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mcp-context-forge
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mcp-context-forge

Active·★ 4.7k·Apache-2.0·Updated 2026-10-27
★ Essential★ Trending

ContextForge (MCP Gateway) is a gateway, registry and proxy that sits in front of any MCP server, A2A server or REST API and exposes one unified endpoint for all your AI clients. According to the README it supports federation across multiple MCP and REST services, A2A integration for external AI agents (OpenAI, Anthropic or custom), gRPC-to-MCP translation by reflection-based discovery, virtualisation of legacy APIs as MCP tools and servers, and many transports (HTTP, JSON-RPC, WebSocket, SSE, stdio and streamable HTTP).

It adds an Admin UI for real-time management, configuration and log monitoring (with air-gapped support), built-in authentication, retries and rate limiting with user-scoped OAuth tokens, OpenTelemetry observability to Phoenix, Jaeger, Zipkin and other backends, and scalable deployment through Docker or PyPI with Redis-backed caching and multi-cluster federation. Since v0.7.0 it has multi-tenancy with email authentication, teams, RBAC and resource visibility. Quick starts cover PyPI, Docker, Docker Compose and Helm, and the README points to a SECURITY.md. The project is Apache-2.0 licensed.

This write-up is based on the project's README and public repository data. We have not hand-tested the tool. Data as of 2026-10-25.

License
Apache-2.0
Latest release
v1.1.0 · 2026-10-20
Last commit
2026-10-25
Contributors
180
Forks
941
Open issues and PRs
996
First published
2025-05-08
PyPI package
mcp-contextforge-gateway 1.1.0 · 8,835 downloads last week

Source: GitHub, npm and PyPI public APIs.

#MCP Gateway#API Proxy#AI Integration#Federation#Python#Coding
$ Install
$ pip install mcp-contextforge-gateway
↗ Visit site★ GitHub
01

Features

01Unified Endpoint for diverse AI services (MCP, REST, A2A)
02Federation and Virtualization of APIs (REST/gRPC to MCP)
03Comprehensive Admin UI for management and monitoring
04Robust Authentication, Rate-limiting, and Retries
05Advanced OpenTelemetry Observability
02

Why choose it

+One endpoint in front of many MCP servers, A2A agents and REST or gRPC services, with federation and virtual servers.
+Wraps REST and gRPC services as MCP tools, so non-MCP backends can be used by MCP clients.
+Auth, retries, rate limiting, OpenTelemetry tracing, an admin UI and multi-tenancy with RBAC.
+Deploys via PyPI, Docker, Docker Compose or Helm; Apache-2.0 licensed and updated daily.
03

Trade-offs

!It is a broad piece of infrastructure (gateway, registry, proxy, admin UI, multi-tenancy) that you must deploy, secure and operate; the README points to a SECURITY.md for hardening.
!The README is extremely long (over 160,000 characters), which makes it hard to find the part you need.
!Upgrading from versions before v0.7.0 requires following a migration guide because of the multi-tenant changes.
05

Maintenance check

ActiveChecked: 2026-10-25
Last commit
2026-10-23
Commits, last 90 days
100+
Releases, last 90 days
7
Latest release
v1.1.0 (2026-10-20)
Open issues
996
Recent issues with at least one comment
5/21
Commits per week, last 12 weeks
Commits per week, last 12 weeks: 24, 17, 24, 13, 19, 26, 15, 22, 28, 25, 10, 0

Oldest week on the left; the latest four weeks are orange. Source: GitHub commit activity.

Status rule: archived on GitHub = Archived; last commit within 90 days = Active; 91 to 365 days = Slowing; older = Stale. All figures come from the GitHub API on the date shown.

