tool handler. Throws if the bound bearer token does not carry scope.
• claims.requireScope(scope) method on VerifiedClaims from @authplane/sdk/core — call when you are doing manual JWT validation outside the MCP request flow and you already hold a VerifiedClaims.

In a normal MCP server you only need the first one; the bearer middleware already populated extra.authInfo for you.

Local development

The default FetchSettings reject plaintext http:// issuers (SSRF protection). When pointing the adapter at a local authserver — typically http://localhost:9000 — pass devMode: true to relax the network policy:

const auth = await authplaneMcpAuth({
  issuer: "http://localhost:9000",
  resource: "http://localhost:8080/mcp",
  scopes: ["tools/get_weather"],
  devMode: true,
});

Warning: Never set devMode: true in production — it disables SSRF protection entirely.

devMode: true is shorthand for fetchSettings: new FetchSettings({ ssrfProtection: false, allowHttp: true, allowLocalhost: true, allowPrivateNetworks: true }). If you need finer control (e.g. allow loopback but keep HTTPS-only), construct a FetchSettings directly and pass it as fetchSettings:

import { FetchSettings } from "@authplane/mcp";

Without one of these, metadata discovery against an http:// issuer fails with MetadataFetchError: URL must use HTTPS.

Learn more

• User Guide — complete reference: options, scope enforcement, URL elicitation, introspection, error handling, advanced configuration.
• @authplane/sdk — the underlying OAuth/JWT primitives.

On shutdown call await auth.client.close() to stop internal refresh timers.