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Akeyless 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

  1. Install Akeyless CLI
    Ensure the Akeyless CLI is installed and configured.
  2. 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"]
    }
  }
}

  1. Restart Cursor
    Restart for the changes to take effect.
  2. Verify
    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

  1. Install Copilot CLI
npm install -g @githubnext/github-copilot-cli
  1. 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"]
  1. Start Copilot with MCP
copilot mcp
  1. 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 about 3 hours ago

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