Security Token is forced (Identity MCP Server)

[twmcelroy]

The identity mcp seems to be the start so it can grab tenancy and compartment ocids. I am working in VSCode and set up the mcp server as follows

		"oracle-oci-identity-mcp-server": {
			"type": "stdio",
			"command": "uvx",
			"args": [
				"oracle.oci-identity-mcp-server"
			],
			"env": {
				"OCI_CONFIG_PROFILE": "DEFAULT",
				"FASTMCP_LOG_LEVEL": "ERROR"
			}
		}

I have requested to get the list of compartments, and it wants to use the server correctly
Ran get_current_tenancy - oracle-oci-identity-mcp-server
However I get an error looking for a security token
Error calling tool 'get_current_tenancy': 'security_token_file'

Looking at the code for the identity server, it looks like it is requiring a security token

def get_identity_client():
    config = oci.config.from_file(
        profile_name=os.getenv("OCI_CONFIG_PROFILE", oci.config.DEFAULT_PROFILE)
    )
    user_agent_name = __project__.split("oracle.", 1)[1].split("-server", 1)[0]
    config["additional_user_agent"] = f"{user_agent_name}/{__version__}"
    private_key = oci.signer.load_private_key_from_file(config["key_file"])
    token_file = config["security_token_file"]
    with open(token_file, "r") as f:
        token = f.read()
    signer = oci.auth.signers.SecurityTokenSigner(token, private_key)
    return oci.identity.IdentityClient(config, signer=signer)

My OCI config file is setup to use an API key. Can the mcp server use API or Security Token? I've been working on wrapping this in mcp-proxy to add SSE/HTTP to it and API key credentials will be essential. Unless #44 is added.

[gebhardtr]

@twmcelroy I generally avoid long-lived tokens and credentials because they're more difficult to secure. Take a look at https://github.com/oracle-samples/mcp-examples/tree/main/server and let me know if the auth approach there is in line with what you are thinking.

[twmcelroy]

It is an interesting idea but correct me if I'm wrong. I haven't seen a JWT used for OCI API authentication. I see documentation on using the JWT to use with API Gateway but I was thinking of the general CLI/Python SDK authentication.
I definitely understand the implication of long-lived token/api keys. However, my issues come from looking to deploy the MCP server remotely, which prevents individual users from using session tokens to authenticate. The additional control would come from the administrators choosing what user the MCP uses and what policies/permissions that user has.
For example, my users may have many permissions including manage permissions. But I only want AI to have use or read-only access. So, I create an AI user and authenticate the MCP to that user.