---
type: concept
title: "MCP Authentication with OAuth"
description: "Putting an OAuth provider (e.g. GitHub) in front of an MCP server as an authentication gateway so only authorized users can reach its tools."
tags: [mcp, authentication, oauth, security]
videos: [build-and-ship-any-mcp-server-in-minutes-full-guide]
created: 2026-07-21
updated: 2026-07-21
---

# MCP Authentication with OAuth

MCP authentication with OAuth means standing an identity provider in front of a remote MCP server so a client must complete a real login before any tool is reachable. "That is the beauty is we have this gateway now to our MCP server with GitHub authentication. And the world is your oyster for the way that you can protect your MCP server." [0:12:28] This closed the biggest hole in early MCP, which shipped with no auth story at all: "They're implementing OOTH, so we have real authorization and authentication to secure our MCP servers." [0:01:08]

The mental model that makes it tractable is that an MCP server is just an API endpoint repackaged for AI agents, so ordinary backend security practice transfers directly. In the reference build, an OAuth provider running at the edge (Cloudflare's) handles the server-side handshake, a KV store tracks authenticated users, and the authenticated identity is handed to every tool call as a property on the request. GitHub is the demo provider only because it is convenient; swapping in Google, X, or a corporate IdP is a configuration change, not a rewrite.

Authentication is only the gate. The real payoff is authorization inside it: the server reads the logged-in username and uses it for role-based access, so read-only tools stay open to any authenticated user while the destructive write tool is restricted to an allow-list. That pairs with the rest of the production checklist in the same build - SQL validation and sanitization against dangerous patterns, graceful error handling, and monitoring - because an authenticated caller is still an untrusted one. Cole's practical shortcut is to hand an AI coding assistant the template repo plus the official MCP security checklist as context and let it wire the same flow for whatever provider you need.

OAuth only matters once the server leaves your machine. A stdio server launched as a local subprocess by its own client has no network surface and no user to authenticate; the moment you host the server remotely for other people, identity becomes the first requirement.

## Prerequisites

- [Model Context Protocol (MCP)](./mcp.md) - the protocol whose servers are being protected.
- [Remote MCP Server](./remote-mcp-server.md) - auth is only meaningful once the server is hosted away from its client.

## Part of

- [Build Your Own MCP Server](./build-your-own-mcp-server.md) - OAuth is one layer of the production build checklist.

## Contrasts with

- [MCP Transports](./mcp-transports.md) - a local stdio server needs no identity layer; remote HTTP transports are exactly what OAuth secures.
- [The Problems With MCP Servers](./mcp-problems.md) - the pre-OAuth era where MCP was a toy with security holes.

## Tools

- [MCP (Model Context Protocol)](../entities/tools/mcp.md) - the protocol and its security checklist.
- [GitHub](../entities/tools/github.md) - the OAuth provider used in the reference implementation.
- [Cloudflare](../entities/organizations/cloudflare.md) - hosts the OAuth provider and the KV store of authenticated users.
- [Sentry](../entities/tools/sentry.md) - production monitoring alongside the auth layer.

## Related

- [Securing Agent APIs](./api-security.md) - an MCP server is an API, so API security practice applies unchanged.
- [Agent Security](./agent-security.md) - the broader threat model tools expose.
- [Agent Authorization](./agent-authorization.md) - deciding what an authenticated caller may actually do.
- [Permission Management](./permission-management.md) - gating destructive tools behind roles.
- [Guardrails](./guardrails.md) - validation and sanitization behind the gate.
- [Multi-Tenant Agents](./multi-tenant-agents.md) - per-user identity is the basis for tenant isolation.
- [MCP Server & Client Architecture](./mcp-architecture.md) - where the auth check sits relative to tool registration.

## Sources

- [Build and Ship Any MCP Server in MINUTES (Full Guide)](../sources/build-and-ship-any-mcp-server-in-minutes-full-guide.md) - "[0:01:08] They're implementing OOTH, so we have real authorization and authentication to secure our MCP servers."
- [Build and Ship Any MCP Server in MINUTES (Full Guide)](../sources/build-and-ship-any-mcp-server-in-minutes-full-guide.md) - "[0:12:28] That is the beauty is we have this gateway now to our MCP server with GitHub authentication. And the world is your oyster for the way that you can protect your MCP server."
