Authentication

Authentication policies define how callers prove identity and which Function permissions a successful policy grants. Policies are reusable across MCP Endpoints and HTTP APIs in the selected Project.

Policy types

MCP Ops Studio supports public access, API keys, static bearer tokens, HTTP Basic, JWT with remote JWKS, Microsoft Entra access tokens, and HMAC-SHA256 webhook signatures. A custom Function policy can implement a project-specific credential exchange or identity lookup.

Custom Function authentication

Select an enabled project Function when creating a custom Function policy. Its current version and every literal ctx.functions.call() dependency are pinned into the endpoint's immutable deployment snapshot.

The Function receives JSON request metadata:

export default async function handler(ctx, input) {
  const credential = input.request.headers["x-custom-token"];
  if (credential !== (await ctx.secrets.get("CUSTOM_AUTH_TOKEN")))
    return { authenticated: false, permissions: [] };

  return {
    authenticated: true,
    subject: "service:orders",
    permissions: ["orders.read"],
  };
}

input.request contains method, path, headers, query, and the parsed JSON body when present. An authenticated result requires subject; name, email, and permissions are optional. The runtime does not accept tenant context or arbitrary caller claims from custom authentication output.

The Function runs through the normal isolated executor with its declared Secrets, network policy, timeout, schemas, and internal Function graph. Because its input can contain credentials, auth invocation payloads and Function logs are not persisted.

Create a policy

1. Select New authentication policy.
2. Choose the authentication type.
3. Configure type-specific fields such as header name, issuer, audience, JWKS URL, signature header, or username.
4. Reference credential values by Project Secret name.
5. Add the Function permissions granted by this policy.
6. Assign and order the policy on each endpoint that uses it.

The runtime evaluates endpoint authentication first, endpoint access second, and Function permission authorization third. Every outcome receives a request ID and persisted execution record.

Related guides

• Secrets
• Secure an endpoint
• Audit log