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PRD-017: Pluggable Authentication & Authorization Middleware

Status: Complete Date: 2026-02-03 Priority: P1 (High) Depends On: PRD-016 (Interface Contracts) [archived] Proposal: ../proposals/auth-middleware.md Architecture: ../proposals/persistence-boundary.md

Overview

Consolidate authentication and authorization behind toolops/auth and wire it into metatools-mcp as middleware. This replaces duplicate auth code and provides a single contract for identity, authorization, and request context propagation.

Goals

  • Use toolops/auth as the only auth source of truth.
  • Enforce auth for discovery + execution in metatools-mcp.
  • Propagate identity into request context for downstream policy checks.
  • Provide a simple config surface for selecting auth strategies.

Non-Goals

  • Full IAM system or user management.
  • Multi-tenancy (separate proposal).
  • Long-term persistence of auth state (see persistence-boundary proposal).

Scope

  • Replace metatools-mcp/internal/auth usage with toolops/auth.
  • Add auth middleware in metatools-mcp/internal/middleware using toolops/auth.
  • Update config and docs to describe auth setup.

Implementation Summary

  • Replaced internal auth usage with toolops/auth (transport + middleware).
  • Added auth middleware factory in metatools-mcp/internal/middleware.
  • Updated middleware registry and docs/examples to reflect new config.
  • Removed duplicated internal auth implementation.

Acceptance Criteria

  • metatools-mcp uses toolops/auth for all auth decisions.
  • No duplicated auth implementation remains in the reference server.
  • Tests cover allow/deny paths for discovery + execution.
  • Docs show clear setup steps.

Risks

  • Divergent auth semantics between old and new implementations.
  • Breaking change for users relying on internal auth types.

References

  • toolops/auth
  • metatools-mcp/internal/middleware
  • ai-tools-stack/docs/roadmap.md