open-webui/mcpo

Expose any MCP tool as an OpenAPI-compatible HTTP server—instantly.
mcpo is a dead-simple proxy that takes an MCP server command and makes it accessible via standard RESTful OpenAPI, so your tools "just work" with LLM agents and apps expecting OpenAPI servers.
No custom protocol. No glue code. No hassle.
## 🤔 Why Use mcpo Instead of Native MCP?
MCP servers usually speak over raw stdio, which is:
🔓 Inherently insecure
❌ Incompatible with most tools
🧩 Missing standard features like docs, auth, error handling, etc.
mcpo solves all of that—without extra effort:
✅ Works instantly with OpenAPI tools, SDKs, and UIs
🛡 Adds security, stability, and scalability using trusted web standards
🧠 Auto-generates interactive docs for every tool, no config needed
🔌 Uses pure HTTP—no sockets, no glue code, no surprises
What feels like "one more step" is really fewer steps with better outcomes.
mcpo makes your AI tools usable, secure, and interoperable—right now, with zero hassle.
## 🚀 Quick Usage
We recommend using uv for lightning-fast startup and zero config.
bash
uvx mcpo --port 8000 --api-key "top-secret" -- yourmcpservercommand
Or, if you’re using Python:
bash
pip install mcpo
mcpo --port 8000 --api-key "top-secret" -- yourmcpservercommand
To use an SSE-compatible MCP server, simply specify the server type and endpoint:
bash
mcpo --port 8000 --api-key "top-secret" --server-type "sse" -- http://127.0.0.1:8001/sse
You can also provide headers for the SSE connection:
bash
mcpo --port 8000 --api-key "top-secret" --server-type "sse" --header '{"Authorization": "Bearer token", "X-Custom-Header": "value"}' -- http://127.0.0.1:8001/sse
To use a Streamable HTTP-compatible MCP server, specify the server type and endpoint:
bash
mcpo --port 8000 --api-key "top-secret" --server-type "streamable-http" -- http://127.0.0.1:8002/mcp
You can also run mcpo via Docker with no installation:
bash
docker run -p 8000:8000 ghcr.io/open-webui/mcpo:main --api-key "top-secret" -- yourmcpservercommand
Example:
bash
uvx mcpo --port 8000 --api-key "top-secret" -- uvx mcp-server-time --local-timezone=America/NewYork
That’s it. Your MCP tool is now available at http://localhost:8000 with a generated OpenAPI schema — test it live at http://localhost:8000/docs.
🤝 To integrate with Open WebUI after launching the server, check our docs.
### 🌐 Serving Under a Subpath (--root-path)
If you need to serve mcpo behind a reverse proxy or under a subpath (e.g., /api/mcpo), use the --root-path argument:
bash
mcpo --port 8000 --root-path "/api/mcpo" --api-key "top-secret" -- yourmcpservercommand
All routes will be served under the specified root path, e.g. http://localhost:8000/api/mcpo/memory.
### 🔄 Using a Config File
You can serve multiple MCP tools via a single config file that follows the Claude Desktop format.
Enable hot-reload mode with --hot-reload to automatically watch your config file for changes and reload servers without downtime:
Start via:
bash
mcpo --config /path/to/config.json
Or with hot-reload enabled:
bash
mcpo --config /path/to/config.json --hot-reload
Example config.json:
json
"mcpServers": {
"memory": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-memory"]