# Read a resource from an AgentCore gateway To read a specific resource, make a POST request to the gateway’s MCP endpoint and specify `resources/read` as the method in the request body and the URI of the resource: ``` POST /mcp HTTP/1.1 Host: ${GatewayEndpoint} Content-Type: application/json Authorization: ${Authorization header} ${RequestBody} ``` Replace the following values: + `${GatewayEndpoint}` – The URL of the gateway, as provided in the response of the [CreateGateway](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/bedrock-agentcore-control/latest/APIReference/API_CreateGateway.html) API. + `${Authorization header}` – The authorization credentials from the identity provider when you set up [inbound authorization](gateway-inbound-auth.md). + `${RequestBody}` – The JSON payload of the request body, as specified in [Reading resources](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/2025-06-18/server/resources#reading-resources) in the [Model Context Protocol (MCP)](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/docs/getting-started/intro) . Include `resources/read` as the `method` and include the `uri` of the resource. The response returns a `contents` array where each entry includes the `uri`, `mimeType`, and either `text` (for text content) or `blob` (base64-encoded binary content). **Note** The `resources/read` operation proxies the request live to the downstream MCP server. The resource URI is the raw URI as returned by `resources/list` (no target prefix). **Note** When multiple targets expose the same resource URI, the gateway routes the request to the target with the lowest `resourcePriority` value. **Important** The `uri` parameter is passed through to the downstream MCP server target without sanitization. A user-provided resource URI could contain a malicious URL endpoint intended for SSRF attacks or attempt to read local filesystem paths (for example, `file:///etc/passwd`). Validate resource URIs against an allowlist of expected URI schemes and patterns before calling `resources/read`. Only use URIs returned by `resources/list` from trusted MCP server targets. ## Code samples for reading a resource To see examples of reading a resource from the gateway, select one of the following methods: **Example** 1. The following curl request shows an example request to read a resource with URI `config://app-settings` through a gateway with the ID `mygateway-abcdefghij`. ``` curl -X POST \ https://mygateway-abcdefghij.gateway.bedrock-agentcore.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/mcp \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN" \ -d '{ "jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": "read-resource-request", "method": "resources/read", "params": { "uri": "config://app-settings" } }' ``` 1. ``` import requests import json def read_resource(gateway_url, access_token, resource_uri): headers = { "Content-Type": "application/json", "Authorization": f"Bearer {access_token}" } payload = { "jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": "read-resource-request", "method": "resources/read", "params": { "uri": resource_uri } } response = requests.post(gateway_url, headers=headers, json=payload) return response.json() # Example usage gateway_url = "https://${GatewayEndpoint}/mcp" # Replace with your actual gateway endpoint access_token = "${AccessToken}" # Replace with your actual access token result = read_resource( gateway_url, access_token, "config://app-settings" # Replace with the resource URI from resources/list ) print(json.dumps(result, indent=2)) ``` 1. ``` from mcp import ClientSession from mcp.client.streamable_http import streamablehttp_client from pydantic import AnyUrl import asyncio async def execute_mcp( url, token, resource_uri, headers=None ): default_headers = { "Authorization": f"Bearer {token}" } headers = {**default_headers, **(headers or {})} async with streamablehttp_client( url=url, headers=headers, ) as ( read_stream, write_stream, callA, ): async with ClientSession(read_stream, write_stream) as session: # 1. Perform initialization handshake print("Initializing MCP...") _init_response = await session.initialize() print(f"MCP Server Initialize successful! - {_init_response}") # 2. Read specific resource print(f"Reading resource: {resource_uri}") resource_response = await session.read_resource(uri=AnyUrl(resource_uri)) for content in resource_response.contents: print(f"URI: {content.uri}, MIME: {content.mimeType}") if hasattr(content, 'text') and content.text: print(f"Text: {content.text}") elif hasattr(content, 'blob') and content.blob: print(f"Blob (base64): {content.blob[:100]}...") return resource_response async def main(): url = "https://${GatewayEndpoint}/mcp" token = "your_bearer_token_here" resource_uri = "config://app-settings" await execute_mcp( url=url, token=token, resource_uri=resource_uri ) if __name__ == "__main__": asyncio.run(main()) ``` 1. NOTE: Strands SDK resource support may vary. Use the MCP Client approach above for the most reliable `resources/read` implementation. ``` from strands.tools.mcp.mcp_client import MCPClient from mcp.client.streamable_http import streamablehttp_client def create_streamable_http_transport(mcp_url: str, access_token: str): return streamablehttp_client(mcp_url, headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {access_token}"}) def run_agent(mcp_url: str, access_token: str): mcp_client = MCPClient(lambda: create_streamable_http_transport(mcp_url, access_token)) with mcp_client: result = mcp_client.read_resource_sync(uri="config://app-settings") print(result) run_agent(, ) ``` 1. NOTE: LangGraph MCP adapter resource support may vary. Use the MCP Client approach above for the most reliable `resources/read` implementation. ``` import asyncio from mcp import ClientSession from mcp.client.streamable_http import streamablehttp_client from pydantic import AnyUrl async def read_resource(url, token, resource_uri): headers = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {token}"} async with streamablehttp_client(url=url, headers=headers) as ( read_stream, write_stream, callA ): async with ClientSession(read_stream, write_stream) as session: await session.initialize() response = await session.read_resource(uri=AnyUrl(resource_uri)) for content in response.contents: if hasattr(content, 'text') and content.text: print(f"{content.uri}: {content.text}") elif hasattr(content, 'blob') and content.blob: print(f"{content.uri}: ") asyncio.run(read_resource( "https://${GatewayEndpoint}/mcp", "${AccessToken}", "config://app-settings" )) ``` ## Errors The `resources/read` operation can return the following types of errors: + Errors returned as part of the HTTP status code: **AuthenticationError** The request failed due to invalid authentication credentials. **HTTP Status Code** : 401 **AuthorizationError** The caller does not have permission to read the resource. **HTTP Status Code** : 403 **ResourceNotFoundError** The specified resource URI does not exist or is not exposed by any target. **HTTP Status Code** : 404 **ValidationError** The provided URI is malformed or missing. **HTTP Status Code** : 400 **InternalServerError** An internal server error occurred. **HTTP Status Code** : 500 + MCP errors. For more information about these types of errors, see [Resources](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/2025-06-18/server/resources) in the [Model Context Protocol (MCP)](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/docs/getting-started/intro) documentation.