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Connecting MCP Servers - AWS DevOps Agent
RequirementsSecurity considerationsRegistering an MCP server (account-level)Configuring MCP tools in an Agent SpaceManaging MCP server connectionsCreating an IAM role for SigV4 authenticationRelated topics

Connecting MCP Servers

Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers extend AWS DevOps Agent's investigation capabilities by providing access to data from your external observability tools, custom monitoring systems, and operational data sources. This guide explains how to connect an MCP server to AWS DevOps Agent.

Requirements

Before connecting an MCP server, ensure your server meets these requirements:

  • Streamable HTTP transport protocol – Only MCP servers that implement the Streamable HTTP transport protocol are supported.

  • Authentication support – Your MCP server must support one of the following authentication methods: OAuth 2.0 (Client Credentials or 3LO), API key/token-based authentication, or AWS Signature Version 4 (SigV4).

Security considerations

When connecting MCP servers to AWS DevOps Agent, consider these security aspects:

  • Tool allowlisting – You should allowlist only the specific tools your Agent Space needs, rather than exposing all tools from your MCP server. See Configuring MCP tools in an Agent Space for how to allow list tools per Agent Space.

Please note that the maximum tool length of any MCP tool is 64.

  • Prompt injection risks – Custom MCP servers can introduce additional risk of prompt injection attacks. See Prompt injection protection: AWS DevOps Agent Security for more information.

  • Read-only tools and access – Only allowlist read-only MCP tools and ensure that authentication credentials are only permitted read-only access.

See AWS DevOps Agent Security for more information on prompt injection and the shared responsibility model.

Note

If your MCP server is on a private network, see Connecting to privately hosted tools

Registering an MCP server (account-level)

MCP servers are registered at the AWS account level and shared among all Agent Spaces in that account. Individual Agent Spaces can then choose which specific tools they need from each MCP server.

Step 1: MCP server details

  1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console

  2. Navigate to the AWS DevOps Agent console

  3. Go to the Capability Providers page (accessible from the side navigation)

  4. Find MCP Server in the Available providers section and click Register

  5. On the MCP server details page, enter the following information:

    • Name – Enter a descriptive name for your MCP server

    • Endpoint URL – Enter the full HTTPS URL of your MCP server endpoint

    • Description (optional) – Add a description to help identify the server's purpose

    • Enable Dynamic Client Registration – Select this checkbox if you want to allow AWS DevOps Agent to automatically register with your MCP server's authorization server

    • Connect to endpoint using private connection – Select this checkbox if you want AWS DevOps Agent to make requests to your MCP server privately. You may select an existing private connection or create a new one. If you use OAuth authentication, the private connection applies to both the MCP server endpoint and the token exchange endpoint. Ensure the private connection is configured with a host address that can route traffic to both endpoints. For more information, see Connecting to privately hosted tools.

  6. Click Next

Note

The MCP server endpoint URL will be displayed in AWS CloudTrail logs in your account.

Step 2: Authorization flow

Select the authentication method for your MCP server:

OAuth Client Credentials – If your MCP server uses OAuth Client Credentials flow:

  1. Select OAuth Client Credentials

  2. Click Next

OAuth 3LO (Three-Legged OAuth) – If your MCP server uses OAuth 3LO for authentication:

  1. Select OAuth 3LO

  2. Click Next

API Key – If your MCP server uses API key authentication:

  1. Select API Key

  2. Click Next

AWS SigV4 – If your MCP server uses AWS Signature Version 4 authentication:

  1. Select AWS SigV4

  2. Click Next

Step 3: Authorization configuration

Configure additional authorization parameters based on the selected authentication method:

For OAuth Client Credentials:

  1. Client ID – Enter the client ID of the OAuth client

  2. Client Secret – Enter the client secret of the OAuth client

  3. Exchange URL – Enter the OAuth token exchange endpoint URL

  4. Exchange Parameters – Enter OAuth token exchange parameters for authenticating with the service

  5. Add Scope – Add OAuth scopes for authentication

  6. Click Next

For OAuth 3LO:

  1. Client ID – Enter the client ID of the OAuth client

  2. Client Secret – Enter the client secret of the OAuth client if it’s required by your OAuth client

  3. Exchange URL – Enter the OAuth token exchange endpoint URL

  4. Authorization URL - Enter the OAuth authorization endpoint URL

  5. Code Challenge Support - Select this checkbox if your OAuth client supports code challenge

  6. Add Scope – Add OAuth scopes for authentication

  7. Click Next

For API Key:

  1. Enter an API key name

  2. Enter the the name of the header that will contain the API key in the request

  3. Enter your API key value

  4. Click Next

For AWS SigV4:

AWS SigV4 authentication allows AWS DevOps Agent to connect to MCP servers that use AWS Signature Version 4 for request signing. This is useful for MCP servers hosted behind Amazon API Gateway or other AWS services that support SigV4 authentication.

