Adding Remote Support and Authentication to a Local MCP Server

A secure Playwright MCP server with authentication and role-based access control powered by Descope. This project demonstrates how to add enterprise-grade security to MCP servers for safe remote access and team collaboration.

How it Works

1. The MCP client, in this case, the MCP Inspector, registers with the proxy via the DCR.

2. It redirects you to the authentication/consent flow set up in the Descope console.

3. You log in and consent to the requested scopes.

4. Descope issues an access token to the MCP client.

5. The MCP client includes this token in its requests to the proxy server.

6. The proxy server validates the token before forwarding the request to the MCP server.

Related MCP server: auth-vault

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+

• A Descope account

• Follow along with the article to set up the Descope project

Local Setup

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/kimanikevin254/descope-playwright-mcp-auth.git
   cd descope-playwright-mcp-auth

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Configure environment variables by copying the .env.example file and replacing the placeholder values with the actual project credentials from the Descope Console:

   cp .env.example .env

4. Start the MCP server (Terminal 1):

   npm run start:mcp

5. Start the auth proxy (Terminal 2):

   npx nodemon --exec 'ts-node' src/auth-proxy.ts

6. Test with MCP Inspector (Terminal 3):

   npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector@0.17.2 --transport http --server-url http://localhost:3000/mcp

   If you have another machine running on the network, you can run the MCP Inspector on it with the command npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector@0.17.2 --transport http --server-url http://<AUTH-PROXY-MACHINE-IP>:3000/mcp, where <AUTH-PROXY-MACHINE-IP> is the IP address of the machine that is running both the MCP server and the auth proxy.

7. Once the MCP Inspector UI launches, select Connect to connect to your MCP server.