Deployment

Deployment Options

openbao-mcp exposes its MCP server (console script openbao-mcp) four ways. Pick the row that matches where the server runs relative to your MCP client, then copy the matching mcp_config.json below. Replace the <your-…> placeholders with the values from the Configuration / Environment Variables section.

#	Option	Transport	Where it runs	mcp_config.json key
1	stdio	stdio	client launches a subprocess	command
2	Streamable-HTTP (local)	streamable-http	a local network port	command or url
3	Local container / uv	stdio or streamable-http	Docker / Podman / uv on this host	command or url
4	Remote URL	streamable-http	a remote host behind Caddy	url

1. stdio (local subprocess)

The client launches the server over stdio via uvx — best for local IDEs (Cursor, Claude Desktop, VS Code):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openbao-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--from", "openbao-mcp", "openbao-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "OPENBAO_URL": "<your-openbao_url>",
        "OPENBAO_MCP_BASE_URL": "<your-openbao_mcp_base_url>",
        "OPENBAO_TOKEN": "<your-openbao_token>"
      }
    }
  }
}

2. Streamable-HTTP (local process)

Run the server as a long-lived HTTP process:

uvx --from openbao-mcp openbao-mcp --transport streamable-http --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000
curl -s http://localhost:8000/health        # {"status":"OK"}

Then either let the client launch it:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openbao-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--from", "openbao-mcp", "openbao-mcp", "--transport", "streamable-http", "--port", "8000"],
      "env": {
        "TRANSPORT": "streamable-http",
        "HOST": "0.0.0.0",
        "PORT": "8000",
        "OPENBAO_URL": "<your-openbao_url>",
        "OPENBAO_MCP_BASE_URL": "<your-openbao_mcp_base_url>",
        "OPENBAO_TOKEN": "<your-openbao_token>"
      }
    }
  }
}

…or connect to the already-running process by URL:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openbao-mcp": { "url": "http://localhost:8000/mcp" }
  }
}

3. Local container / uv

(a) Launch a container directly from mcp_config.json (stdio over the container — no ports to manage). Swap docker for podman for a daemonless runtime:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openbao-mcp": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "-i", "--rm",
        "-e", "TRANSPORT=stdio",
        "-e", "OPENBAO_URL=<your-openbao_url>",
        "-e", "OPENBAO_MCP_BASE_URL=<your-openbao_mcp_base_url>",
        "-e", "OPENBAO_TOKEN=<your-openbao_token>",
        "knucklessg1/openbao-mcp:latest"
      ]
    }
  }
}

(b) Run a local streamable-http container, then connect by URL:

docker run -d --name openbao-mcp -p 8000:8000 \
  -e TRANSPORT=streamable-http \
  -e PORT=8000 \
  -e OPENBAO_URL="<your-openbao_url>" \
  -e OPENBAO_MCP_BASE_URL="<your-openbao_mcp_base_url>" \
  -e OPENBAO_TOKEN="<your-openbao_token>" \
  knucklessg1/openbao-mcp:latest
# or, from a clone of this repo:
docker compose -f docker/mcp.compose.yml up -d

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openbao-mcp": { "url": "http://localhost:8000/mcp" }
  }
}

(c) From a local checkout with uv:

uv run openbao-mcp --transport streamable-http --port 8000

4. Remote URL (deployed behind Caddy)

When the server is deployed remotely (e.g. as a Docker service) and published through Caddy on the internal *.arpa zone, connect with the "url" key — no local process or image required:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openbao-mcp": { "url": "http://openbao-mcp.arpa/mcp" }
  }
}

Caddy reverse-proxies http://openbao-mcp.arpa to the container's :8000 streamable-http listener; http://openbao-mcp.arpa/health returns {"status":"OK"} when the service is live.

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
OPENBAO_MCP_SSL_VERIFY	True	Verify TLS certificates
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: knucklessg1/openbao-mcp:latest
    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: knucklessg1/openbao-mcp:latest
    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 .arpa zone
openbao-mcp.arpa {
    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.arpa:5380/api/zones/records/add" \
  --data-urlencode "token=$TECHNITIUM_DNS_TOKEN" \
  --data-urlencode "domain=openbao-mcp.arpa" \
  --data-urlencode "zone=arpa" \
  --data-urlencode "type=A" \
  --data-urlencode "ipAddress=10.0.0.10" \
  --data-urlencode "ttl=3600"

…or add an A record openbao-mcp.arpa → <caddy-host-ip> in the Technitium web console (http://technitium.arpa: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.arpa/mcp instead.