CLI Reference - MCP Server

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The akeyless mcp command starts an MCP server that enables AI assistants such as Cursor and GitHub Copilot to securely interact with Akeyless services through a standardized interface.

What Is MCP?

Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard that allows AI assistants to securely access external data sources and tools.

With MCP, You Can

Safely authenticate AI assistants with Akeyless
Interact with Akeyless secrets, targets, and other resources
Leverage existing profiles and authentication methods
Connect to Akeyless Gateway instances

Features

Secure Authentication – Uses Akeyless authentication mechanisms
Tool Integration – Access Akeyless secrets, targets, RBAC, and more
Profile Support – Works with your existing Akeyless CLI profiles
Gateway Integration – Supports both local and cloud Akeyless Gateways

Usage

Basic Commands

# Start MCP server with access key authentication
akeyless mcp --access-id <your-access-id> --access-key <your-access-key> --access-type access_key --gateway-url https://api.akeyless.io

# Start MCP server with SAML authentication
akeyless mcp --access-id <your-access-id> --access-type saml --gateway-url https://api.akeyless.io

# Start MCP server with a profile
akeyless mcp --profile <profile-name> --gateway-url https://api.akeyless.io

Supported Authentication Methods

--access-type [=access_key]  
(access_key / password / saml / ldap / k8s / azure_ad / oidc / aws_iam / universal_identity / jwt / gcp / cert / oci / kerberos)

The mcp command accepts the same authentication parameters as standard Akeyless CLI auth commands. For more details, see Akeyless Authentication Documentation

Common Parameters

--access-id: Your Akeyless Access ID

--access-key: Your Akeyless Access Key (for access_key auth)

--access-type: Authentication method (see list above)

--gateway-url: Gateway URL (default: http://localhost:8080/v2)

--profile: Use an existing CLI profile

Setting Up MCP With Cursor

Install Akeyless CLI: Ensure the Akeyless CLI is installed and configured.

Update Cursor Settings: Open settings (Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + P → Preferences: Open Settings (JSON)) and add:

{
  "mcp.servers": {
    "akeyless": {
      "command": "akeyless",
      "args": ["mcp", "--profile", "your-profile-name", "--gateway-url", "https://api.akeyless.io"]
    },
    "akeyless-saml": {
      "command": "akeyless",
      "args": ["mcp", "--access-id", "your-access-id", "--access-type", "saml", "--gateway-url", "https://api.akeyless.io"]
    },
    "akeyless-oidc": {
      "command": "akeyless",
      "args": ["mcp", "--access-id", "your-access-id", "--access-type", "oidc", "--gateway-url", "https://api.akeyless.io"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Cursor for the changes to take effect.
Verify that you can now run queries such as:
- “Show me my Akeyless secrets”
- “Create a new secret called api-key”
- “List all my targets”

Setting Up MCP With GitHub Copilot

Install Copilot CLI

npm install -g @githubnext/github-copilot-cli

Configure Copilot

Edit \~/.copilot/config.yml to include:

mcpServers:
  akeyless:
    command: akeyless
    args: ["mcp", "--profile", "your-profile-name", "--gateway-url", "https://api.akeyless.io"]
  akeyless-saml:
    command: akeyless
    args: ["mcp", "--access-id", "your-access-id", "--access-type", "saml", "--gateway-url", "https://api.akeyless.io"]
  akeyless-oidc:
    command: akeyless
    args: ["mcp", "--access-id", "your-access-id", "--access-type", "oidc", "--gateway-url", "https://api.akeyless.io"]

Start Copilot with MCP
```
copilot mcp
```
Use Copilot You can now manage secrets, configure targets, and perform infrastructure tasks via Copilot.

Examples

Secret Operations

# Start MCP server
akeyless mcp --profile production --gateway-url https://api.akeyless.io

# In Cursor/Copilot
# "Create a secret called 'database-password' with value 'secure123'"
# "Show me all secrets in the /prod/ path"

Target Management

# "List all my AWS targets"
# "Update the SSH target with new credentials"

Production Setup

# Production
akeyless mcp --profile prod --gateway-url https://api.akeyless.io

# Development / Testing
akeyless mcp --profile dev --gateway-url http://localhost:8080/v2

Updated 6 days ago