Tool Authorization Protocol (TAP)

MCP serverAI & models

tap keeps real credentials out of your AI's reach. The AI works with placeholder secrets instead, rules decide how those can be used, and sensitive actions can wait for a person's approval. The result is an AI that can use the access it needs without ever seeing the actual secrets.

Use Tool Authorization Protocol (TAP) in Claude, ChatGPT or Ahel Desktop

Free. Sign in, add Tool Authorization Protocol (TAP) and connect your AI. About a minute.

Also: Claude Code · Cursor · Codex

Then ask your AI: use Tool Authorization Protocol (TAP)

Details

Available today. Use it from your connected AI after setup.

After adding tap, replace the credentials your AI would normally use with placeholder secrets and set the policies that govern how they can be used. Turn on human approval for any actions you want to sign off on yourself.

Tool Authorization Protocol (TAP)Start free

What your AI can do with it

  • Work with placeholder secrets instead of real credentials
  • Keep actual secrets isolated from the AI
  • Check how the AI uses credentials against policies you set
  • Route sensitive actions through human approval
  • Give the AI the access it needs without exposing the underlying secrets

Install Tool Authorization Protocol (TAP)

The server’s own address, for the clients that take one directly. Or connect Ahel once and every client you use reads it from one address, with the account kept on Ahel rather than in each client’s config.

  • Claude Code

    claude mcp add --transport http --scope user tool-authorization-protocol-tap 'https://mcp.tap.human.tech/mcp'

    Run it once in your project, then open /mcp to approve any sign-in the server asks for.

  • Claude Desktop

    https://mcp.tap.human.tech/mcp

    Add a custom connector in Settings, paste this address, and approve the sign-in.

  • Cursor

    cursor://anysphere.cursor-deeplink/mcp/install?name=tool-authorization-protocol-tap&config=eyJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL21jcC50YXAuaHVtYW4udGVjaC9tY3AifQ==

    Open the link and Cursor adds the server at that address.

  • ChatGPT

    https://mcp.tap.human.tech/mcp

    In Settings, enable Developer mode, create an MCP app, and paste this address. Your plan and workspace must allow custom apps.

  • Codex

    codex mcp add tool-authorization-protocol-tap --url 'https://mcp.tap.human.tech/mcp'

    Run it once, then sign in with codex mcp login tool-authorization-protocol-tap if the server asks for an account.

From the project's README

As published by holonym-foundation/tap-oss in README.md.

Credential isolation, approval gating, and connector routing for AI agents.

This repository contains the code that is most useful for:

  • auditing request routing and connector behavior
  • debugging failed requests
  • understanding approval flows
  • improving connector-side request shaping
  • contributing fixes to the core TAP experience

[!WARNING] Self-hosting means you own the security of your credentials and signing keys. TAP keeps secrets out of your agents, but running it yourself puts the host hardening, key isolation, and correct policy-engine operation on you. It's a path for teams that are well versed in security. For everyone else the hosted version is strongly recommended: credentials sit in a hardware enclave we can't read into, with no ops to run. Start free at tap.human.tech.

Start Here

  • crates/tap-proxy/src/routing.rs — how TAP resolves connector target shapes
  • crates/tap-proxy/src/placeholder.rs — credential substitution and position validation
  • crates/tap-proxy/src/policy.rs — approval policy enforcement
  • docs/ — full documentation including self-hosting guide

Included

  • core proxy and storage crates
  • Telegram and Matrix approval bots
  • remote MCP server (tap-mcp)
  • CLI
  • docs (self-hosting, API reference, credential setup)

Not Included

  • enclave deployment glue (CCE policy generation, release-policy automation, ARM templates, env config)
  • production workflows and secret bootstrapping
  • managed hosting operations glue
  • the hosted dashboard UI source (a placeholder is shipped so the proxy compiles)

The enclave key-management source is included (key_provider_enclave.rs, kms_azure.rs, skr.rs) — it's the custody model documented at docs.tap.human.tech/security, and each hosted release's enclave measurement is published in measurements/. Hosted deployment and operational infrastructure are maintained separately from this repository.

Security

See SECURITY.md to report a vulnerability.

License

Apache-2.0: free to use, read, modify, and self-host. This repo is the open-source TAP runtime (tap-core, tap-proxy, tap-bot, tap-cli, tap-mcp). The hosted dashboard and managed-service deployment glue are proprietary and live in a separate private repo.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md.

Testing

# Needs Postgres (default postgres://tap:tap@localhost:5434/tap, override with
# POSTGRES_DATABASE_URL). Isolated suites parallelize; env-mutating unit tests stay serial.
cargo test -p tap-core
cargo test -p tap-proxy --test integration --test e2e
cargo test -p tap-proxy -p tap-bot -p tap-cli --lib --bins -- --test-threads=1

Signals

GitHub stars
12
Last commit
Jul 2026
Advanced
Delivery
tap MCP server → your Ahel connector (mcp.ahel.ai) → your AI.
Item type
mcp-server
Key
tech-human-tap
Source
github.com/holonym-foundation/tap-oss
Hosted endpoint
https://mcp.tap.human.tech/mcp