MCP + Entra ID OAuth 2.0 + Just-in-Time authorization

A small, runnable demo of how to put just-in-time (JIT) approval in front of privileged MCP tools, with Microsoft Entra ID for sign-in, used from Claude Code.

• OAuth 2.0 answers "who is calling?" Claude Code sends an Entra ID access token. The MCP server checks signature, issuer, tenant, audience and the mcp.access scope on every request.

• JIT answers "may this person do this right now?" Privileged tool calls are blocked until a human approves that exact action on a web page, after signing in with Entra ID. The grant is pinned to the user, the tool and its arguments, expires on its own, and can be revoked.

No standing access: a valid token alone can read, but cannot restart prod.

In this demo the server stores grants itself (SQLite). In production they live in Entra PIM or SailPoint and the server only enforces them: see docs/production.md.

> restart the payments service in prod, it's leaking memory

● jit-mcp - restart_service (service: "payments", env: "prod", reason: "memory leak")
  ⎿ Error: JIT approval required. Nothing was changed.
    Request: JIT-4F2A9C (pending)
    Approve: http://localhost:8000/jit/JIT-4F2A9C
    Grant:   lasts 15 min after approval and covers only service=payments, env=prod.

● Prod restarts need just-in-time approval. Open the link, approve, and tell me when it's done.

> approved

● jit-mcp - restart_service (service: "payments", env: "prod")
  ⎿ {"result": "payments (prod) restarted", "by": "Ke Wang", "jit_request": "JIT-4F2A9C", ...}

How it works

sequenceDiagram
    autonumber
    actor U as You
    participant CC as Claude Code
    participant M as MCP server (Docker)
    participant E as Entra ID

    U->>CC: /mcp → Authenticate
    CC->>M: discover OAuth metadata, register, authorize (PKCE)
    M->>E: redirect browser to Microsoft sign-in (PKCE)
    U->>E: sign in
    E-->>M: code → Entra access token (aud=api://<app>, scp=mcp.access)
    M-->>CC: back to Claude Code with the token
    CC->>M: tools/call restart_service(prod) + Bearer token
    M->>M: validate token, JIT policy: no grant
    M-->>CC: error: JIT-4F2A9C pending + approval link
    U->>M: open link, sign in, Approve
    M->>M: grant: user + tool + {service, env}, 15 min
    CC->>M: retry restart_service(prod)
    M-->>CC: restarted

More detail: docs/architecture.md.

Related MCP server: cco-mcp

What's in the box

Tools exposed to the agent:

The "infrastructure" is a fake inventory in SQLite, so the demo is safe to run anywhere.

Quick start

Needs Docker and Claude Code. One Entra app registration (see docs/entra-setup.md; scripts/create-entra-app.sh does it with the Azure CLI).

git clone https://github.com/kxw9298/mcp-jit-entra-demo.git && cd mcp-jit-entra-demo
scripts/up.sh <tenant-id> <client-id>      # writes .env, builds the image, starts the container
claude                                     # the repo's .mcp.json points Claude Code at http://localhost:8000/mcp

In Claude Code run /mcp, pick jit-mcp → Authenticate. Your browser opens the Microsoft sign-in page; after you sign in it returns to Claude Code. Then try "who am I on jit-mcp?" and "restart payments in prod".

Outside this repo: claude mcp add --transport http jit-mcp http://localhost:8000/mcp.

Step-by-step walkthrough for a live demo: docs/demo-script.md.

How Claude Code signs in

The MCP spec has the client send resource=<MCP server URL> (RFC 8707) to the authorization server. Entra ID only accepts its own api://... identifier there and fails with AADSTS9010010 (issue). So this server is Claude Code's authorization server and Entra does the actual login (app/oauth_proxy.py):

1. Claude Code discovers the server's OAuth metadata, registers itself (dynamic client registration) and starts auth code + PKCE.

2. The server sends the browser to Entra (its own auth code + PKCE, public client, no secret, no resource parameter).

3. Entra redirects back to the server, which redeems the code and returns Claude Code to its loopback callback.

4. Claude Code receives the real Entra access token (aud=api://<app>, scp=mcp.access); the server validates it exactly as before. Entra's refresh token stays on the server; Claude Code gets an opaque, rotating handle.

Policy

approval_mode: self          # or two_person: someone else must approve
approvers: []                # optional allow-list of approver usernames
request_expiry_minutes: 30
reauth_minutes: 10           # approver must have signed in recently, else sign in again

tools:
  restart_service:
    jit_when: { env: [prod] }
    ttl_minutes: 15
    bind_args: [service, env]
  rotate_secret:
    jit_when: always
    ttl_minutes: 5
    bind_args: [service, env]
    single_use: true

policy.yaml is mounted into the container; run docker compose restart after editing it.

Tests

pip install -r requirements-dev.txt
pytest -q

The tests start a mock Entra ID (JWKS, authorize and token endpoints with PKCE) and the real server on local ports, then drive it with the MCP Python client and an HTTP "browser". They cover token rejection (audience, tenant, expiry, signature, scope), the full request → approve → retry flow, argument binding, revocation, single-use grants, denial, the two-person rule, CSRF, and forced re-authentication before approval.

Docs

• docs/architecture.md: components, token checks, JIT data model

• docs/entra-setup.md: app registration in the portal, by hand

• docs/demo-script.md: a 10-minute live demo

• docs/production.md: where grants live in production (Entra PIM, SailPoint) and how the server enforces them

• docs/security-notes.md: what this demo does and doesn't protect against, and how to harden it

License

MIT