@nais-standard/mcp

A local MCP gateway for the Network Agent Identity Standard (NAIS). It lets any MCP-capable agent (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, …) discover, verify, and call any NAIS agent by domain — with one static server entry instead of configuring each remote agent by hand.

Run it yourself, one per agent. This is a local stdio subprocess, not a hosted service. There is no shared endpoint, no central resolver, and nothing calls home — it reads DNS and verifies card signatures itself (via @nais-standard/sdk) before your agent touches a remote agent. Do not deploy it as a shared multi-tenant endpoint; that would re-centralize the very thing NAIS decentralizes.

Why a gateway

Most MCP clients can only talk to statically-configured servers — they can't open a new connection to an arbitrary endpoint at runtime. This gateway bridges that: you configure it once, and it resolves + verifies + forwards calls to whatever NAIS agent you name. Verification is enforced inside the gateway, so an agent (or a prompt injection) can never skip it.

Install

Nothing to install globally — your MCP client launches it on demand via npx.

Claude Code

claude mcp add nais -- npx -y @nais-standard/mcp

Claude Desktop / Cursor / generic MCP config

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "nais": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@nais-standard/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "NAIS_PAYMENT_MODE": "never"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart the client; it spawns the server locally over stdio. Pin a version with @nais-standard/[email protected] if you prefer. Requires Node.js 18+.

Tools

| Tool | What it does | |------|--------------| | nais_resolve(domain) | Discover + verify an agent. Returns { verified, name, tags, mcpEndpoint, payTo, tools }. mcpEndpoint and payTo are present only when the signature verifies. | | nais_list_tools(domain) | Verify, then return the agent's live, authoritative MCP tools/list. | | nais_call(domain, tool, arguments) | Verify on every call, then invoke the tool on the agent's MCP endpoint and return the result. |

Example, as an agent would use it: "check the weather in London using weatheragent.nais.id" →

nais_call("weatheragent.nais.id", "forecast", { "location": "London" })

The gateway resolves the domain, verifies the signed card against the DNS k= key, opens the agent's MCP endpoint, calls forecast, and returns the result — refusing outright if the card can't be verified.

Payment policy

nais_call never spends money by default. Configure via environment:

| Var | Default | Meaning | |-----|---------|---------| | NAIS_PAYMENT_MODE | never | never: an HTTP 402 is returned with the payTo/payment details for your approval — nothing is paid. auto: reserved for a future wallet adapter (currently refuses). | | NAIS_MAX_CALL_USDC | 0 | Per-call cap for a future auto mode. |

Because payTo is only surfaced for a verified card, you can never be steered into paying an address from a tampered or unsigned card. x402 payments are irreversible — verify first, always.

Examples

See examples/:

• examples/README.md — full install guide (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor) + configuration + sample prompts.
• examples/claude-desktop-config.json — ready-to-paste config.
• examples/agent-loop.mjs — a runnable discover → verify → call demo against the bundled weather agent.

Development

npm install
npm test    # gateway logic (offline, real verification) + MCP stdio handshake

This package depends on the published @nais-standard/sdk. To develop against an unpublished local checkout of the SDK, link it first — npm link @nais-standard/sdk (after npm link in the SDK), or temporarily set "@nais-standard/sdk": "file:../path/to/clients/js". The gateway is a thin layer over the SDK: keep all verification and canonicalization in @nais-standard/sdk, not here.

Related

• @nais-standard/sdk — the verification + resolution library this wraps
• spec — protocol specification