Skyflow Runtime MCP

A remote MCP server for connecting to a Skyflow Vault for sensitive PII data detection, de-identification, and tokenization as well as selective policy-driven re-identification of sensitive data elements. Give your agent tools to find and remove PII to sanitize text and ensure data privacy and security.

• Skyflow Runtime MCP

  • Try it out online

  • Connecting in Authenticated Mode

    • Connection Contract

    • Minimal Example (curl)

    • Client Configuration Checklist

    • Self-Hosted Fallbacks

  • Installation

  • Development

    • Quick Start

    • Available Scripts

    • Manual Setup (Alternative)

    • Understanding the Ports

    • Environment Variables

  • Anonymous Mode (Try Before You Buy)

    • Quick Start (Anonymous)

    • Limitations in Anonymous Mode

    • Claude Desktop (Anonymous)

    • Server Configuration for Anonymous Mode

  • Testing

    • List Available Tools

    • Call the De-identify Tool

    • Call the Re-identify Tool

  • Integration with Claude Desktop

    • Local Development

    • Remote Connection (Recommended)

    • Configuration File Locations

  • Architecture

  • Dependencies

  • Learn More

Try it out online

This remote MCP server is hosted at https://pii-mcp.dev/mcp. Connect using your own Skyflow credentials — see Connecting in Authenticated Mode for the contract, or Anonymous Mode to try it without credentials.

For a concrete client example, see Integration with Claude Desktop.

Related MCP server: guardrails-mcp-server

Connecting in Authenticated Mode

Authenticated mode forwards your own Skyflow credentials to your vault. Any MCP client that supports Streamable HTTP can connect — the server has no client-specific logic.

Connection Contract

Endpoint

POST https://pii-mcp.dev/mcp?vaultId=<VAULT_ID>&vaultUrl=<VAULT_URL>

Required query parameters

Required credential — pick one:

Credentials are forwarded to Skyflow as-is. The server does not store or log them; Skyflow's API validates them at call time.

Minimal Example (curl)

curl -X POST "https://pii-mcp.dev/mcp?vaultId=$VAULT_ID&vaultUrl=$VAULT_URL" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SKYFLOW_TOKEN" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"tools/list","id":1}'

Client Configuration Checklist

Any MCP client needs to:

1. Point at /mcp with vaultId + vaultUrl appended as query parameters.

2. Send Authorization: Bearer <credential> on every request (or append &apiKey=<key> if the client can't inject headers).

3. Send Content-Type: application/json and Accept: application/json, text/event-stream.

See Integration with Claude Desktop for one concrete client. The same pattern applies to any Streamable HTTP MCP client (Cursor, MCP Inspector, custom SDK clients).

Self-Hosted Fallbacks

When self-hosting, VAULT_ID and VAULT_URL can be set as environment variables in .env.local — query parameters override them per request. Useful for pinning a single vault without rewriting client URLs. See Environment Variables.

Installation

npm install
# or
pnpm install

Development

Quick Start

The easiest way to start developing is to use the dev script, which automatically starts both the MCP server and inspector with the correct configuration:

pnpm dev

This will:

1. Start the MCP Inspector on port 6274 (UI) and 6277 (proxy)

2. Automatically open your browser with the inspector pre-configured to connect to http://localhost:3000/mcp

3. Start your MCP server on port 3000

4. Display interleaved logs from both processes in your terminal

Available Scripts

• pnpm dev - Recommended for development. Starts both inspector and server with automatic browser configuration

• pnpm server - Starts only the MCP server on port 3000

• pnpm inspector - Starts only the MCP Inspector (useful if you want to run them in separate terminals)

Manual Setup (Alternative)

If you prefer to run the inspector and server in separate terminals:

1. Copy your Vault Details into .env.local

2. In terminal 1, start the inspector:

   pnpm inspector

3. In terminal 2, start the server:

   pnpm server

4. Open your browser to http://localhost:6274/

5. Choose 'Streamable HTTP' and set the address to http://localhost:3000/mcp

6. Click 'Connect'

Understanding the Ports

• Port 3000: Your MCP server (configurable via PORT env var)

• Port 6274: MCP Inspector UI (where you interact with the inspector)

• Port 6277: MCP Inspector Proxy (internal proxy used by the inspector)

Environment Variables

For authentication methods, see Connecting in Authenticated Mode.

Create a .env.local file with optional fallback values:

• VAULT_ID: Your Skyflow vault ID (optional - can be provided via query parameter)

• VAULT_URL: Your Skyflow vault URL (optional - can be provided via query parameter, e.g., https://ebfc9bee4242.vault.skyflowapis.com)

• PORT: Server port (default: 3000)

Note: SKYFLOW_API_KEY, REQUIRED_BEARER_TOKEN, ACCOUNT_ID, and WORKSPACE_ID are no longer used. The bearer token is passed through from the client to Skyflow; account/workspace IDs were never consumed by the SDK.

