Using Docker MCP Gateway
Docker MCP Gateway provides access to hundreds of MCP servers from a curated catalog, with security and scalability ensured by Docker. Sema4.ai Studio integrates with Docker MCP Gateway to provide a seamless experience for building agents. You'll easily control your MCP servers in Docker Desktop and use them with one click in Studio.
- Discover and use hundreds of MCP servers from a curated catalog
- Manage your MCP servers and their configurations securely through Docker Desktop
- Use them in your agents through one click in Studio
Prerequisites
In order to use Docker MCP Gateway in Studio, you need to have:
- Docker Desktop's latest version installed and runningon your machine (download here (opens in a new tab))
- Studio version 1.3.6 or higher
How to use Docker MCP Gateway
Follow these simple steps to unleash the power of Docker MCP Gateway in Studio:
Open Docker Desktop
Open Docker Desktop and click on the MCP Toolkit tab.
Configure a MCP server
Click on the Catalog tab and search for the MCP server you want to use. As an example, we'll add Perplexity MCP server, which requires you to have a Perplexity API key.
Once you've found the MCP server you'd like to use, click on the + button to add it to your gateway. On the MCP server's configuration page, you'll need to provide the API key and any other required secrets or configurations for the MCP server. Some servers work without any configuration.
That's all it takes to configure an MCP server in to the gateway! Now over to Studio!
Link Docker MCP Gateway to Studio
Open Sema4.ai Studio and go to Actions. Then click on the MCP Servers tab. You'll see an element for linking with Docker MCP Toolkit. Click the icon to connect the Docker MCP Gateway to your Studio.
Once linked, you'll immediately see that Docker MCP Gateway is available as an MCP server in your Studio, and provides all combined tools that you have configured in Docker MCP Gateway.
This view has three options available:
- Refresh - refresh the list of tools provided by Docker MCP Gateway
- Unlink - unlink the Docker MCP Gateway from your Studio
- Open in Docker Desktop - open the Docker MCP Gateway in Docker Desktop
When editing adding or removing MCP servers in Docker MCP Gateway, you'll need to refresh the list of tools manually in Studio to see the changes.
Use the MCP server in your agents
Now you can use the Docker MCP Gateway with your agents just like any other MCP server. When creating or editing an agent and adding actions, you'll see Docker MCP Gateway as an option.
All tools that you have configured in the Docker MCP Gateway become available to your agents at once. Remember that if you change the setup in Docker MCP Gateway through Docker Desktop, your agents might not be able to use the tools they were initially configured to use.
Considerations
As of Sema4.ai Studio version 1.3.6, here are some considerations to keep in mind:
- If you unlink Docker MCP Gateway from Studio, all tools provided by Docker MCP Gateway become unavailable to your agents.
- Manual reload of tools is required in Studio after adding or removing MCP servers in Docker MCP Gateway.
- Studio do not yet support MCP Servers with OAuth. Support is coming soon.
- Sema4.ai Control Room does not yet support Docker MCP Gateway for deployed agents. Support is coming soon.
- All tools that you've configured in Docker MCP Gateway are available to the agent - the ability to exclude/include individual actions will be supported soon.