Create via Dashboard
Outcomes
Create and configure an Gateway using the Arcade dashboard with full control over settings.
Prerequisites
- Create an Arcade
Create a Gateway
To create an Gateway, go to the MCP Gateways dashboard and click the “Create ” button.
When configuring an Gateway, you can select the tools you want to include in the Gateway from any available to the :
Configuration Options
The options available when configuring an Gateway are:
- Name: The name of the Gateway. Informative only.
- Description: The description of the Gateway. This is useful for humans and some MCP clients may surface this information to the .
- LLM Instructions: Optional instructions for the LLM about how to use the Gateway.
- Slug: The slug of the Gateway. This is the URL slug that will be used to access the . It must be unique.
- Authentication: How end users authenticate to the gateway. Users will still need to authenticate to the tools within the Gateway as normal. The form asks “Who are the of this Gateway?” with two top-level choices:
- Members of this (Arcade Auth): End users sign in with Arcade as members of this project. Recommended for development, testing, and internal use when every end is already a member.
- Non-Arcade : End users come from outside Arcade. Pick one of:
- (recommended): Arcade redirects end users to your OIDC identity provider to sign in. Pick this for production whose end have identities in your own OIDC identity system. See User Sources for how to set one up.
- Arcade Headers (fallback): The client passes an key in the
Authorizationheader and the end ’s ID in theArcade-User-IDheader. Pick this for clients that can’t run a browser-based OAuth flow.
- Allowed : A selection of tools in the Arcade Tool Catalog that will be available to the Gateway.
See Skip consent for trusted MCP clients for the Skip consent for trusted clients (optional) field on this same form.
After Creating a Gateway
Once you’ve created a gateway, add it to your client. The dashboard shows the MCP URL (for example, https://api.arcade.dev/mcp/{YOUR-GATEWAY-SLUG}).
See Connect to MCP clients for setup instructions specific to your client.
Point Claude at the gateway
For Claude Desktop and Claude.ai, set the gateway to Arcade Auth or a . Claude needs a browser OAuth flow, so Arcade Headers does not work here.
Add the gateway URL as a custom connector. Claude shows Authentication and OAuth client options. Keep the values marked Detected:
- Sign in now for Authentication
- Use Claude’s published identity for OAuth client
On Claude Team and Enterprise plans, only an Owner can add the connector. Members then click Connect. See Keep the detected defaults.
To skip Arcade’s consent screen for Claude , allowlist Claude’s published identity on the gateway. See Skip consent for trusted MCP clients.