AgentGate

Official

by agentkitai · TypeScript

Human-in-the-loop approval gateway for AI agents over MCP: request, decide, approve.

AgentGate MCP Server: Human-in-the-loop approval gateway

AgentGate is a human-in-the-loop approval system for AI agents over the Model Context Protocol (MCP). Agents request actions, policies decide, and humans approve. The server is intended to keep humans in control of what AI agents can do.

🛠️ Key Features

Human-in-the-loop approval workflow for AI agents
Request → decide (policies) → approve execution model
MCP-based integration for agent action gating
Named as an approval system in its description

🚀 Use Cases

Approving AI agent actions before execution
Enforcing AI safety by requiring human approval
Implementing approval workflows for MCP-connected agents

⚡ Developer Benefits

Clear separation between agent requests, policy decisions, and human approvals
Developer-facing implementation aligned with stated tech topics: MCP and TypeScript

⚠️ Limitations

Only the approval workflow is described; no additional capabilities or supported tools are provided in the available data.

📌 Topics

ai-agents, ai-safety, approval-workflow, hono, human-in-the-loop, mcp, model-context-protocol, react, typescript

Topics

ai-agentsai-safetyapproval-workflowhonohuman-in-the-loopmcpmodel-context-protocolreacttypescript

README.md24 KBView on GitHub

AgentGate

Human-in-the-loop approval system for AI agents.
Agents request. Policies decide. Humans approve.
Keep humans in control of what AI agents can do.

AgentGate Demo

Your AI agent wants to send an email, delete a file, or deploy to production. Should it? AgentGate lets you define policies that auto-approve safe actions, auto-deny dangerous ones, and route everything else to a human — via dashboard, Slack, Discord, or email.

✨ Highlights

🛡️ Policy engine — auto-approve, auto-deny, or route to humans based on rules
👥 Multi-channel approvals — Slack, Discord, email, or web dashboard
🔌 TypeScript SDK + MCP — works with any agent framework or Claude Desktop
🪝 Webhooks with retry — real-time notifications with exponential backoff
📝 Full audit trail — every request, decision, and action logged, each policy decision tagged with the OWASP LLM Top-10 risk it mitigates (compliance evidence)
🐳 Docker-ready — one docker-compose up for the full stack
🔐 Production-hardened — SSRF protection, ReDoS defense, structured logging, graceful shutdown
🔗 One-click decision links — approve or deny directly from notification emails and webhooks
♿ Accessible UI — keyboard-navigable approval modals, focus trapping, ARIA labels
💀 Skeleton loading — smooth loading states across every dashboard page
⚡ Fast & lightweight — Hono server, SQLite or PostgreSQL

Quickstart

bash

# Self-host the full stack (server + dashboard + Postgres):
docker compose up

# …or from source:
pnpm install && pnpm --filter @agentkitai/agentgate-server db:migrate && pnpm --filter @agentkitai/agentgate-server bootstrap && pnpm dev

Drop AgentGate into an MCP client (Claude Desktop / Cursor / VS Code) — point it at the gateway:

jsonc

{ "mcpServers": { "agentgate": { "command": "npx", "args": ["@agentkitai/agentgate-mcp"] } } }

Dashboard

See all pending requests at a glance, color-coded by urgency so you know what needs attention first.

Dashboard

Approval Requests

Review, approve, or deny requests — filter by status to focus on what matters.

Requests

Audit Log

Search through every decision with filters for event type, action, actor, and date range.

Audit Log

Request Detail

Drill into any request to see parameters, context, timeline, and audit trail — with one-click Approve/Deny buttons.

Request Detail

API Keys

Manage API keys with fine-grained scopes, rate limits, and usage tracking. Create, edit, or revoke keys from the dashboard.

API Keys

Webhooks

Configure webhook endpoints for real-time notifications. Add URLs, pick events, and let AgentGate handle retries automatically.

Webhooks

Quick Start
Architecture
Packages
SDK Usage
CLI
MCP Integration
Authentication
API Endpoints
Rate Limiting
Webhooks
Configuration
Docker Deployment
Development
Troubleshooting
Contributing
License

Quick Start

1. Install dependencies

bash

pnpm install

2. Run database migrations

bash

pnpm --filter @agentkitai/agentgate-server db:migrate

3. Bootstrap (create admin API key)

bash

pnpm --filter @agentkitai/agentgate-server bootstrap

Save the API key - it's shown once only! Set it in your environment:

bash

export AGENTGATE_API_KEY="agk_..."

