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Quickstart

Get a public URL for your local MCP server in under a minute. The CLI creates your account and your tunnel for you — no manual signup, no copying tokens.

1. Install the CLI​

npm install -g @alexdive/mcp-gw

(See Installation for platform-specific notes.)

2. Start your local MCP server​

Any MCP server reachable over HTTP on a local port. If your MCP server speaks stdio (most reference servers do), wrap it with supergateway — see Examples.

For this quickstart, assume it's listening on http://localhost:8080.

3. Open a tunnel​

mcp-gw create --target http://localhost:8080

On the first run the CLI registers an account for you and stores the credentials in ~/.mcp-gateway/credentials.json (email, password, API key) — there's nothing to copy by hand. It then creates a tunnel and prints:

Tunnel ready:
  id:         ab12cd34...
  publicUrl:  https://ab12cd34....mcp-gateway.info/
  target:     http://localhost:8080
WS connected. Press Ctrl+C to exit.

Leave it running — that terminal is your agent. Press Ctrl+C to stop.

Omit --target and the CLI prompts for it (default http://localhost:8080). On a fresh tunnel it may also ask for an optional label — press Enter to skip, or type a name to recognise the tunnel later.

4. Use the public URL​

https://<YOUR_TUNNEL_ID>.mcp-gateway.info/mcp

Paste this URL into Claude (see Connect from Claude), Cursor, or any MCP client. Every request hits your local MCP server through the tunnel.

Managing multiple tunnels​

You can keep as many tunnels as you like — e.g. one per project.

Pick from a menu. Run create with no --id/--new and the CLI lists your existing tunnels and offers to reconnect one or make a new one:

mcp-gw create
  Select a tunnel to reconnect, or create a new one
  1) weather
       id:        ab12cd34...
       publicUrl: https://ab12cd34....mcp-gateway.info/
       target:    http://localhost:9001
       status:    inactive
  2) + Create a new tunnel
Select [1-2] [2]:

Each tunnel's target and label are remembered locally in ~/.mcp-gateway/tunnels.json, so the menu shows where every tunnel forwards.

Reconnect a specific tunnel (no menu) — reuses its saved target:

mcp-gw create --id <TUNNEL_ID>

Always create a new tunnel (skip the menu), with a label:

mcp-gw create --new --target http://localhost:8080 --label my-server

List your tunnels:

mcp-gw list

Delete a tunnel (asks which if you omit --id):

mcp-gw rm --id <TUNNEL_ID>

Logs​

Open the admin UI and sign in with the email/password the CLI generated for you (run mcp-gw whoami to print them). The Logs tab shows live requests: method, path, status code, duration, and body size.