Most discussed open issues

  • #5437 Human in the loop Approval for tool execution13 comments · 2026-06-30
  • #5694 [FEATURE] ICA Metering Exporter Plugin — export MCP tool invocation metrics to ICA core-services9 comments · 2026-07-17
  • #5043 [BUG]: Gateway OAuth Stores Token Per Admin User Instead of Per End-User9 comments · 2026-06-03
  • #5731 [UI]: ContextForge TUI7 comments · 2026-07-21
  • #5046 [FEATURE]: Granular (per-MCP-server) TOOL_DESCRIPTION_FORBIDDEN_PATTERNS with per-tool allowlisting6 comments · 2026-06-04

Issue titles are quoted from GitHub. Open the link to check whether a problem still applies to the version you use.

04

Who it fits

Pick it if
  • You need one gateway in front of MCP servers, A2A agents and REST or gRPC services, with federation and virtual servers.
  • You want to wrap REST or gRPC services as MCP tools so MCP clients can use non-MCP backends.
  • You need multi-tenancy with RBAC, rate limiting, OpenTelemetry tracing and an admin UI, deployed by PyPI, Docker, Compose or Helm.
Look elsewhere if
  • You want a small tool: it is broad infrastructure (gateway, registry, proxy, admin UI, multi-tenancy) that you must deploy, secure and operate.
  • You are upgrading from before v0.7.0: the README requires following a migration guide.
  • You want to find setup steps quickly: the README is over 160,000 characters.
06

How it differs

agentgateway logovs agentgateway★ 5.7k

Both are Apache-2.0 gateways with MCP federation and A2A support. ContextForge adds a registry, REST and gRPC wrapping and an admin UI. Agentgateway also routes LLM traffic with spend controls and guardrails.

Full comparison →
07

Compatibility

Claude Desktop
Supported
Verified via docs
VS Code
Supported
Verified via docs
Docker
Native
Verified via docs
Podman
Native
Verified via docs
Kubernetes
Supported
Verified via docs
IBM Cloud Code Engine
Supported
Verified via docs
08

Quick start

1
$ pip install mcp-contextforge-gateway
09

Use cases

↳Consolidating various AI models and services (REST, MCP, A2A) behind a single API gateway for client access.
↳Integrating legacy REST or gRPC APIs into an MCP-compliant ecosystem without rewriting them.
↳Deploying a scalable and observable AI gateway in multi-cluster environments, with built-in security and traffic management.
10

Alternatives

⚡Top VS:
VSagentgateway★5.7k→VSgolf★840→VSgoogle_workspace_mcp★3.4k→VSAgently-Daily-News-Collector★644→
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agentgateway★ 5.7k
Next Generation Agentic Proxy for AI Agents and MCP servers
VSCompare→
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golf★ 840
Production-Ready MCP Server Framework • Build, deploy & scale secure AI agent infrastructure • Includes Auth, Observability, Debugger, Telemetry & Runtime • Run real-world MCPs powering AI Agents
VSCompare→
google_workspace_mcp logo
google_workspace_mcp★ 3.4k
Control Gmail, Google Calendar, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Chat, Forms, Tasks, Search & Drive with AI - Comprehensive Google Workspace / G Suite MCP Server
VSCompare→
Agently-Daily-News-Collector logo
Agently-Daily-News-Collector★ 644
An open-source LLM based automatically daily news collecting workflow showcase powered by Agently AI application development framework.
VSCompare→
agentsilex logo
agentsilex★ 458
A transparent, minimal, and hackable agent framework. ~300 lines of readable code. Full control, no magic.
VSCompare→
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keep★ 12.5k
The open-source AIOps and alert management platform
VSCompare→
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covalent logo
covalent★ 868
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VSCompare→
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On this page
01Features02Why choose it03Trade-offs05Maintenance check04Who it fits06How it differs07Compatibility08Quick start09Use cases10Alternatives
IBM /
mcp-context-forge
↗

IBM's gateway and registry that federates MCP, A2A, REST and gRPC services

4.7k941Apache-2.0
Last commit1d ago
StatusActive
CategoryObservability
Contributors180
Latest releasev1.1.0
Links
Documentation↗Discussion↗Issues↗Releases↗
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