4. Start the development environment

bash

# Start server (port 3000) and dashboard (port 5173)
pnpm dev

5. Run the demo

In a new terminal (with API key set):

bash

export AGENTGATE_API_KEY="agk_..."
pnpm demo

6. Open the dashboard

Visit http://localhost:5173 to view and manage approval requests.

Architecture

code

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                         AI Agents                                │
│  (use @agentkitai/agentgate-sdk or MCP to request approvals)               │
└───────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────┘
                            │ HTTP API (authenticated)
                            ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    AgentGate Server                              │
│  ┌──────────────┐  ┌──────────────┐  ┌──────────────┐          │
│  │ Policy Engine│  │ Request Store│  │ Audit Logger │          │
│  ├──────────────┤  ├──────────────┤  ├──────────────┤          │
│  │  API Keys    │  │  Webhooks    │  │  MCP Server  │          │
│  └──────────────┘  └──────────────┘  └──────────────┘          │
└───────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────┘
                            │
              ┌─────────────┼─────────────┐
              ▼             ▼             ▼
┌────────────────┐ ┌────────────────┐ ┌────────────────┐
│  Web Dashboard │ │   Slack Bot    │ │  Discord Bot   │
│(React+Tailwind)│ │(approve in DM) │ │(approve in ch) │
└────────────────┘ └────────────────┘ └────────────────┘
              │             │             │
              └─────────────┼─────────────┘
                            ▼
                      ┌──────────┐
                      │  Humans  │
                      └──────────┘

Packages

Package	Description	Docs
`@agentkitai/agentgate-core`	Types, schemas, policy engine	-
`@agentkitai/agentgate-server`	Hono API server	-
`@agentkitai/agentgate-sdk`	TypeScript SDK for agents	README
`@agentkitai/agentgate-cli`	Command-line interface	-
`@agentkitai/agentgate-mcp`	MCP server for Claude Desktop	-
`@agentkitai/agentgate-slack`	Slack bot integration	README
`@agentkitai/agentgate-discord`	Discord bot integration	README
`@agentkitai/agentgate-dashboard`	React web dashboard	-

SDK Usage

typescript

import { AgentGateClient } from '@agentkitai/agentgate-sdk';

// Create client with API key
const client = new AgentGateClient({
  baseUrl: 'http://localhost:3000',
  apiKey: process.env.AGENTGATE_API_KEY,
});

// Request approval
const request = await client.request({
  action: 'send_email',
  params: {
    to: 'customer@example.com',
    subject: 'Order shipped!',
  },
  urgency: 'normal',
});

// Wait for human decision
const decided = await client.waitForDecision(request.id, {
  timeout: 60000, // 1 minute
});

if (decided.status === 'approved') {
  // Execute the action
  await sendEmail(decided.params);
} else {
  console.log('Action denied:', decided.decisionReason);
}

CLI

AgentGate includes a command-line interface for managing approval requests.

Installation

bash

# From the monorepo
pnpm --filter @agentkitai/agentgate-cli build

# Or install globally (when published)
npm install -g @agentkitai/agentgate-cli

Configuration

Configure the CLI with your server URL and API key:

bash

# Set server URL
agentgate config set serverUrl http://localhost:3000

# Set API key
agentgate config set apiKey agk_your_api_key

# View current config
agentgate config show

Configuration is stored in ~/.agentgate/config.json. You can also use environment variables:

bash

export AGENTGATE_URL=http://localhost:3000
export AGENTGATE_API_KEY=agk_...

Commands

Command	Description
`agentgate config show`	Show current configuration
`agentgate config set <key> <value>`	Set a configuration value
`agentgate request <action>`	Create a new approval request
`agentgate status <id>`	Get status of a request
`agentgate list`	List approval requests
`agentgate approve <id>`	Approve a pending request
`agentgate deny <id>`	Deny a pending request

Examples

bash

# Create a request
agentgate request send_email \
  --params '{"to": "user@example.com", "subject": "Hello"}' \
  --urgency high

# List pending requests
agentgate list --status pending

# Approve a request
agentgate approve req_abc123 --reason "Looks good"

# Deny a request
agentgate deny req_abc123 --reason "Not authorized"

# Output as JSON
agentgate list --json

MCP Integration

AgentGate includes a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for integration with Claude Desktop and other MCP-compatible clients.

