Connect upstream MCP servers with forwards

A forward connects Wanaku to one upstream MCP server. Agents call the tools through Wanaku, and Wanaku forwards each allowed call to the upstream server.

Register a forward

Use the CLI to register a forward to an MCP server:

wanaku forwards add --service="http://localhost:8180/mcp" --name my-mcp-server --namespace default --no-auth

Wanaku connects to the upstream server. It discovers and registers all available tools. Each forward connects to one upstream MCP server. Wanaku automatically discovers the tools, resources, and prompts on that server.

List the discovered tools:

wanaku tools list --no-auth

To register more upstream servers, add one forward for each server. To register forwards at startup, put them in the forwards section of wanaku.yaml. To register forwards through the REST API, read Create a Forward.

When Wanaku runs in a container, localhost is the container itself. Read Run Wanaku in a container for the addresses of services on the host.

Next steps

• Give each team its own MCP endpoint with namespaces: put forwards in separate namespaces.
• Keep API keys away from AI agents with credential brokerage: give a forward the token that the upstream server requires.
• Govern AI agent tool calls: allow or deny the calls to the discovered tools.