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Quickstart

Deploy a governed MCP server and connect your first MCP client in under 10 minutes — no Kubernetes cluster required. This quickstart uses the live platform.mcpruntime.org instance.

To self-host MCP Runtime on your own cluster, see Getting Started.

1. Install the CLI

curl -Lo mcp-runtime https://github.com/Agent-Hellboy/mcp-runtime/releases/latest/download/mcp-runtime-darwin-arm64
chmod +x mcp-runtime
sudo mv mcp-runtime /usr/local/bin/

curl -Lo mcp-runtime https://github.com/Agent-Hellboy/mcp-runtime/releases/latest/download/mcp-runtime-darwin-amd64
chmod +x mcp-runtime
sudo mv mcp-runtime /usr/local/bin/

curl -Lo mcp-runtime https://github.com/Agent-Hellboy/mcp-runtime/releases/latest/download/mcp-runtime-linux-amd64
chmod +x mcp-runtime
sudo mv mcp-runtime /usr/local/bin/

curl -Lo mcp-runtime https://github.com/Agent-Hellboy/mcp-runtime/releases/latest/download/mcp-runtime-linux-arm64
chmod +x mcp-runtime
sudo mv mcp-runtime /usr/local/bin/

Download mcp-runtime-windows-amd64.exe and add it to your PATH.

Verify:

mcp-runtime --version

2. Log in

Get credentials from the live platform or use an existing account. You will need a team and a user account — ask your platform admin, or self-host MCP Runtime to create your own.

mcp-runtime auth login \
  --api-url https://platform.mcpruntime.org \
  --email you@example.com --password '...' \
  --profile me

mcp-runtime auth status    # confirm the profile is active

3. Deploy an example server

Clone the repo to get the example server source:

git clone https://github.com/Agent-Hellboy/mcp-runtime
cd mcp-runtime/examples/workspace-assistant-mcp

Run it locally to discover its tool names, then scaffold the metadata:

go run . &
SERVER_PID=$!

mcp-runtime server init workspace-demo \
  --from-server http://localhost:8088
# Discovered: aaa-ping, add, create_task, echo, lower, slugify, upper

kill $SERVER_PID

Validate the metadata, build the image, push it, and deploy:

mcp-runtime server validate --metadata-dir .mcp

mcp-runtime server build image workspace-demo --tag v1
# Prints the exact image ref, e.g.: registry.mcpruntime.org/myteam/workspace-demo:v1

mcp-runtime registry push \
  --image registry.mcpruntime.org/myteam/workspace-demo:v1 \
  --scope tenant

mcp-runtime server deploy workspace-demo --scope tenant --metadata-dir .mcp

Confirm it is running:

mcp-runtime server list

4. Grant access and connect

Create a grant that allows an agent to call echo and add:

mcp-runtime access grant init workspace-cursor \
  --server workspace-demo \
  --namespace mcp-team-myteam \    # replace myteam with your actual team slug
  --agent-id cursor \
  --tool echo \
  --tool add \
  --output grant.yaml

mcp-runtime server validate --metadata-dir .mcp --grant-file grant.yaml
mcp-runtime access grant apply --file grant.yaml

Start the adapter proxy — it creates and refreshes the agent session automatically:

mcp-runtime adapter proxy \
  --runtime-url https://mcp.mcpruntime.org/workspace-demo/mcp \
  --server workspace-demo \
  --agent cursor \
  --agent-id cursor \
  --auto-refresh \
  --listen 127.0.0.1:8099

Point Claude Desktop, Cursor, or any MCP client at http://127.0.0.1:8099. Call the echo or add tool — the gateway enforces the grant on every call.

5. See it in the analytics

Open platform.mcpruntime.org, go to Analytics → Tools tab. You will see your tool calls broken down by user, team, agent, call count, and allow/deny.

What's next