---
title: MCP Traffic Gateway
description: This page is an introduction to MCP Traffic Gateway capabilities in AI Gateway.
url: "/ai-gateway/mcp/"
canonical_url: "/ai-gateway/mcp/"
content_type: landing_page
products:
- AI Gateway
tags:
- ai
- mcp
canonical: true
works_on:
- konnect


---






# A trust and control layer for proxying traffic to MCP servers

Gain control and visibility over AI agent infrastructure with AI Gateway-driven MCP capabilities
## Bring MCP servers to production securely with AI Gateway

AI agents are rapidly becoming core components of modern software, driving the need for structured, reliable interfaces to access tools and data. The Model Context Protocol (MCP) addresses this by enabling agents to reason, plan, and act across services. However, scaling MCP in remote, distributed environments introduces new operational challenges.

AI Gateway enables teams to manage remote MCP traffic with enterprise-grade security, performance, authentication, context propagation, load balancing, and observability. Configure MCP traffic using [AI MCP Servers](/ai-gateway/entities/ai-mcp-server/), authenticate AI Consumers with an [AI Auth Strategy](/ai-gateway/entities/ai-auth-strategy/), and attach [AI Policies](/ai-gateway/entities/ai-policy/) for rate limiting, transformation, and observability.


![Overview of AI gateway](/assets/images/gateway/mcp-architecture.svg)



## Map APIs to MCP servers using AI Gateway
Turn any API into an MCP server using the [AI MCP Server](/ai-gateway/entities/ai-mcp-server/) entity. This approach does not require an LLM and provides full control over production workloads.

The AI MCP Server entity:
- Maps REST API endpoints into MCP-compatible tool definitions.
- Aggregates multiple MCP Servers into a single MCP endpoint.
- Integrates with AI assistants like Claude Desktop, Cursor, ChatWise, and other MCP clients.




## Apply security, governance, and observability controls to MCP servers
Secure and govern MCP traffic with:
- An [AI Auth Strategy](/ai-gateway/entities/ai-auth-strategy/) (`key-auth` or `openid-connect`) to authenticate AI Consumers, optionally paired with [protected resource metadata](/ai-gateway/entities/ai-mcp-server/#protected-resource-metadata) for MCP-spec OAuth2.
- [AI metrics](/ai-gateway/monitor-ai-llm-metrics/#mcp-traffic-metrics) and [AI audit logs](/ai-gateway/ai-audit-log-reference/#ai-mcp-logs) to monitor MCP traffic.
- ACLs to enforce access controls for MCP tool usage.
- The [Rate Limiting policy](/ai-gateway/policies/rate-limiting/) and other traffic control policies to govern usage.





## Convert REST APIs into MCP servers using AI Gateway

Explore guides to map REST API endpoints into MCP tools without writing custom code.



* [AI MCP Server entity](/ai-gateway/entities/ai-mcp-server/)

* [Map the WeatherAPI to an MCP Server](/ai-gateway/get-started-with-mcp-server/)

* [Map a RESTful API to MCP tools](/ai-gateway/map-api-to-mcp-tools/)

* [Monitor MCP traffic with OpenTelemetry](/ai-gateway/monitor-mcp-traffic-with-otel/)



## Secure and govern your MCP traffic

Apply security, governance, and observability to MCP servers with AI Policies.



* [AI Auth Strategy entity](/ai-gateway/entities/ai-auth-strategy/)

* [Protected resource metadata](/ai-gateway/entities/ai-mcp-server/#protected-resource-metadata)

* [Rate Limiting policy](/ai-gateway/policies/rate-limiting/)



## Observe MCP traffic



AI Gateway records detailed Model Context Protocol (MCP) traffic data so you can analyze how requests are processed and resolved.
- Logs capture session IDs, JSON-RPC method calls, payloads, latencies, and errors.
- Metrics track latency, response sizes, and error counts over time, giving you a complete view of MCP server performance and behavior.





## MCP traffic audit log

Learn about AI Gateway logging capabilities for MCP traffic.




## MCP traffic metrics

Expose and visualize MCP metrics for traffic observability.




## MCP Registry (tech preview)



You can catalog your MCP servers in Konnect Catalog.
This provides an internal catalog in Konnect of your MCP servers.



[Enable MCP Registry in Konnect Labs](/catalog/mcp-registry/)


## MCP how-to guides


* [Aggregate MCP tools from multiple AI MCP Server entities](/ai-gateway/aggregate-mcp-tools/)

* [Map the WeatherAPI to an MCP Server](/ai-gateway/get-started-with-mcp-server/)

* [Map a RESTful API to MCP tools](/ai-gateway/map-api-to-mcp-tools/)

* [Monitor MCP traffic with OpenTelemetry](/ai-gateway/monitor-mcp-traffic-with-otel/)

* [Use Insomnia MCP clients to test aggregated MCP tools](/how-to/use-insomnia-mcp-clients-to-test-aggregated-mcp-tools/)