MCP tunnels quickstart ​
Connect Claude to a private MCP server using a local Docker Compose deployment.
INFO
MCP tunnels is a research preview feature. Request access to try it.
This quickstart takes you from zero to Claude calling a private MCP server through a tunnel. It uses Docker Compose with manually supplied credentials, which is the shortest path for local testing. For production deployments, see Deploy with Helm or Deploy with Docker Compose.
What you'll build ​
A three-container stack on your machine: a sample MCP server, the tunnel proxy, and the outbound connector. When it's running, the sample server is reachable from Claude at https://echo.<your-tunnel-domain>/mcp even though nothing is listening on a public port.
What you need ​
- Docker and Docker Compose on a machine with outbound internet access.
- A role in the Claude Console that can manage MCP tunnels. See the Console guide prerequisites.
- OpenSSL 1.1.1 or later. Preinstalled on macOS and most Linux distributions; on Windows, install it separately (the
opensslbinary must be on yourPATH).
Create a tunnel ​
In the Claude Console sidebar, go to **Manage > MCP tunnels** and click **New tunnel**. Give it a name. Leave **Set up programmatic access** off; this quickstart uses manually supplied credentials.
After it's created, open the tunnel. Copy two values from the **Connection** section:
- **Domain** (looks like `abcd1234.tunnel.anthropic.com`)
- **Token** (click the eye icon, then copy)
Set up the deployment directory ​
bash
```bash
mkdir -p mcp-tunnel/{config,data}
cd mcp-tunnel
export TUNNEL_DOMAIN=YOUR_TUNNEL_DOMAIN_HERE # from step 1
export TUNNEL_TOKEN='eyJ...' # from step 1
```powershell
```powershell
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path mcp-tunnel/config, mcp-tunnel/data | Out-Null
Set-Location mcp-tunnel
$env:TUNNEL_DOMAIN = "YOUR_TUNNEL_DOMAIN_HERE" # from step 1
$env:TUNNEL_TOKEN = "eyJ..." # from step 1
```Generate a CA and server certificate ​
The proxy terminates an inner TLS handshake using a certificate signed by a CA you control. Generate both:
bash
```bash
openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes \
-keyout data/ca.key -out data/ca.crt \
-days 3650 -subj "/CN=mcp-tunnel-ca" \
-addext "basicConstraints=critical,CA:TRUE" \
-addext "keyUsage=critical,keyCertSign,cRLSign" \
-addext "subjectKeyIdentifier=hash"
cat > data/tls.ext <<EOF
subjectAltName = DNS:${TUNNEL_DOMAIN},DNS:*.${TUNNEL_DOMAIN}
authorityKeyIdentifier = keyid,issuer
extendedKeyUsage = serverAuth
EOF
openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes \
-keyout data/tls.key -out /tmp/server.csr \
-subj "/CN=${TUNNEL_DOMAIN}"
openssl x509 -req -in /tmp/server.csr \
-CA data/ca.crt -CAkey data/ca.key -CAcreateserial \
-out data/tls.crt -days 90 -extfile data/tls.ext
chmod 644 data/tls.key
```powershell
```powershell
openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes `
-keyout data/ca.key -out data/ca.crt `
-days 3650 -subj "/CN=mcp-tunnel-ca" `
-addext "basicConstraints=critical,CA:TRUE" `
-addext "keyUsage=critical,keyCertSign,cRLSign" `
-addext "subjectKeyIdentifier=hash"
@"
subjectAltName = DNS:$env:TUNNEL_DOMAIN,DNS:*.$env:TUNNEL_DOMAIN
authorityKeyIdentifier = keyid,issuer
extendedKeyUsage = serverAuth
"@ | Set-Content -NoNewline -Encoding ascii -Path data/tls.ext
openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes `
-keyout data/tls.key -out data/server.csr `
-subj "/CN=$env:TUNNEL_DOMAIN"
openssl x509 -req -in data/server.csr `
-CA data/ca.crt -CAkey data/ca.key -CAcreateserial `
-out data/tls.crt -days 90 -extfile data/tls.ext
```Back in the Console, on the tunnel detail page, click **Add certificate** and upload `data/ca.crt` (or paste its contents). The tunnel status flips to **Active**.