Claude Desktop Configuration

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "agentgate": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@agentkitai/agentgate-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "AGENTGATE_URL": "http://localhost:3000",
        "AGENTGATE_API_KEY": "agk_..."
      }
    }
  }
}

Available MCP Tools

Tool	Description
`agentgate_request`	Submit a new approval request
`agentgate_get`	Get the status of an approval request by ID
`agentgate_list`	List approval requests with optional filters
`agentgate_decide`	Approve or deny a pending request
`agentgate_list_policies`	List all policies ordered by priority
`agentgate_create_policy`	Create a new policy with rules
`agentgate_update_policy`	Replace an existing policy
`agentgate_delete_policy`	Delete a policy by ID
`agentgate_list_audit_logs`	List audit log entries with filters and pagination
`agentgate_get_audit_actors`	Get unique actor values from audit logs

Authentication

AgentGate uses API keys for authentication. All API requests (except /health) require a valid API key.

API Key Scopes

Scope	Description
`admin`	Full access to all operations
`request:create`	Create new approval requests
`request:read`	Read approval requests
`request:decide`	Approve or deny requests
`webhook:manage`	Create/update/delete webhooks

Using API Keys

HTTP Header:

bash

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer agk_..." http://localhost:3000/api/requests

SDK:

typescript

const client = new AgentGateClient({
  baseUrl: 'http://localhost:3000',
  apiKey: process.env.AGENTGATE_API_KEY,
});

Creating Additional API Keys

typescript

// Via API (requires admin scope)
POST /api/api-keys
{
  "name": "My Agent",
  "scopes": ["request:create", "request:read"]
}

API Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Description	Required Scope
`POST`	`/api/requests`	Create approval request	`request:create`
`GET`	`/api/requests`	List requests (with filters)	`request:read`
`GET`	`/api/requests/:id`	Get request by ID	`request:read`
`POST`	`/api/requests/:id/decide`	Submit approval/denial	`request:decide`
`GET`	`/api/requests/:id/audit`	Get audit trail	`request:read`
`GET`	`/api/policies`	List policies	`admin`
`POST`	`/api/policies`	Create policy	`admin`
`PUT`	`/api/policies/:id`	Update policy	`admin`
`DELETE`	`/api/policies/:id`	Delete policy	`admin`
`POST`	`/api/api-keys`	Create API key	`admin`
`GET`	`/api/api-keys`	List API keys	`admin`
`PATCH`	`/api/api-keys/:id`	Update API key	`admin`
`DELETE`	`/api/api-keys/:id`	Revoke API key	`admin`
`GET`	`/api/webhooks`	List webhooks	`webhook:manage`
`POST`	`/api/webhooks`	Create webhook	`webhook:manage`
`DELETE`	`/api/webhooks/:id`	Delete webhook	`webhook:manage`
`GET`	`/health`	Health check	(none)

Rate Limiting

AgentGate supports per-API-key rate limiting to prevent abuse and ensure fair usage.

How It Works

Rate limits use a sliding window algorithm (requests per minute)
Limits are configured per API key
When exceeded, requests return 429 Too Many Requests
Rate limit headers are included in all authenticated responses

Rate Limit Headers

Header	Description
`X-RateLimit-Limit`	Maximum requests per minute
`X-RateLimit-Remaining`	Remaining requests in current window
`X-RateLimit-Reset`	Seconds until window resets

Configuring Rate Limits

Set rate limits when creating or updating API keys:

typescript

// Via API (requires admin scope)
POST /api/api-keys
{
  "name": "My Agent",
  "scopes": ["request:create", "request:read"],
  "rateLimit": 60  // 60 requests per minute
}

// null = unlimited
{
  "name": "Internal Service",
  "scopes": ["admin"],
  "rateLimit": null
}

Dashboard

Rate limits can also be managed from the web dashboard under Settings → API Keys.

Webhooks

AgentGate can notify external systems when request events occur.

Setting Up Webhooks

typescript

// Create a webhook via API
POST /api/webhooks
{
  "url": "https://your-server.com/webhook",
  "events": ["request.created", "request.decided"],
  "secret": "optional-signing-secret"
}

Webhook Events

Event	Description
`request.created`	A new approval request was created
`request.decided`	A request was approved or denied
`request.expired`	A request expired without decision

Webhook Payload

json

{
  "event": "request.decided",
  "timestamp": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z",
  "data": {
    "id": "abc123",
    "action": "send_email",
    "status": "approved",
    "decidedBy": "admin@example.com"
  }
}

Webhook Signatures

If you provide a secret, requests are signed with HMAC-SHA256:

code

X-AgentGate-Signature: sha256=...

Verify by computing HMAC-SHA256(secret, body) and comparing.

