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Using Northbeams

Govern MCP tools with the Gateway

Last updated 2026-07-10

The MCP Gateway sits in the path between your coding agents (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Claude Code) and the MCP servers they call. It governs individual tools, not just whole servers.

The MCP page: every MCP server and tool your agents call, with a per-tool allow, warn, or block policy.

What it does

  • In-path. It sits between the agent and the tool, so it can enforce a decision, not just observe.
  • On-device. It classifies the tool-call arguments on the laptop. Argument values never leave the device.
  • Per-tool. Set allow, warn, or block for each tool a server exposes, from the MCP page in your dashboard.

Turning it on

The MCP Gateway is a feature of the Northbeams desktop app on the Sentinel and Fleet tiers. A user opts in during the desktop installer's wizard step, and the app wraps the MCP-aware clients it finds automatically.

Related: Set policies: allow, warn, block for the browser, desktop, and CLI surfaces.

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