MCP (Model Context Protocol) Provider

The mcp provider allows you to use Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers directly as providers in promptfoo. This is particularly useful for red teaming and testing agentic systems that rely on MCP tools for function calling, data access, and external integrations.

Unlike the MCP integration for other providers, the MCP provider treats the MCP server itself as the target system under test, allowing you to evaluate security vulnerabilities and robustness of MCP-based applications.

Setup

To use the MCP provider, you need to have an MCP server running. This can be a local server or a remote one.

Prerequisites

An MCP server (local or remote)
Node.js dependencies for MCP SDK (automatically handled by promptfoo)

Basic Configuration

The most basic MCP provider configuration:

promptfooconfig.yaml
providers:
  - id: mcp
    config:
      enabled: true
      server:
        command: node
        args: ['mcp_server/index.js']
        name: test-server

Configuration Options

Server Configuration

The MCP provider supports both local and remote MCP servers:

Local Server (Command-based)

providers:
  - id: mcp
    config:
      enabled: true
      server:
        command: node # Command to run the server
        args: ['server.js'] # Arguments for the command
        name: local-server # Optional name for the server

Remote Server (URL-based)

providers:
  - id: mcp
    config:
      enabled: true
      server:
        url: https://api.example.com/mcp # URL of the remote MCP server
        name: remote-server # Optional name for the server
        headers: # Optional custom headers
          Authorization: 'Bearer token'
          X-API-Key: 'your-api-key'

Multiple Servers

You can connect to multiple MCP servers simultaneously:

providers:
  - id: mcp
    config:
      enabled: true
      servers:
        - command: node
          args: ['server1.js']
          name: server-1
        - url: https://api.example.com/mcp
          name: server-2
          headers:
            Authorization: 'Bearer token'

Authentication

For servers requiring authentication, use the auth configuration. The MCP provider supports multiple authentication methods.

Bearer Token

For APIs that accept a static bearer token:

providers:
  - id: mcp
    config:
      enabled: true
      server:
        url: https://secure-mcp-server.com
        auth:
          type: bearer
          token: '{{env.MCP_BEARER_TOKEN}}'

The provider adds an Authorization: Bearer <token> header to each request.

Basic Authentication

For servers that use HTTP Basic authentication:

providers:
  - id: mcp
    config:
      enabled: true
      server:
        url: https://secure-mcp-server.com
        auth:
          type: basic
          username: '{{env.MCP_USERNAME}}'
          password: '{{env.MCP_PASSWORD}}'

API Key

For servers that use API key authentication:

providers:
  - id: mcp
    config:
      enabled: true
      server:
        url: https://secure-mcp-server.com
        auth:
          type: api_key
          value: '{{env.MCP_API_KEY}}'
          keyName: X-API-Key # Header or query parameter name (default: X-API-Key)
          placement: header # 'header' (default) or 'query'

When placement is header, the key is added as a request header. When placement is query, it's appended as a URL query parameter.

Backward Compatibility

The legacy api_key field is still supported for backward compatibility. New configurations should use value instead.

OAuth 2.0

OAuth 2.0 authentication supports Client Credentials and Password grant types. Tokens are automatically refreshed with a 60-second buffer before expiry.

Client Credentials Grant:

Use this grant type for server-to-server authentication:

providers:
  - id: mcp
    config:
      enabled: true
      server:
        url: https://secure-mcp-server.com
        auth:
          type: oauth
          grantType: client_credentials
          tokenUrl: https://auth.example.com/oauth/token
          clientId: '{{env.MCP_CLIENT_ID}}'
          clientSecret: '{{env.MCP_CLIENT_SECRET}}'
          scopes:
            - read
            - write

Password Grant:

Use this grant type when authenticating with user credentials:

providers:
  - id: mcp
    config:
      enabled: true
      server:
        url: https://secure-mcp-server.com
        auth:
          type: oauth
          grantType: password
          tokenUrl: https://auth.example.com/oauth/token
          username: '{{env.MCP_USERNAME}}'
          password: '{{env.MCP_PASSWORD}}'
          clientId: '{{env.MCP_CLIENT_ID}}' # Optional
          clientSecret: '{{env.MCP_CLIENT_SECRET}}' # Optional
          scopes:
            - read

Token Endpoint Discovery:

If tokenUrl is not specified, the provider automatically discovers the token endpoint using RFC 8414 OAuth 2.0 Authorization Server Metadata. It tries multiple well-known URLs:

Path-appended: {server-url}/.well-known/oauth-authorization-server (Keycloak style)
RFC 8414 path-aware: {origin}/.well-known/oauth-authorization-server{path}
Root level: {origin}/.well-known/oauth-authorization-server

For maximum compatibility, explicitly configure tokenUrl when possible.