Webhook Retry

Failed webhook deliveries are retried automatically with exponential backoff. The server scans for pending deliveries and retries them with increasing delays (2^attempts * 1000ms) until successful or the maximum retry count is reached.

Configuration

Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
`PORT`	`3000`	Server port
`DATABASE_URL`	`./data/agentgate.db`	SQLite database path
`AGENTGATE_API_KEY`	-	API key for SDK/CLI
`SLACK_BOT_TOKEN`	-	Slack bot token (for Slack integration)
`SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET`	-	Slack signing secret
`DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN`	-	Discord bot token (for Discord integration)
`DISCORD_DEFAULT_CHANNEL`	-	Default Discord channel for notifications

File-Based Secrets (`_FILE` suffix)

For Docker secrets or Kubernetes secret mounts, AgentGate supports a _FILE suffix convention. Instead of setting a secret directly in an environment variable, point to a file containing the value:

Variable	Reads secret from file
`ADMIN_API_KEY_FILE`	Sets `ADMIN_API_KEY`
`JWT_SECRET_FILE`	Sets `JWT_SECRET`
`DATABASE_URL_FILE`	Sets `DATABASE_URL`
`REDIS_URL_FILE`	Sets `REDIS_URL`
`SLACK_BOT_TOKEN_FILE`	Sets `SLACK_BOT_TOKEN`
`SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET_FILE`	Sets `SLACK_SIGNING_SECRET`
`DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN_FILE`	Sets `DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN`
`SMTP_PASS_FILE`	Sets `SMTP_PASS`

Behavior:

File contents are trimmed of leading/trailing whitespace
If both the env var and the _FILE variant are set, the explicit env var takes precedence
Missing or unreadable files produce a warning but do not crash the server

Example with Docker Compose:

yaml

services:
  agentgate:
    environment:
      ADMIN_API_KEY_FILE: /run/secrets/admin_api_key
      JWT_SECRET_FILE: /run/secrets/jwt_secret
    secrets:
      - admin_api_key
      - jwt_secret

secrets:
  admin_api_key:
    file: ./secrets/admin_api_key.txt
  jwt_secret:
    file: ./secrets/jwt_secret.txt

Policy Configuration

Policies are stored in the database and can be managed via API:

typescript

// Example: Auto-approve low-risk emails
{
  name: "auto-approve-emails",
  priority: 10,
  enabled: true,
  rules: [
    {
      match: { action: "send_email" },
      decision: "auto_approve"
    }
  ]
}

Docker Deployment

AgentGate provides Docker images for easy self-hosted deployments.

Quick Start

Copy the example environment file:

bash

cp .env.example .env

Generate secure credentials:

bash

# Generate admin API key (required)
echo "ADMIN_API_KEY=$(openssl rand -hex 32)" >> .env

# Generate JWT secret (recommended for production)
echo "JWT_SECRET=$(openssl rand -hex 32)" >> .env

Start all services:

bash

docker-compose up -d

Access the services:

Dashboard: http://localhost:3003
API Server: http://localhost:3002
Health Check: http://localhost:3002/health

Host ports are configurable via SERVER_PORT (default 3002) and DASHBOARD_PORT (default 3003); both map to the container's internal port 3000/80.

Services

Service	Description	Host Port
`server`	AgentGate API server	3002
`dashboard`	Web dashboard (nginx)	3003
`postgres`	PostgreSQL database	internal only*
`redis`	Redis (rate limiting, queues)	internal only*

* PostgreSQL and Redis are on an internal Docker network (agentgate-internal) and are not exposed to the host by default. During development, docker-compose.override.yml is auto-loaded and exposes them on ports 5432/6379. For production, run docker-compose -f docker-compose.yml up -d to skip the override.

With Slack or Discord Bots

To include the bot services, use the bots profile:

bash

# Set required bot credentials in .env first
docker-compose --profile bots up -d

Configuration

All configuration is done via environment variables. See .env.example for all options.

