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FabricGateways

Connect an MCP server

When you set Service type to MCP, the connection editor exposes tools and resources to agents over MCP (JSON-RPC and SSE) instead of proxying REST or LLM traffic. This topic shows you how to configure an MCP server connection, add upstreams, and set the access mode.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have the following:

  • Access to a Fabric AI Gateway organization, with permission to create connections.
  • The target URL of the MCP server, and the credentials it requires.

Configure an MCP connection

To configure an MCP connection, do the following:

  1. In the sidebar, click MCP servers under Gateway, and then open the connection you want to configure, for example linear-mcp.
  2. Under Service type, select MCP.
  3. Enter the Target URL for the MCP server, for example https://mcp.linear.app/mcp.
  4. Under Upstream auth requirement, select an Auth type (for example, Bearer) and set Applies to (for example, Org/tenant).
  5. Optionally, expand Identity binding or Advanced settings to configure identity mapping.
  6. Enter a Description and, optionally, select a Category.
  7. Click Save changes.

Add upstreams

An MCP connection can point to one or more upstreams. Each upstream has its own Target URL, Weight, and Name, along with a Per-upstream OAuth / MCP discovery checkbox.

To add an upstream, do the following:

  1. In the connection editor, click Add upstream.
  2. Enter a Target URL, Weight, and Name for the upstream.
  3. Select a Load balancer strategy.

Weight controls how traffic is split across upstreams, but only load balancer strategies that support weighted splitting use it. Under Round robin, traffic rotates evenly across upstreams and Fabric ignores weight.

Set the access mode

Under Access mode, select one of the following:

Access modeBehavior
OpenThe connection doesn’t require a grant.
GatedThe connection requires a grant.

For more information about access modes, see Manage connections and routes.

Next steps