ContextForge is an Apache-2.0 registry and proxy that federates MCP, A2A and REST or gRPC APIs into one endpoint. It translates REST and gRPC to MCP, offers more than 40 plugins, rate limiting and auth for REST services, and OpenTelemetry tracing to Phoenix, Jaeger, Zipkin and other OTLP back ends. It installs from PyPI or Docker and scales on Kubernetes with Redis-backed federation.
Who it suits
Engineers federating MCP, REST and gRPC tools into one endpoint, who want plugins and OpenTelemetry out of the box.
Strengths
- Federates MCP, REST and gRPC tools behind one endpoint.
- OpenTelemetry tracing to common back ends.
- Plugin system with more than 40 plugins.
- PyPI, Docker or Kubernetes deployment.
Limits
- Per-user identity and tool-level policy take configuration and plugins rather than coming ready-made.
- No shadow MCP discovery.
Scores on each criterion
| Criterion | Score | What we found |
|---|---|---|
| Authentication | Partial | Gateway auth is available; check per-user SSO support in the docs. |
| Credential handling | Partial | Stores upstream credentials; per-user OAuth not described in the README. |
| Policy depth | Partial | Rate limiting and guardrail plugins; tool-level rules need setup. |
| Audit | Partial | Logging available; check retention and export. |
| Observability | Strong | OpenTelemetry tracing to Phoenix, Jaeger, Zipkin and OTLP. |
| Deployment model | Strong | PyPI, Docker, Kubernetes with Redis federation. |
| Shadow usage discovery | Not documented | Not documented. |
| Total | 8/14 | Ranked #5 of 8 |
Strong Built in and documented (2 points)Partial Present with gaps, or limited scope (1 point)Not documented Not found in the public docs we reviewed (0 points)
What it costs
Free to self-host (Apache-2.0).
Sources
Every score above comes from these public pages. Check them for changes since 11 November 2026.