Required variables:

ADMIN_API_KEY — Admin API key (min 16 characters)

Recommended for production:

JWT_SECRET — JWT signing secret (min 32 characters)
CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS — Restrict to your domain(s)
POSTGRES_PASSWORD — Use a strong password

Building Images

Build all images locally:

bash

docker-compose build

Build a specific service:

bash

docker-compose build server
docker-compose build dashboard

Database Migrations

Migrations run automatically when the server starts. For manual control:

bash

# Run migrations inside the container
docker-compose exec server node -e "
  import('./dist/db/migrate.js').then(m => m.runMigrations())
"

Viewing Logs

bash

# All services
docker-compose logs -f

# Specific service
docker-compose logs -f server

# Last 100 lines
docker-compose logs --tail=100 server

Stopping Services

bash

# Stop all
docker-compose down

# Stop and remove volumes (WARNING: deletes data)
docker-compose down -v

Production Considerations

Use a reverse proxy (nginx, Caddy, Traefik) for TLS termination
Set strong passwords for PostgreSQL
Restrict CORS origins to your domain
Use Docker secrets for sensitive values in production
Set up backups for PostgreSQL data volume
Monitor health endpoints for uptime checks

Development

bash

# Install dependencies
pnpm install

# Run migrations
pnpm --filter @agentkitai/agentgate-server db:migrate

# Bootstrap (create admin key)
pnpm --filter @agentkitai/agentgate-server bootstrap

# Start development (server + dashboard)
pnpm dev

Testing

AgentGate uses Vitest for testing across all packages.

bash

# Run all tests
pnpm test

# Run tests with coverage report
pnpm test:coverage

# Run tests in watch mode (single package)
pnpm --filter @agentkitai/agentgate-server test:watch

# Run a specific test file
pnpm --filter @agentkitai/agentgate-server test -- src/__tests__/integration.test.ts

Coverage reports are generated per-package and include line, branch, and function coverage.

Code Quality

bash

# Build all packages
pnpm build

# Type checking
pnpm typecheck

# Lint (ESLint)
pnpm lint

# Fix lint issues
pnpm lint:fix

# Format code (Prettier)
pnpm format

# Check formatting
pnpm format:check

Project Structure

code

agentgate/
├── packages/
│   ├── core/           # Shared types, schemas, policy engine
│   ├── server/         # Hono API server
│   ├── sdk/            # TypeScript SDK
│   ├── cli/            # Command-line interface
│   ├── mcp/            # MCP server for Claude Desktop
│   ├── slack/          # Slack bot
│   ├── discord/        # Discord bot
│   └── dashboard/      # React dashboard
├── apps/
│   └── demo/           # Demo application
├── docker-compose.yml  # Docker deployment
└── package.json        # Monorepo root

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! To get started:

Fork the repository
Clone and install dependencies (pnpm install)
Follow the Development section above to set up your local environment
Create a feature branch and make your changes
Run pnpm build && pnpm test to verify everything works
Open a pull request

Please make sure all tests pass and code is formatted (pnpm format:check && pnpm lint) before submitting.

🧰 AgentKit Ecosystem

Project	Description
AgentLens	Observability & audit trail for AI agents
Lore	Cross-agent memory and lesson sharing
AgentGate	Human-in-the-loop approval gateway	⬅️ you are here
FormBridge	Agent-human mixed-mode forms
AgentEval	Testing & evaluation framework
agentkit-cli	Unified CLI orchestrator

License

MIT

Install

Add to VS Code Add to Cursor

claude_desktop_config.json

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "agentgate": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@agentkitai/agentgate-mcp@0.0.3"
      ]
    }
  }
}

AgentGate MCP Server: Human-in-the-loop approval gateway

🛠️ Key Features

🚀 Use Cases

⚡ Developer Benefits

⚠️ Limitations

📌 Topics

Topics

AgentGate

✨ Highlights

Quickstart

Dashboard

Approval Requests

Audit Log

Request Detail

API Keys

Webhooks

Login

Table of Contents

Quick Start

1. Install dependencies

2. Run database migrations

3. Bootstrap (create admin API key)

4. Start the development environment

5. Run the demo

6. Open the dashboard

Architecture

Packages

SDK Usage

CLI

Installation

Configuration

Commands

Examples

MCP Integration

Claude Desktop Configuration

Available MCP Tools

Authentication

API Key Scopes

Using API Keys

Creating Additional API Keys

API Endpoints

Rate Limiting

How It Works

Rate Limit Headers

Configuring Rate Limits

Dashboard

Webhooks

Setting Up Webhooks

Webhook Events

Webhook Payload

Webhook Signatures

Webhook Retry

Configuration

Environment Variables

File-Based Secrets (_FILE suffix)

Policy Configuration

Docker Deployment

Quick Start

Services

With Slack or Discord Bots

Configuration

Building Images

Database Migrations

Viewing Logs

Stopping Services

Production Considerations

Development

Testing

Code Quality

Project Structure

Contributing

🧰 AgentKit Ecosystem

License

Install

Related servers

File-Based Secrets (`_FILE` suffix)