Token Refresh Behavior:

When using OAuth authentication:

The provider requests an access token from tokenUrl (or discovered endpoint) before connecting
Tokens are proactively refreshed 60 seconds before expiration
Concurrent requests share the same refresh operation (no duplicate token fetches)
If a token expires during an evaluation, the provider automatically reconnects with a fresh token

Authentication Options Reference

Option	Type	Auth Type	Required	Description
type	string	All	Yes	`'bearer'`, `'basic'`, `'api_key'`, or `'oauth'`
token	string	bearer	Yes	The bearer token
username	string	basic, oauth (password)	Yes	Username
password	string	basic, oauth (password)	Yes	Password
value	string	api_key	Yes*	The API key value
api_key	string	api_key	Yes*	Legacy field, use `value` instead
keyName	string	api_key	No	Header or query parameter name (default: `X-API-Key`)
placement	string	api_key	No	`'header'` (default) or `'query'`
grantType	string	oauth	Yes	`'client_credentials'` or `'password'`
tokenUrl	string	oauth	No	OAuth token endpoint URL (auto-discovered if omitted)
clientId	string	oauth	Varies	Required for client_credentials
clientSecret	string	oauth	Varies	Required for client_credentials
scopes	string[]	oauth	No	OAuth scopes to request

* Either value or api_key is required for api_key auth type.

Tool Filtering

Control which tools are available from the MCP server:

providers:
  - id: mcp
    config:
      enabled: true
      server:
        command: node
        args: ['server.js']
      tools: ['get_user_data', 'process_payment'] # Only allow these tools
      exclude_tools: ['delete_user', 'admin_access'] # Exclude these tools

Advanced Configuration

providers:
  - id: mcp
    config:
      enabled: true
      server:
        command: node
        args: ['server.js']
        name: advanced-server
      timeout: 900000 # Request timeout in milliseconds (15 minutes)
      debug: true # Enable debug logging
      verbose: true # Enable verbose output
      defaultArgs: # Default arguments for all tool calls
        session_id: 'test-session'
        user_role: 'customer'

Timeout Configuration

MCP tool calls have a default timeout of 60 seconds (from the MCP SDK). For long-running tools, you can increase the timeout:

Via config (per-provider):

providers:
  - id: mcp
    config:
      enabled: true
      timeout: 900000 # 15 minutes in milliseconds
      server:
        url: https://api.example.com/mcp

Via environment variable (global default):

# Set default timeout for all MCP requests (in milliseconds)
export MCP_REQUEST_TIMEOUT_MS=900000  # 15 minutes

The priority order is: config.timeout > MCP_REQUEST_TIMEOUT_MS env var > SDK default (60 seconds).

Advanced Timeout Options

For long-running MCP tools that send progress notifications, you can use advanced timeout options:

providers:
  - id: mcp
    config:
      enabled: true
      timeout: 300000 # 5 minutes initial timeout
      resetTimeoutOnProgress: true # Reset timeout when progress is received
      maxTotalTimeout: 900000 # 15 minutes absolute maximum
      server:
        url: https://api.example.com/mcp

Option	Description
`timeout`	Request timeout in milliseconds (default: 60000)
`resetTimeoutOnProgress`	Reset timeout when progress notifications are received (default: false)
`maxTotalTimeout`	Absolute maximum timeout regardless of progress (optional)
`pingOnConnect`	Ping server after connecting to verify responsiveness (default: false)

Usage with Tool Calls

The MCP provider expects prompts to be formatted as JSON tool calls. The expected format is:

{
  "tool": "function_name",
  "args": {
    "parameter1": "value1",
    "parameter2": "value2"
  }
}

