> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://dev-docs.altrum.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# MCP servers

> Give each MCP server an owner and a status, see what each of its tools can do, and block a server so no key can use its tools.

**MCP servers**, under **Govern**, **AI assets** in the sidebar, is where your organization decides about the MCP servers its keys use: who owns each one, whether it is approved, and what each of its tools can do. Blocking a server switches it off in the [AI Gateway](/ai-gateway/overview), so no key can use its tools.

Adding a server and setting how it signs in stay under **AI Gateway**, **MCP servers**. See [MCP tools](/ai-gateway/mcp). Each screen links to the other: **Server setup** here, and a server's **Status** there.

It is for owners and admins when your organization has the AI Gateway.

## What each row shows

| Column | What it is |
| - | - |
| **Name** | The server and its address. |
| **Owner** | The member who answers for it, or **No owner**. |
| **Status** | **Approved**, **Under review**, **Blocked**, or **Not reviewed** when nobody has decided. |
| **Tools** | How many tools the server has. |
| **Destructive** | How many of its tools are destructive. |
| **State** | Whether it is connected, or **Switched off** when it is blocked or not used for requests. |

Filter by **Status**. **Needs review** finds the servers that are **Under review** or **Not reviewed**.

## A server's owner, status and description

Choose a row to open the server. There you:

* choose its **Owner** from your members;
* write a **Description** of what it is for, up to 500 characters, so a reviewer can decide;
* choose **Change status** to approve it, mark it for review or block it, with a note for the record if you want one, up to 500 characters.

A server you add through Altrum starts **Under review**, owned by you unless you choose someone else, and works straight away. A server that was added before has no owner and is **Not reviewed** until someone decides. The status of a server that is not blocked changes nothing about what it does: it is a record of what your organization decided.

## Block a server

Choose **Blocked**. Keys stop seeing the server's tools at once, and a call to one of them is refused. A blocked server cannot be switched back on from **Edit** under **AI Gateway**, **MCP servers**:

> That MCP server is blocked. Approve it or mark it for review in AI assets to turn it back on.

Approve it, or mark it for review, and it is switched back on.

Blocking reaches the AI Gateway at once. If the AI Gateway cannot be reached, the status is not saved either, so a server never shows **Blocked** while its tools still work:

> The AI Gateway could not be updated, so nothing changed. Try again shortly.

## What each tool can do

Each tool has a risk, the riskiest first:

| Risk | Meaning |
| - | - |
| **Destructive** | It may delete something or change it in a way that cannot be undone. |
| **Write** | It changes things, but not destructively. |
| **Read** | It only reads. |

The risk comes from what the server says about its own tools:

* a tool the server marks read only is **Read**;
* a tool the server marks as not destructive is **Write**;
* any other tool, including one the server says nothing about, is **Destructive**, marked **Assumed, the server gives no hint**, since the server has not said it is safe.

Under each tool, **From the server** or **Assumed** says where its risk came from. Change it with the tool's risk menu and it shows **Set by a person**, and stays as set when the server lists its tools again. **Use the server's** goes back to what the server says.

A risk is a record and a ranking: it does not change which tools a key may use. Choose that under [MCP tools](/ai-gateway/mcp#choose-who-can-use-which-tools).

**View tool calls** opens the server's tool calls in the [request log](/ai-gateway/request-logs). In [Reporting](/reports#tool-use), **Tool use** ranks destructive tools first.

## Waiting for review

[Discover](/discover#assets-not-reviewed) lists each server that is **Not reviewed**, with how many of its tools are destructive and whether it has an owner. **Review** opens it here.

## Who can do what

| | Owner | Admin | Member |
| - | - | - | - |
| See MCP servers | Yes | Yes | No |
| Change a server's owner, description and tool risks | Yes | Yes | No |
| Change a server's status, block it | Yes | Yes | No |

Changes are limited to 60 an hour for each person, shared with the other changes to MCP servers.

## Recorded in the audit trail

Each change adds **Changed an MCP server's owner, status or tool risks**, naming the fields that changed. See the [audit trail](/audit-trail).


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