GCM MCP Server

IBM Guardium Cryptographic Manager (GCM) MCP Server - A Model Context Protocol server for interacting with IBM GCM's cryptographic asset management platform.

Overview

This MCP server provides tools to interact with IBM Guardium Cryptographic Manager, enabling:

• Authentication and session management
• Cryptographic asset inventory queries (keys, certificates, protocols)
• Policy violation tracking and ticket management
• Service discovery and API exploration

Prerequisites

• Podman or Docker installed
• Python 3.10+ (for local development)
• Access to an IBM GCM instance
• GCM credentials (username, password, client secret)

Quick Start with Podman

1. Build the Podman Image

# Clone the repository
git clone <repository-url>
cd gcm-mcp-server

# Create .env file from example
cp env.example .env

# Edit .env with your GCM credentials
nano .env  # or use your preferred editor

# Build the image
podman build -t gcm-mcp-server:latest .

2. Run the Container

# Run with volume mount for persistent key storage
podman run -d \
  --name gcm-mcp-server \
  -p 8002:8002 \
  -v gcm-keys:/data \
  --env-file .env \
  gcm-mcp-server:latest

# Check if the server is running
podman logs gcm-mcp-server

# Verify health
curl http://localhost:8002/health

Expected health response:

{
  "status": "ok",
  "server": "GCM MCP Server",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "transport": "sse",
  "auth_required": true
}

3. Generate an API Key

The API key is required for Bob IDE to authenticate with the MCP server.

# Generate a new API key (must be run from within the running container or edit server.py on line 101 and add your machines ip)
curl -X POST http://localhost:8002/admin/keys \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"user": "bob-ide-user"}'

Response:

{
  "key": "gcm_1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef1234567890abcd",
  "user": "bob-ide-user",
  "created": "2026-03-13T17:00:00Z",
  "key_prefix": "gcm_1234"
}

Important: Save the key value - you'll need it for Bob IDE configuration.

4. Configure Bob IDE

Step 1: Locate Bob's MCP Configuration

Bob IDE stores MCP server configurations in:

• macOS: ~/.bob/mcp_settings.json
• Linux: ~/.bob/mcp_settings.json
• Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.bob\mcp_settings.json

Step 2: Add GCM MCP Server Configuration

Edit the configuration file and add the GCM MCP server:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gcm-mcp-server": {
      "url": "http://localhost:8002/sse",
      "transport": "sse",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer gcm_1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef1234567890abcd"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace the Bearer token with your actual API key from step 3.

Step 3: Restart Bob IDE

After adding the configuration, restart Bob IDE to load the new MCP server.

Step 4: Create a new "slash" command in Bob

add a new slash command name gcmapp via the chat window and add the following to the description

---
description: "this slash command will always use the gcm-mcp-server to execute commands"
---

When this slash command is executed, it will use the gcm-mcp-server to run the command and return the output.

Step 5: Verify Connection in Bob IDE

In Bob IDE, you should now be able to use the /gcmmcp command to interact with GCM:

/gcmmcp Get a summary of all cryptographic assets
/gcmmcp List open tickets
/gcmmcp Show authentication status

list of example prompts to use in Bob IDE

The following file contains an extensive list to be used in Bob IDE GCM-MCP-EXAMPLE-PROMPTS.md

Configuration

Environment Variables

Create a .env file with the following variables:

# Required - GCM Server Connection
GCM_HOST=your-gcm-hostname.com
GCM_USERNAME=your_username
GCM_PASSWORD=your_password
GCM_CLIENT_SECRET=your_client_secret

# Optional - Ports (defaults shown)
GCM_API_PORT=31443
GCM_KEYCLOAK_PORT=30443

# Optional - Authentication
GCM_CLIENT_ID=gcmclient
GCM_AUTH_MODE=auto

# Optional - SSL & Timeouts
GCM_VERIFY_SSL=false
GCM_REQUEST_TIMEOUT=30

# Optional - MCP Server
GCM_MCP_KEY_STORE_PATH=/data/keys.json
GCM_LOG_LEVEL=INFO

Key Store Persistence

The API keys are stored in /data/keys.json inside the container. To persist keys across container restarts, use a volume:

# Create a named volume
podman volume create gcm-keys

# Run with volume mount
podman run -d \
  --name gcm-mcp-server \
  -p 8002:8002 \
  -v gcm-keys:/data \
  --env-file .env \
  gcm-mcp-server:latest

API Key Management

List All Active Keys

curl http://localhost:8002/admin/keys

Response:

{
  "keys": [
    {
      "key_prefix": "gcm_1234",
      "user": "bob-ide-user",
      "created": "2026-03-13T17:00:00Z"
    }
  ]
}

Revoke a Key

curl -X DELETE http://localhost:8002/admin/keys/gcm_1234

Note: Admin endpoints are only accessible from localhost for security.

Available MCP Tools

The GCM MCP Server provides three main tools:

1. gcm_auth - Authentication Management

Manage GCM authentication sessions.

Actions:

• login - Authenticate with GCM
• logout - End current session
• status - Check authentication status
• refresh - Refresh authentication token

2. gcm_api - API Operations

Execute any GCM API operation.

Parameters:

• service - Service name (e.g., "assetinventory", "tde", "clm")
• operation - Operation to perform (e.g., "assets.list_certificates")
• method - HTTP method (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE)
• endpoint - Direct API endpoint path
• body - Request body (for POST/PUT)
• params - Query parameters

3. gcm_discover - Service Discovery

Discover available GCM services and endpoints.

Categories:

• services - List all available services
• endpoints - List endpoints for a specific service

Container Management

View Logs

# Follow logs in real-time
podman logs -f gcm-mcp-server

# View last 100 lines
podman logs --tail 100 gcm-mcp-server

Stop the Container

podman stop gcm-mcp-server

Start the Container

podman start gcm-mcp-server

Remove the Container

podman rm -f gcm-mcp-server

Rebuild After Changes

# Stop and remove existing container
podman rm -f gcm-mcp-server

# Rebuild image
podman build -t gcm-mcp-server:latest .

# Run new container
podman run -d \
  --name gcm-mcp-server \
  -p 8002:8002 \
  -v gcm-keys:/data \
  --env-file .env \
  gcm-mcp-server:latest

Local Development (Without Container)

Install Dependencies

# Create virtual environment
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

Run Locally

# SSE mode (for Bob IDE)
python -m src.server --transport sse --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8002

# Stdio mode (for local testing)
python -m src.server

Troubleshooting

Container Won't Start

# Check container logs
podman logs gcm-mcp-server

# Verify .env file is present and correct
cat .env

# Test GCM connectivity
curl -k https://your-gcm-host:31443/health

Bob IDE Can't Connect

1. Verify server is running:

   curl http://localhost:8002/health
   

2. Check API key is valid:

   curl http://localhost:8002/admin/keys
   

3. Verify Bob IDE configuration:

   • Check ~/.bob/mcp_settings.json exists
   • Verify API key matches
   • Ensure URL is http://localhost:8002/sse

4. Check firewall settings:

   # On Linux/macOS
   sudo lsof -i :8002
   
   # On Windows
   netstat -ano | findstr :8002
   

Authentication Failures

1. Verify GCM credentials in .env:

   podman exec gcm-mcp-server cat .env
   

2. Test GCM authentication manually:

   curl -X POST http://localhost:8002/admin/test-auth
   

3. Check GCM server accessibility:

   curl -k https://your-gcm-host:31443/health
   

API Key Issues

• Keys are only accessible from localhost for security
• Use curl from the same machine running the container
• Keys are stored as SHA-256 hashes in /data/keys.json

Security Considerations

• API Keys: Stored as SHA-256 hashes, never in plain text
• Admin Endpoints: Restricted to localhost only
• SSL Verification: Set GCM_VERIFY_SSL=true in production
• Credentials: Never commit .env file to version control
• Network: Consider using --network host for production deployments

Support

For issues, questions, or contributions:

• Review the detailed setup guide
• Check container logs: podman logs gcm-mcp-server
• Verify health endpoint: curl http://localhost:8002/health

Original Repository

Based on https://github.com/IBM/gcm-mcp-server