Write the sample MCP server ​
bash
```bash
cat > hello_server.py <<'EOF'
from mcp.server.fastmcp import FastMCP
mcp = FastMCP("hello-server", host="0.0.0.0", port=9000)
@mcp.tool()
def hello(name: str = "world") -> str:
"""Say hello to someone."""
return f"Hello, {name}!"
if __name__ == "__main__":
mcp.run(transport="streamable-http")
EOF
```powershell
```powershell
@'
from mcp.server.fastmcp import FastMCP
mcp = FastMCP("hello-server", host="0.0.0.0", port=9000)
@mcp.tool()
def hello(name: str = "world") -> str:
"""Say hello to someone."""
return f"Hello, {name}!"
if __name__ == "__main__":
mcp.run(transport="streamable-http")
'@ | Set-Content -NoNewline -Encoding ascii -Path hello_server.py
```Write the proxy config and compose file ​
bash
```bash
cat > config/mcp-proxy.yaml <<EOF
listen_addr: ":8080"
tunnel_domain: ${TUNNEL_DOMAIN}
tls:
cert_file: /data/tls.crt
key_file: /data/tls.key
routes:
echo: http://hello-mcp:9000
EOF
cat > docker-compose.yaml <<'EOF'
services:
mcp-proxy:
image: us-docker.pkg.dev/anthropic-public-registry/images/mcp-proxy@sha256:6b9adedbf2763143ec72f106ecaf0ce7fd3294e89b208f54a1db97a33d14c5ba
volumes:
- ./config/mcp-proxy.yaml:/etc/mcp-gateway/config.yaml:ro
- ./data:/data:ro
restart: unless-stopped
cloudflared:
image: cloudflare/cloudflared@sha256:6b599ca3e974349ead3286d178da61d291961182ec3fe9c505e1dd02c8ac31b0
command: tunnel --no-autoupdate run --url http://localhost:8080
environment:
- TUNNEL_TOKEN
network_mode: "service:mcp-proxy"
restart: unless-stopped
hello-mcp:
image: python:3.13-slim
working_dir: /app
volumes:
- ./hello_server.py:/app/hello_server.py:ro
command: sh -c "pip install --quiet mcp && python hello_server.py"
restart: unless-stopped
EOF
```powershell
```powershell
@"
listen_addr: ":8080"
tunnel_domain: $env:TUNNEL_DOMAIN
tls:
cert_file: /data/tls.crt
key_file: /data/tls.key
routes:
echo: http://hello-mcp:9000
"@ | Set-Content -NoNewline -Encoding ascii -Path config/mcp-proxy.yaml
@'
services:
mcp-proxy:
image: us-docker.pkg.dev/anthropic-public-registry/images/mcp-proxy@sha256:6b9adedbf2763143ec72f106ecaf0ce7fd3294e89b208f54a1db97a33d14c5ba
volumes:
- ./config/mcp-proxy.yaml:/etc/mcp-gateway/config.yaml:ro
- ./data:/data:ro
restart: unless-stopped
cloudflared:
image: cloudflare/cloudflared@sha256:6b599ca3e974349ead3286d178da61d291961182ec3fe9c505e1dd02c8ac31b0
command: tunnel --no-autoupdate run --url http://localhost:8080
environment:
- TUNNEL_TOKEN
network_mode: "service:mcp-proxy"
restart: unless-stopped
hello-mcp:
image: python:3.13-slim
working_dir: /app
volumes:
- ./hello_server.py:/app/hello_server.py:ro
command: sh -c "pip install --quiet mcp && python hello_server.py"
restart: unless-stopped
'@ | Set-Content -NoNewline -Encoding ascii -Path docker-compose.yaml
```Start it ​
bash
```bash
docker compose up -d
docker compose logs mcp-proxy | grep "route configured"
docker compose logs cloudflared | grep "Registered tunnel connection"
```powershell
```powershell
docker compose up -d
docker compose logs mcp-proxy | Select-String "route configured"
docker compose logs cloudflared | Select-String "Registered tunnel connection"
```You should see one `route configured` line for `echo` and four `Registered tunnel connection` lines. The containers take a few seconds to start; rerun the log commands if they come back empty.
Call it from Claude ​
In the Console, go to **Managed Agents > Sessions** and create a session. In the agent picker choose **Create new agent**, then click **+ MCP Server**, select your tunnel, set **Subdomain** to `echo` and **Path** to `mcp`. Then ask:
> Use the hello tool to greet tunnel.
You should see a tool call followed by its result.
Next steps ​
The tunnel is verified end to end. For production deployments:
Hardened single-host deployment, with or without programmatic access.
Kubernetes deployment with automatic credential management.