Skip to content
Status

MCP Gateway / Playground

Playground

Test MCP servers in an in-dashboard agent before distributing them or connecting a real client.

The Playground is an in-dashboard agent harness for testing MCP servers before distributing them. It is the last step of the build lifecycle before a server reaches real clients, and it works for remote and tunneled servers too. Open it from MCP Gateway > Playground in the project sidebar.

Access requirements

Section titled “Access requirements”

Viewing this page requires the mcp:connect, mcp:read, or mcp:write scope. Running tools in the playground requires the mcp:connect scope, and editing saved playground or server configuration requires the mcp:write scope. The default Admin role includes full access; the default Member role can open and use the playground but cannot edit saved configuration.

Testing a server

Section titled “Testing a server”

Pick any of the project’s MCP servers from the Select MCP picker. Servers built from OpenAPI documents and functions and servers added from the catalog or by URL both appear in the same list; tunneled servers appear when tunneling is enabled for the organization. Authenticate against the server if it requires it, then chat with a model that calls the server’s tools live.

While chatting:

  • Mention tools directly by typing @ followed by the tool name to steer which ones the model uses
  • Click Show Logs to open the logs panel and see each tool call’s request and response
  • Adjust the configuration panel to change the server, the model, its temperature and maximum tokens, and, for built servers, the environment and authentication used for the session
  • For built servers, open Manage tools to add tools from any of the project’s sources or remove tools from the server without leaving the playground; clicking a tool opens its name, description, and annotations for editing
  • Share a chat with the share button, which copies a link to the conversation

Servers added from the catalog or by URL show a read-only list of the tools the upstream server advertises. Tool curation, authentication, and environment settings for those servers live on the server’s own page.

When to use it

Section titled “When to use it”

Use the playground to verify a new source produces working tools, debug authentication before distributing a server to real agents through its install page or a plugin, and reproduce tool behavior reported by users without leaving the dashboard.