Toolport is a local-first MCP gateway aimed at developers who use multiple AI coding/chat clients. MCP is the protocol that lets AI applications access tools such as GitHub, Slack, and databases, and Toolport's goal is to let these servers be set up once and then shared across all AI clients.
[Purpose]
- Unified MCP server management: connect once, then reuse across Claude, Cursor, Codex, VS Code, and other clients.
- Reduce context overhead: the proxy searches tools on demand rather than preloading all tool definitions; the official claim is that there are clear benefits only when the number of tools exceeds about 10 to 25, with no obvious gain in small single-server scenarios.
- Localized secrets: credentials are stored in the operating system keychain and are not written to client configuration files.
[Main capabilities]
- Lazy discovery: it is claimed to save about 90% of tokens.
- Tool integrity + quarantine.
- Tool invocation control: you can disable tools, require approval for destructive calls, and review activity records in one place.
- Shared proxy rules: write instructions once and apply them to supported clients, with a preview before changes are written.
- Profiles: choose which servers each client can access.
- Toolport Teams: share server configurations and policies across teams, with each member keeping their own credentials; hosted and self-hosted options are available.
[How to use]
- Download the Windows, macOS, or Linux version from the official website (installers and release notes are also available on GitHub Releases).
- Add servers from the directory, import existing configurations, or paste a server configuration; curated servers that require startup parameters will show a Launch setup section in the app.
- After authenticating the server, open Clients and connect the AI application; restart or reload the client once to connect to Toolport.
- On Arch and Omarchy, Toolport can be kept up to date regularly through the pacman repository.
- There are also documentation topics related to headless gateways and Docker, Open WebUI, and agent plugins, among others.
[Environment requirements] Requires Node.js and stable Rust, as well as Contributing platform dependencies described in Contributing. Build and test instructions are in Contributing.
[License] The desktop app and gateway use the MIT license.
The remaining details (such as the sources for specific performance figures, the complete client list, etc.) are not fully expanded in the materials and are not provided for now.
