OpenZiti Network Management

The Ziti MCP Server is sponsored by NetFoundry as part of its portfolio of solutions for secure workloads and agentic computing. NetFoundry is the creator of OpenZiti and zrok.

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open protocol introduced by Anthropic that standardizes how large language models communicate with external tools, resources or remote services.

The Ziti MCP Server integrates with LLMs and AI agents, allowing you to perform various Ziti network management operations using natural language. For instance, you could simply ask Claude Desktop to perform Ziti management operations:

• List which identities exist

• Tell me if there are any exposures in the network

• Do you see potential misconfigurations?

• Which identities have access to the Demo1 service?

• Create a new Ziti identity named "Demo" and get its ID

• Log into my prod Ziti network using UPDB

• Switch to the staging network

• etc.

🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites:

• Claude Desktop or any other MCP Client
• OpenZiti network
• Go 1.24+ (only if building from source)

Install

Download a pre-built binary

Pre-built binaries are available for macOS, Linux, and Windows (amd64 and arm64) on the releases page.

macOS (Apple Silicon)

curl -sL https://github.com/openziti/ziti-mcp-server/releases/latest/download/ziti-mcp-server_darwin_arm64.tar.gz | tar xz
sudo mv ziti-mcp-server /usr/local/bin/

macOS (Intel)

curl -sL https://github.com/openziti/ziti-mcp-server/releases/latest/download/ziti-mcp-server_darwin_amd64.tar.gz | tar xz
sudo mv ziti-mcp-server /usr/local/bin/

Linux (amd64)

curl -sL https://github.com/openziti/ziti-mcp-server/releases/latest/download/ziti-mcp-server_linux_amd64.tar.gz | tar xz
sudo mv ziti-mcp-server /usr/local/bin/

Linux (arm64)

curl -sL https://github.com/openziti/ziti-mcp-server/releases/latest/download/ziti-mcp-server_linux_arm64.tar.gz | tar xz
sudo mv ziti-mcp-server /usr/local/bin/

Windows

Download the appropriate .zip from the releases page and add the extracted ziti-mcp-server.exe to your PATH.

Build from source

go install github.com/openziti/ziti-mcp-server/cmd/ziti-mcp-server@latest

Register with your AI Client

Use install to register the Ziti MCP Server with your AI client. This only updates the client's configuration file — it does not authenticate. Use the runtime login tools or init for that.

# Register with Claude Desktop (default)
ziti-mcp-server install

# Register with a specific client
ziti-mcp-server install --client claude-code
ziti-mcp-server install --client cursor
ziti-mcp-server install --client windsurf
ziti-mcp-server install --client vscode
ziti-mcp-server install --client warp

# Register with read-only tools only
ziti-mcp-server install --read-only

# Register with specific tool patterns
ziti-mcp-server install --tools '*Identit*,list*'

After installing, restart your AI client and use the runtime login tools to authenticate (e.g., ask: "Log into my Ziti network at ctrl.example.com with username admin").

Start and Log In

The server can start with no prior configuration. The AI agent can log into networks at runtime using the built-in login tools:

ziti-mcp-server run

Then in your AI client, simply ask:

Log into my Ziti network at 192.168.1.100:1280 with username admin and password admin

For non-interactive or automated setups, use init to pre-configure credentials before starting:

ziti-mcp-server init \
  --auth-mode updb \
  --ziti-controller-host <your-controller-host> \
  --username <username> \
  --password <password> \
  --profile prod

See Authentication for all supported modes (UPDB, device auth, client credentials, identity file).

Manual Client Configuration

The install command handles client configuration automatically. If you need to configure an MCP client manually, add this to its configuration and restart:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ziti": {
      "command": "/path/to/ziti-mcp-server",
      "args": ["run"],
      "capabilities": ["tools"],
      "env": {
        "OPENZITI_MCP_DEBUG": "true"
      }
    }
  }
}

You can add --tools '<pattern>' and/or --read-only to the args array to control which tools are available. See Restricting Tool Access.

Verify your integration

Restart your MCP Client (Claude Desktop, Windsurf, Cursor, Warp, etc.) and ask it to help you manage your Ziti network.

🕸️ Architecture

The Ziti MCP Server implements the Model Context Protocol, allowing clients (like Claude) to:

1. Request a list of available Ziti tools
2. Call specific tools with parameters
3. Receive structured responses from the Ziti Management API

The server handles authentication, request validation, and secure communication with the Ziti Management API.

[!NOTE] The server operates as a local process that connects to Claude Desktop, enabling secure communication without exposing your Ziti credentials.

🔐 Authentication

The Ziti MCP Server uses the Ziti Management API and requires authentication to access your Ziti network.

Authentication Modes

The server supports four authentication modes:

UPDB Mode (Username/Password)

Use this mode for direct username/password authentication against the Ziti controller:

ziti-mcp-server init \
  --auth-mode updb \
  --ziti-controller-host <your-controller-host> \
  --username <username> \
  --password <password>

Or at runtime via the AI agent using the loginUpdb tool.

Device Auth Mode (Interactive Login)

Use this mode for interactive browser-based login. Recommended for development and user-facing scenarios:

ziti-mcp-server init \
  --auth-mode device-auth \
  --ziti-controller-host <your-controller-host> \
  --idp-domain <your-idp-domain> \
  --idp-client-id <your-client-id> \
  --idp-audience <your-audience>

Or at runtime via the loginDeviceAuth tool (returns a verification URL for the user, then completeLogin to finish).

Client Credentials Mode (Service Account)

Use this mode for service accounts and automation. Recommended for production environments:

[!NOTE] Keep the token lifetime as minimal as possible to reduce security risks. See more

ziti-mcp-server init \
  --auth-mode client-credentials \
  --ziti-controller-host <your-controller-host> \
  --idp-domain <your-idp-domain> \
  --idp-client-id <your-client-id> \
  --idp-client-secret <your-client-secret>

Identity File Mode (mTLS Certificate)

Use this mode for certificate-based authentication with a Ziti identity JSON file. No IdP configuration is needed:

ziti-mcp-server init \
  --auth-mode identity \
  --identity-file <path-to-identity.json>

The identity file is a standard Ziti identity JSON file containing ztAPI, id.cert, id.key, and id.ca fields. The certificate material is extracted and stored in the config file. The identity file may be deleted after a successful init (for additional security, if desired).

[!IMPORTANT]

When using CLI init, it needs to be run whenever:

• You're setting up the MCP Server for the first time
• You've logged out from a previous session
• You want to switch to a different Ziti network
• Your token has expired

Alternatively, use the runtime login tools (loginUpdb, etc.) to authenticate without restarting the server.

Multi-Profile Support

The server supports multiple named network profiles, allowing you to manage several Ziti networks simultaneously:

# Pre-configure two profiles
ziti-mcp-server init --auth-mode updb --profile prod ...
ziti-mcp-server init --auth-mode updb --profile staging ...

# Start with a specific profile active
ziti-mcp-server run --profile prod

At runtime, the AI agent can:

• Log into additional networks using loginUpdb, loginIdentity, etc.
• List all networks using listNetworks
• Switch between networks using selectNetwork
• Log out from a network using logout

Credentials are stored in ~/.config/ziti-mcp-server/config.json with 0600 permissions.

Session Management

To see information about your current authentication session:

ziti-mcp-server session
ziti-mcp-server session --profile prod

Logging Out

ziti-mcp-server logout
ziti-mcp-server logout --profile prod

Or at runtime via the AI agent using the logout tool.

🛠️ Supported MCP Tools