Deployment¶

Deployment Options¶

openbao-mcp supports local stdio, a loopback-only development listener, a least-privilege stdio container, and a remote authenticated HTTPS boundary. Provider endpoint, credential, selector, identity, and trust material are supplied at runtime through AgentConfig; none is stored in this repository.

Installed stdio process¶

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openbao": {
      "command": "openbao-mcp",
      "args": [],
      "env": {"MCP_TOOL_MODE": "intent"}
    }
  }
}

Loopback development listener¶

openbao-mcp --transport streamable-http --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8000

Do not expose this listener beyond loopback. Network deployments require direct TLS or an explicitly trusted TLS-terminating ingress, configured authentication, exact MCP_ALLOWED_HOSTS, and an exact trusted-proxy CIDR policy.

Least-privilege local container¶

docker run -i --rm \
  --read-only \
  --cap-drop=ALL \
  --security-opt=no-new-privileges \
  --pids-limit=256 \
  --tmpfs /tmp:rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,size=64m \
  -e TRANSPORT=stdio \
  registry.example.invalid/openbao-mcp@sha256:<digest> openbao-mcp

The operator projects the selected AgentConfig profile into the process at runtime; the image remains immutable and contains no environment connection profile.

Remote authenticated HTTPS endpoint¶

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openbao": {"url": "https://service.example.invalid/mcp"}
  }
}

Store the real remote URL, outbound identity reference, and TLS-profile reference in AgentConfig, not in MCP client JSON or documentation.

This page covers running openbao-mcp as a long-lived server: the transports, a Docker Compose stack, putting it behind a Caddy reverse proxy, and giving it a DNS name with Technitium. To provision the OpenBao server it connects to, see Backing Platform.

openbao-mcp ships two console scripts: an MCP server (openbao-mcp) — a typed, deterministic tool surface a policy router / agent calls — and an A2A agent server (openbao-agent) that wraps that surface for conversational orchestration.

Run the MCP server¶

The transport is selected with --transport (or the TRANSPORT env var):

stdio (default)streamable-httpsse

openbao-mcp

For IDE / desktop MCP clients that launch the server as a subprocess.

openbao-mcp --transport streamable-http --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000

A network server with a /health endpoint and /mcp route.

openbao-mcp --transport sse --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000

Health check (HTTP transports):

curl -s http://localhost:8000/health        # {"status":"OK"}

Configuration (environment)¶

openbao-mcp is configured entirely from the environment. The required set:

Var	Default	Meaning
`OPENBAO_URL`	`http://127.0.0.1:8200`	Primary OpenBao server URL
`OPENBAO_TOKEN`	`bao_root_token`	Root or service-account access token
`TLS_PROFILE` / `TLS_PROFILE_REF`	(system trust)	AgentConfig private-CA/mTLS profile; verification remains mandatory
`SECRETSTOOL`	`True`	Register the secrets / key-value tool set
`SYSTOOL`	`True`	Register the system-administration tool set
`AUTHTOOL`	`True`	Register the authentication tool set
`SSHTOOL`	`True`	Register the SSH tool set

Optional fallbacks and username/password authentication are also recognized: BAO_ADDR, VAULT_ADDR, OPENBAO_MCP_BASE_URL, OPENBAO_MCP_USERNAME, OPENBAO_MCP_PASSWORD. Plus HOST / PORT / TRANSPORT for HTTP transports. The full set is documented in .env.example. Copy it to .env and fill in only what you use.

Docker Compose¶

The repo ships docker/mcp.compose.yml. It reads a sibling .env and publishes the HTTP server on :8000:

services:
  openbao-mcp:
    image: example/openbao-mcp@sha256:<digest>
    container_name: openbao-mcp
    hostname: openbao-mcp
    restart: always
    env_file:
      - ../.env
    environment:
      - PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1
      - HOST=0.0.0.0
      - PORT=8000
      - TRANSPORT=streamable-http
      - OPENBAO_URL
      - OPENBAO_TOKEN
    ports:
      - "8000:8000"
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "python3", "-c", "import urllib.request; urllib.request.urlopen('http://localhost:8000/health')"]
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 3

cp .env.example .env          # then edit OPENBAO_* values
docker compose -f docker/mcp.compose.yml up -d
docker compose -f docker/mcp.compose.yml logs -f

Run the agent server¶

openbao-mcp also ships the openbao-agent console script — a Pydantic-AI A2A agent server that connects to the MCP tool surface and exposes a conversational endpoint. It reads its toolset from the MCP server (over --mcp-url) or from a bundled mcp_config.json:

# Point the agent at a running MCP HTTP server
openbao-agent --mcp-url http://openbao-mcp:8000/mcp --host 0.0.0.0 --port 9000

# …or let it launch the MCP server from the bundled mcp_config.json
openbao-agent --host 0.0.0.0 --port 9000

The agent listens on its own port (9000 by convention). Provide the model provider / API key with --provider, --model-id, --base-url, and --api-key, or the equivalent environment variables. A Compose service mirrors the MCP one — wire MCP_URL to the MCP container and publish the agent port:

# docker/agent.compose.yml
services:
  openbao-agent:
    image: example/openbao-mcp@sha256:<digest>
    container_name: openbao-agent
    hostname: openbao-agent
    restart: always
    entrypoint: ["openbao-agent"]
    env_file:
      - ../.env
    environment:
      - PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1
      - HOST=0.0.0.0
      - PORT=9000
      - MCP_URL=http://openbao-mcp:8000/mcp
    ports:
      - "9000:9000"
    depends_on:
      - openbao-mcp

Behind a Caddy reverse proxy¶

Expose the HTTP server on a hostname with automatic TLS. Add to your Caddyfile:

# Internal (self-signed) — homelab .example.invalid zone
openbao-mcp.example.invalid {
    tls internal
    reverse_proxy openbao-mcp:8000
}

# Public — automatic Let's Encrypt
openbao-mcp.example.com {
    reverse_proxy openbao-mcp:8000
}

Reload Caddy:

docker compose -f services/caddy/compose.yml exec caddy caddy reload --config /etc/caddy/Caddyfile

DNS with Technitium¶

Point the hostname at the host running Caddy. Via the Technitium API:

curl -s "http://technitium.example.invalid:5380/api/zones/records/add" \
  --data-urlencode "token=$TECHNITIUM_DNS_TOKEN" \
  --data-urlencode "domain=openbao-mcp.example.invalid" \
  --data-urlencode "zone=arpa" \
  --data-urlencode "type=A" \
  --data-urlencode "ipAddress=192.0.2.10" \
  --data-urlencode "ttl=3600"

…or add an A record openbao-mcp.example.invalid → <caddy-host-ip> in the Technitium web console (http://technitium.example.invalid:5380). The ecosystem technitium-dns-mcp automates this as a tool.

Register with an MCP client¶

Add to your client's mcp_config.json (multiplexer nickname bao):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openbao-mcp": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "openbao-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "OPENBAO_URL": "http://your-openbao:8200",
        "OPENBAO_TOKEN": "bao_root_token"
      }
    }
  }
}

For a remote HTTP server, point the client at http://openbao-mcp.example.invalid/mcp instead.