How do I connect an IDE to the router over MCP?

One configuration block: Streamable HTTP at the router's /mcp endpoint with the workspace key as the Authorization header, or a stdio bridge through the CLI for clients that only launch local processes. The dashboard writes the block with the key in it.

Is an MCP router the same as an MCP gateway?

A gateway proxies MCP traffic to servers and manages access. A router additionally decides which model, agent or tool should handle a request and exposes that decision as MCP tools.

Which MCP transports does the router accept?

Streamable HTTP for remote clients and stdio for clients that launch a local process. Both expose the same tools, and both are metered against the same workspace key.

Glossary

MCP (Model Context Protocol)

MCP, the Model Context Protocol, is an open protocol through which AI assistants and agents discover and call tools, read resources and use prompts exposed by a server; an MCP router is an MCP server whose tools make the routing decision, and a router that imports other MCP servers as routing targets.

Assistants in editors and agent frameworks reach the outside world through MCP: a server lists its tools, resources and prompts in a standard shape, and the client calls them over stdio or Streamable HTTP. The protocol is what lets one assistant use a file system, a database and a ticketing system without bespoke integrations for each.

What the protocol does not cover is the model the assistant itself runs on - that is whatever the client was configured with. A router exposed as an MCP server fills the gap: tools named route, estimate, recommend, explain and feedback let the assistant ask which model deserves a task, what it will cost, route it under the workspace's policy and report the outcome - metered and traced like any request, with the workspace key in the server's configuration.

The reverse holds too. A router that imports MCP servers turns every tool, resource and prompt they expose into a routing target, ranked next to models and agents under one policy. Provenance checks on tool parameters and resource limits apply before a tool runs, so an argument that arrived from an untrusted source never reaches a tool unchecked.

On this site

MCP (Model Context Protocol): the short answers

How do I connect an IDE to the router over MCP?: One configuration block: Streamable HTTP at the router's /mcp endpoint with the workspace key as the Authorization header, or a stdio bridge through the CLI for clients that only launch local processes. The dashboard writes the block with the key in it.
Is an MCP router the same as an MCP gateway?: A gateway proxies MCP traffic to servers and manages access. A router additionally decides which model, agent or tool should handle a request and exposes that decision as MCP tools.
Which MCP transports does the router accept?: Streamable HTTP for remote clients and stdio for clients that launch a local process. Both expose the same tools, and both are metered against the same workspace key.

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MCP (Model Context Protocol)