punkpeye/mcp-remote

Connect an MCP Client that only supports local (stdio) servers to a Remote MCP Server.

What it solves

Many popular Model Context Protocol (MCP) clients (such as Claude Desktop, Cursor, and Windsurf) only support local servers via stdio transport. This prevents them from connecting to remote MCP servers that require HTTP/SSE and secure OAuth authorization flows. mcp-remote acts as a bridge, allowing these stdio-only clients to connect to remote, authorized MCP servers.

How it works

It functions as a local proxy that the MCP client invokes via npx. The client communicates with mcp-remote using stdio, and mcp-remote translates those requests into HTTP/SSE calls to the remote server. It handles the OAuth authorization process, including managing tokens, refresh flows, and custom headers, and can even act as a "dual-era client" to bridge legacy MCP clients with modern (2026-07-28) servers by rewriting requests and managing subscriptions.

Who it’s for

Users of MCP clients like Claude Desktop, Cursor, or Windsurf who want to use remote MCP servers without having to run the server code locally on their own machines.

Highlights

  • Auth Support: Full support for OAuth flows, including custom authorization parameters, resource indicators (RFC 8707), and client credentials.
  • Protocol Bridging: Can automatically translate between legacy (2025-11-25) and modern (2026-07-28) MCP protocol versions.
  • Flexible Configuration: Supports custom headers via CLI or files, proxy settings, and the ability to ignore specific tools using wildcard patterns.
  • Transport Control: Allows choosing between http-first, sse-first, http-only, or sse-only transport strategies.
  • Connection Stability: Includes keep-alive pings and configurable network timeouts to prevent idle connections from being dropped.

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