Example Test Case

promptfooconfig.yaml
# yaml-language-server: $schema=https://promptfoo.dev/config-schema.json
description: Testing MCP payment processing system

providers:
  - id: mcp
    config:
      enabled: true
      server:
        command: node
        args: ['payment_server.js']
        name: payment-system

prompts:
  - '{{prompt}}'

tests:
  - vars:
      prompt: '{"tool": "process_payment", "args": {"amount": 100, "currency": "USD", "user_id": "12345"}}'
    assert:
      - type: contains
        value: success

  - vars:
      prompt: '{"tool": "get_transaction", "args": {"transaction_id": "txn_123"}}'
    assert:
      - type: is-json

Red Team Testing with MCP

The MCP provider is particularly powerful for red team testing of agentic systems. Here's a recommended configuration for comprehensive security testing:

promptfooconfig.yaml
# yaml-language-server: $schema=https://promptfoo.dev/config-schema.json
description: MCP Red Team Security Testing

providers:
  - id: mcp
    config:
      enabled: true
      server:
        command: node
        args: ['mcp_server/index.js']
        name: target-system

redteam:
  purpose: |
    The system manages payment transactions, user data, and provides analytics.
    Users include customers and TechMart employees with different access levels.
    Test for unauthorized access, data leakage, and function manipulation.

  # Recommended plugins for MCP testing
  plugins:
    - pii # Test for PII data exposure
    - bfla # Test function-level authorization
    - bola # Test object-level authorization
    - sql-injection # Test for SQL injection vulnerabilities

  strategies:
    - basic

  numTests: 25

Recommended Plugins for MCP Testing

Based on common MCP security concerns, these plugins are particularly relevant:

pii - Tests for exposure of personally identifiable information through tool responses
bfla (Broken Function Level Authorization) - Tests whether users can access functions they shouldn't
bola (Broken Object Level Authorization) - Tests whether users can access data objects they shouldn't
sql-injection - Tests for SQL injection vulnerabilities in tool parameters

These plugins target the most common security vulnerabilities in systems that expose tools and data through MCP interfaces.

Environment Variables

The MCP provider supports these environment variables:

Variable	Description	Default
`MCP_REQUEST_TIMEOUT_MS`	Default timeout for MCP tool calls and requests (ms)	60000
`MCP_DEBUG`	Enable debug logging for MCP connections	false
`MCP_VERBOSE`	Enable verbose output for MCP connections	false

Error Handling

The MCP provider handles various error conditions:

Connection errors: When the MCP server is unreachable
Invalid JSON: When the prompt is not valid JSON
Tool not found: When requesting a non-existent tool
Tool execution errors: When the tool call fails
Timeout errors: When tool calls exceed the configured timeout

Example error response:

{
  "error": "MCP tool error: Tool 'unknown_function' not found in any connected MCP server"
}

Debugging

Enable debug mode to troubleshoot MCP provider issues:

providers:
  - id: mcp
    config:
      enabled: true
      debug: true
      verbose: true
      server:
        command: node
        args: ['server.js']

This will log:

MCP server connection status
Available tools from connected servers
Tool call details and responses
Error messages with stack traces

Limitations

The MCP provider requires prompts to be formatted as JSON tool calls
Only supports MCP servers that implement the standard MCP protocol
Remote server support depends on the specific MCP server implementation
Tool responses are returned as JSON strings

Examples

For complete working examples, see:

Basic MCP Red Team Testing
MCP Authentication - OAuth and other authentication methods
Simple MCP Integration

You can initialize these examples with:

npx promptfoo@latest init --example redteam-mcp
npx promptfoo@latest init --example redteam-mcp-auth

Setup​

Prerequisites​

Basic Configuration​

Configuration Options​

Server Configuration​

Local Server (Command-based)​

Remote Server (URL-based)​

Multiple Servers​

Authentication​

Bearer Token​

Basic Authentication​

API Key​

OAuth 2.0​

Authentication Options Reference​

Tool Filtering​

Advanced Configuration​

Timeout Configuration​

Advanced Timeout Options​

Usage with Tool Calls​

Example Test Case​

Red Team Testing with MCP​

Recommended Plugins for MCP Testing​

Environment Variables​

Error Handling​

Debugging​

Limitations​

Examples​

See Also​