MCP Gateway — Server Discovery and Catalog Sync

Goal

This evolution allows the MCP Gateway to discover tools from registered MCP Servers by reading a manifest or catalog endpoint.

The framework still points to a single MCP Gateway:

MCP_GATEWAY_ENABLED=true
MCP_GATEWAY_URL=http://localhost:8300
MCP_GATEWAY_TIMEOUT_SECONDS=60

The MCP Gateway can point to many MCP Servers:

Agent Framework
  -> MCP Gateway
     -> telecom_mcp_server
     -> retail_mcp_server
     -> nf_items_mcp_server
     -> any other MCP Server

What is automatic

After a server is registered in apps/mcp_gateway/config/mcp_gateway.yaml with discover: true, the gateway can:

call its manifest/catalog endpoint;
normalize the returned tool list;
publish the tools in GET /v1/tools;
execute the discovered tool through POST /v1/tools/{tool_name}/invoke.

What is still explicit

The gateway does not scan the network or GitHub by itself. You still register the MCP Server endpoint in YAML.

Example:

servers:
  nf_items:
    enabled: true
    discover: true
    protocol: legacy_http
    transport: http
    url: http://localhost:8400/mcp
    catalog_endpoint: /tools
    invoke_endpoint: /tools/call
    timeout_seconds: 30

If catalog_endpoint is omitted, the gateway tries:

/.well-known/mcp-server.json
/manifest
/mcp/tools
/tools/list
/tools
/v1/tools

Expected manifest/catalog formats

The gateway accepts common shapes:

{
  "server_id": "nf_items",
  "tools": [
    {
      "name": "buscar_notas_por_criterios",
      "description": "Search invoice items by criteria.",
      "input_schema": {
        "cliente": "string",
        "estado": "string",
        "preco": "number",
        "ean": "string",
        "margem": "number"
      }
    }
  ]
}

It also accepts:

{"tools": [...]}

{"data": {"tools": [...]}}

{"capabilities": {"tools": [...]}}

New endpoints

List discovery servers

curl http://localhost:8300/v1/discovery/servers | jq

Force catalog sync

curl -X POST http://localhost:8300/v1/discovery/sync | jq

List merged static + discovered tools

curl http://localhost:8300/v1/tools | jq

Precedence rule

Static tools configured under tools: override discovered tools with the same name. This allows operations teams to override timeout, cache, allowed agents, required business keys, and endpoint behavior safely.

Plugging a new MCP Server

Start the MCP Server.
Confirm that it exposes a catalog or manifest endpoint.
Add it under servers: in mcp_gateway.yaml with discover: true.
Restart the MCP Gateway or call POST /v1/discovery/sync.
Confirm the tool appears in GET /v1/tools.
Invoke the tool through the gateway.

Example invocation

curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8300/v1/tools/buscar_notas_por_criterios/invoke \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "tenant_id": "default",
    "agent_id": "telecom_contas",
    "channel": "web",
    "tool_name": "buscar_notas_por_criterios",
    "arguments": {
      "cliente": "CLIENTE-001",
      "estado": "SP",
      "preco": 100.0,
      "ean": "7890000000000",
      "margem": 0.05
    },
    "business_context": {
      "session_key": "session-001"
    }
  }' | jq

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