  1. Configure IAM role – Choose one of the following options:

    • Use an existing role – Select an existing IAM role from the dropdown. The role must have a trust policy that allows the AWS DevOps Agent service principal to assume it (see Creating an IAM role for SigV4 authentication).

    • Create a new role manually – Follow the step-by-step instructions displayed in the console to create a new IAM role with the correct trust policy.

  2. AWS Region – Enter the AWS Region for SigV4 signing (for example, us-east-1). To use SigV4a multi-region signing, enter *.

  3. Service Name – Enter the AWS service name for SigV4 signing (for example, execute-api for API Gateway).

  4. Custom Headers (optional) – Add up to 10 custom key-value header pairs to include with each signed request.

  5. Click Next

Step 4: Review and submit

  1. Review all the MCP server configuration details

  2. Click Submit to complete the registration

  3. AWS DevOps Agent will validate the connection to your MCP server

  4. Upon successful validation, your MCP server will be registered at the account level

Configuring MCP tools in an Agent Space

After registering an MCP server at the account level, you can configure which tools from that server are available to specific Agent Spaces:

  1. In the AWS DevOps Agent console, select your Agent Space

  2. Go to the Capabilities tab

  3. In the MCP Servers section, click Add

  4. Select the registered MCP server you want to connect to this Agent Space

  5. Configure which tools from this MCP server should be available to the Agent Space:

    • Allow all tools – Makes all tools from the MCP server available

    • Select specific tools – Allows you to choose which tools to allowlist

  6. Click Add to connect the MCP server to your Agent Space

AWS DevOps Agent will now be able to use the allowlisted tools from your MCP server during investigations in this Agent Space.

Managing MCP server connections

Updating authentication credentials – If your authentication credentials need to be updated, you will need to re-register your MCP server. Navigate to the Capability Providers page in the AWS DevOps Agent console, locate your MCP server, remove any active associations, and click Deregister. Next, register your MCP server with the new authentication credentials and re-create any necessary associations with your Agent Space.

Viewing connected MCP servers – To see all MCP servers connected to your Agent Space, select your Agent Space, go to the Capabilities tab, and check the MCP Servers section. You can also update selected tools here.

Removing MCP server connections – To disconnect an MCP server from an Agent Space, select the server in the MCP Servers section and click Remove. To completely delete an MCP server registration, remove it from all Agent Spaces first, then delete the account-level registration.

Creating an IAM role for SigV4 authentication

When using AWS SigV4 authentication, AWS DevOps Agent assumes an IAM role in your account to sign requests to your MCP server. This role must have a trust policy that allows the AWS DevOps Agent service principal (aidevops.amazonaws.com) to assume it, with confused deputy protection.

Trust policy

Create an IAM role with the following trust policy. Replace REGION with your AWS Region (for example, us-east-1) and ACCOUNT_ID with your AWS account ID.

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Principal": {
        "Service": "aidevops.amazonaws.com"
      },
      "Action": "sts:AssumeRole",
      "Condition": {
        "StringEquals": {
          "aws:SourceAccount": "ACCOUNT_ID"
        },
        "ArnLike": {
          "aws:SourceArn": "arn:aws:aidevops:REGION:ACCOUNT_ID:service/*"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

The trust policy includes the following conditions to prevent the confused deputy problem :

  • aws:SourceAccount – Restricts role assumption to requests originating from your AWS account.

  • aws:SourceArn – Restricts role assumption to requests originating from AWS DevOps Agent service resources in your account.

Permissions policy

Attach a permissions policy to the role that grants the minimum permissions required to invoke your MCP server. For example, if your MCP server is hosted behind Amazon API Gateway, the role should have execute-api:Invoke permission on the API Gateway resource.

Multi-region signing (SigV4a)

If your MCP server is deployed across multiple AWS Regions, you can use SigV4a (Signature Version 4a) for multi-region signing. To enable this, enter * as the AWS Region when configuring the SigV4 authorization. SigV4a uses asymmetric signing, which allows a single signed request to be valid across multiple Regions.

  • Security in AWS DevOps Agent

  • Setting up an Agent Space

  • Prompt Injection Protection