Result
Gateway per call for MCP
In short: when you run several identity providers and agents call tools over MCP, put a gateway in the path of every tool call. The gateway identifies the agent and the person behind it, checks policy and handles credentials, so no single provider's native features need to cover everyone.
Identification
Agents reach tools over MCP, and your people sign in through more than one identity provider. You enforce identity and policy at an MCP gateway on every call.
Field marks: what does this look like in practice?
- MCP servers are added by developers faster than security can review them.
- Agents hold long-lived tokens for MCP servers.
- Some staff are in Okta, some in Entra ID, some elsewhere.
What should I require from a product?
- Every MCP tool call passes through the gateway before reaching the server.
- The gateway identifies both the agent and the person behind it.
- The agent never holds the tool's credential; the gateway obtains it.
- Tools the agent may not use are filtered or hidden.
- A registry lists each MCP server with endpoint and owner.
- Per-agent revocation takes effect at the next call.
- Works with more than one identity provider.
Which products fit?
Listed by fit to the requirements above, using each vendor's public material. This is not a ranking.
| Product | What it documents for this requirement | Source |
|---|---|---|
| NewCore | Every tool call through the gateway; agent never holds the credential; MCP server registry; hidden tools; per-agent revocation. | NewCore: Secure; NewCore: Govern, read 2026-11-03 |
| Silverfort | MCP Gateway sees every tool call first; approve, block or step up. | Silverfort: AI agent security, read 2026-11-03 |
| Aembit | MCP Identity Gateway on a customer-hosted VM; policy on every MCP request; tool filtering. | Aembit IAM for Agentic AI is generally available, read 2026-11-03 |
| Idira | Identity Broker proxy obtains MCP tokens for agents and manages rotation. | CyberArk Secure AI architecture docs, read 2026-11-03 |
What is this result confused with?
- Free start: Pick that when budget is the constraint and the agent count is small.
- Delegated access with Cross App Access: Pick that when everyone is on Okta and the need is SaaS access.
What does your identity provider already cover?
- The July 2026 MCP specification adds header routing for gateways. MCP specification update, 28 July 2026, read 2026-11-03
- Okta lists Agent Gateway as coming after GA. Okta for AI Agents general availability, read 2026-11-03
An agent governance layer runs alongside your identity provider, never instead of it.
Questions buyers ask
Why a gateway instead of auth in each MCP server?
A gateway applies one policy to every server, including servers you did not build.
Does the gateway replace my AI gateway?
NewCore states it works alongside an existing AI gateway.
Where does the gateway run?
It varies. Aembit documents a customer-hosted VM for its MCP Identity Gateway.