Model Context Protocol

What is the Model Context Protocol?

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard that enables AI assistants and agents to securely connect to external data sources and tools. It provides a unified way for AI systems to interact with services like Notion, GitHub, Slack, databases, and more.

Think of MCP as a universal adapter between AI systems and the tools they need. Instead of building custom integrations for each AI platform and each tool, MCP provides a standardized protocol that any AI client can use to connect to any MCP-compatible server.

How Does MCP Work?

MCP follows a client-server architecture:

• MCP Clients: AI applications like Claude, ChatGPT, or custom AI agents that need to access external tools.
• MCP Servers: Services that expose tools and capabilities through the MCP protocol. These can be first-party servers (like Notion's official MCP server) or custom servers you build.

When an AI assistant needs to perform an action—like searching Notion, creating a GitHub issue, or querying a database—it communicates with the appropriate MCP server using the standardized protocol.

Why Do You Need Agent Sentinel?

While MCP provides the protocol for AI-tool communication, it doesn't solve the governance and security challenges that organizations face:

The Challenge

• Credential Sprawl: Each user connecting AI tools to MCP servers manages their own credentials, creating security blind spots.
• No Visibility: Organizations have no insight into what tools AI agents are using or what data they're accessing.
• Ungoverned Access: Without centralized control, AI agents may access tools and data they shouldn't.
• Compliance Risk: Audit requirements demand logging and monitoring of AI system activities.

The Solution

Infisical Agent Sentinel acts as a secure gateway between AI clients and MCP servers:

graph LR
    A[AI Client] --> B[Infisical MCP Endpoint]
    B --> C[Notion]
    B --> D[GitHub]
    B --> E[Slack]

This architecture provides:

1. Centralized Credential Management: Store and manage MCP server credentials in one place. Choose between shared credentials (one credential for all users) or personal credentials (each user authenticates individually) based on your security and compliance needs.
2. Tool Governance: Control exactly which tools from each MCP server are available through your endpoints.
3. Complete Audit Trail: Every tool invocation is logged with full request/response details, user attribution, and timestamps.
4. Access Control: Leverage Infisical's existing access control mechanisms to manage who can use which endpoints.

Learn more about credential modes when configuring MCP servers.