Anonymous Mode (Try Before You Buy)

You can try the de-identify tool without configuring Skyflow credentials. When no credentials are provided and anonymous mode is enabled on the server, limited functionality is available.

Quick Start (Anonymous)

# No credentials needed!
curl -X POST "https://pii-mcp.dev/mcp" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"de-identify","arguments":{"inputString":"My email is john@example.com and my SSN is 123-45-6789"}},"id":1}'

Limitations in Anonymous Mode

• Only de-identify tool available - re-identify returns a helpful error

• Tokens use entity counters - e.g., [EMAIL_ADDRESS_1], [SSN_2] instead of vault tokens

• Data is NOT persisted - tokens cannot be re-identified later

• Rate limited - 10 requests per minute per IP (configurable by server operator)

Claude Desktop (Anonymous)

To use anonymous mode with Claude Desktop:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "skyflow-pii-demo": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["mcp-remote", "https://pii-mcp.dev/mcp"]
    }
  }
}

To unlock full functionality (re-identify, file processing, persistent vault tokens), configure your Skyflow credentials as shown in the sections above.

Server Configuration for Anonymous Mode

Server operators can enable anonymous mode by setting these environment variables:

• ANON_MODE_API_KEY: Skyflow API key for demo vault

• ANON_MODE_VAULT_ID: Demo vault identifier

• ANON_MODE_VAULT_URL: Demo vault URL

• ANON_MODE_RATE_LIMIT_REQUESTS: Max requests per window (default: 10)

• ANON_MODE_RATE_LIMIT_WINDOW_MS: Window duration in ms (default: 60000)

Testing

The examples below use curl. See Connecting in Authenticated Mode for the full contract. Placeholders used:

• {your_bearer_token}: Your Skyflow JWT bearer token OR API key (auto-detected based on format)

• {vault_id}: Your Skyflow vault ID

• {vault_url}: Your Skyflow vault URL (e.g., https://ebfc9bee4242.vault.skyflowapis.com)

List Available Tools

Test the MCP server by listing available tools:

curl -X POST "http://localhost:3000/mcp?vaultId={vault_id}&vaultUrl={vault_url}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer {your_bearer_token}" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"tools/list","id":1}'

Call the De-identify Tool

Test calling the de-identify tool to redact sensitive information:

curl -X POST "http://localhost:3000/mcp?vaultId={vault_id}&vaultUrl={vault_url}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer {your_bearer_token}" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"de-identify","arguments":{"inputString":"My email is john.doe@example.com and my SSN is 123-45-6789"}},"id":2}'

This will return the de-identified text with sensitive data redacted, along with word and character counts.

Call the Re-identify Tool

Test calling the re-identify tool to restore original sensitive data:

curl -X POST "http://localhost:3000/mcp?vaultId={vault_id}&vaultUrl={vault_url}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer {your_bearer_token}" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"re-identify","arguments":{"inputString":"[REDACTED_TEXT_WITH_TOKENS]"}},"id":3}'

Integration with Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop is one concrete client for the Connection Contract. It uses mcp-remote as a bridge to the Streamable HTTP endpoint. Add the following to your claude_desktop_config.json:

Local Development

For local testing with environment variable fallbacks:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "skyflow-pii": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["mcp-remote", "http://localhost:3000/mcp"],
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer {your_skyflow_bearer_token}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Remote Connection (Recommended)

For connecting to the hosted server or any remote instance with dynamic configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "skyflow-pii": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["mcp-remote", "https://pii-mcp.dev/mcp?vaultId={vault_id}&vaultUrl={vault_url}"],
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer {your_skyflow_bearer_token}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Important Notes:

• Replace {your_skyflow_bearer_token} with your actual Skyflow bearer token

• Replace {vault_id} and {vault_url} with your Skyflow configuration values

• The vaultUrl should be URL-encoded (e.g., https%3A%2F%2Febfc9bee4242.vault.skyflowapis.com)

• Make sure the server is running before starting Claude Desktop (for local development)

Configuration File Locations

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

After updating the config:

1. Save the file

2. Restart Claude Desktop completely (quit and reopen)

3. The de-identify and re-identify tools should now be available in Claude Desktop

Architecture

• Express Server: Handles HTTP requests on the /mcp endpoint with query parameter support

• Bearer Token Pass-Through: Client's Skyflow bearer token is forwarded directly to Skyflow API

• Per-Request Skyflow Instances: Each request creates its own Skyflow client with unique credentials

• AsyncLocalStorage Context: Tools access the current request's Skyflow instance via context

• Streamable HTTP Transport: Creates a new transport per request to prevent ID collisions

• Multi-Tenant Support: Different users can use different vaults/workspaces via query parameters

Dependencies

• @modelcontextprotocol/sdk: Official MCP TypeScript SDK

• express: Web server framework

• zod: Schema validation for tool inputs/outputs

• skyflow-node: Skyflow SDK for data privacy and deidentification

• dotenv: Environment variable management

Learn More

• Model Context Protocol Documentation

• MCP TypeScript SDK

• Streamable HTTP Transport Guide