Openlane MCP Server

Openlane MCP Server

A secure, open-source Model Context Protocol server for the Openlane GRC platform.

This project is not an official Openlane product and is not endorsed by theopenlane, Inc.

Overview

openlane-mcp lets MCP clients such as Cursor and Claude Desktop query Openlane over stdio (default) or Streamable HTTP. It talks to Openlane Cloud or a self-hosted instance through the official Openlane Go client.

MCP Client

→ Openlane MCP Server (stdio or HTTP) → Official Openlane Go Client → Openlane API

The server is read-only by default. Write and delete tools are opt-in and independent. Openlane authorization still applies to every request.

Features

• Openlane MCP access for programs, controls, evidence, policies, risks, standards, tasks, entities (vendors), assets, platforms, contacts, findings, assessments, control implementations, groups, users, and workflows
• Enriched get tools with vendor/security fields and compact relationship summaries
• List filters on entities, risks, findings, evidence, programs, assessments, implementations, and workflows
• Opt-in create/update tools for controls, evidence, policies, risks, tasks, vendors/entities, contacts, vendor Risk Reviews, workflow definitions, workflow assignments, and native policy lifecycle
• Opt-in delete tools for the same domains plus workflow definitions (except programs and standards)
• Openlane Cloud and self-hosted Openlane (configurable base URL)
• stdio transport (default) and opt-in Streamable HTTP transport
• Native Go binary
• Docker image (published with GitHub Releases)
• MCP Registry listing on tagged releases (io.github.GregDog/mcp-server-theopenlane)

Quick Start

Create an Openlane API token or PAT in console developer settings. Organization tokens start with tola_. Personal access tokens start with tolp_.

export OPENLANE_API_TOKEN="tola_..."

Optional for multi-org PATs:

export OPENLANE_ORGANIZATION_ID="..."

openlane-mcp serve

Then connect an MCP client. See Client configuration.

Installation

From source

go install github.com/GregDog/mcp-server-theopenlane/cmd/openlane-mcp@latest

Requires Go 1.27 or later.

GitHub Releases

Binary archives will be published on tagged GitHub Releases (linux/darwin amd64+arm64, windows amd64) with SHA256 checksums.

Docker

docker run --rm -i \

-e OPENLANE_API_TOKEN \ -e OPENLANE_ORGANIZATION_ID \ ghcr.io/gregdog/mcp-server-theopenlane serve

Images are published with GitHub Releases to ghcr.io/gregdog/mcp-server-theopenlane.

Client configuration

Cursor (stdio, recommended)

This repository's .cursor/mcp.json uses scripts/mcp-serve.sh, which loads .env and runs the local binary:

{

"mcpServers": { "openlane": { "command": "bash", "args": ["${workspaceFolder}/scripts/mcp-serve.sh"] } } }

Or install globally and pass env vars directly:

{

"mcpServers": { "openlane": { "command": "openlane-mcp", "args": ["serve"], "env": { "OPENLANE_API_TOKEN": "${env:OPENLANE_API_TOKEN}", "OPENLANE_ORGANIZATION_ID": "${env:OPENLANE_ORGANIZATION_ID}" } } } }

Cursor (HTTP)

Start the server with bash scripts/mcp-http.sh (see HTTP transport), then use examples/cursor-http.mcp.json as a template.

Claude Desktop

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{

"mcpServers": { "openlane": { "command": "openlane-mcp", "args": ["serve"], "env": { "OPENLANE_API_TOKEN": "tola_your_token_here" } } } }

Prefer environment substitution or a local secrets store over committing tokens. Examples in this repository use fictional values only.

Security

Read tools are always available. Write tools require OPENLANE_ALLOW_WRITE=true or --allow-write. Delete tools require OPENLANE_ALLOW_DELETE=true or --allow-delete.

A successful read still requires:

1. An Openlane token with the relevant object:read scope (or equivalent PAT permissions)
2. Openlane authorization for that object in the selected organization

Writes and deletes additionally require server opt-in (OPENLANE_ALLOW_WRITE / OPENLANE_ALLOW_DELETE) and matching Openlane token permissions. Workflow definition writes, workflow assignment actions, native policy lifecycle actions, and workflow deletes also require confirm: true on the tool call.

Tokens are never logged. See docs/security.md.

Tool coverage

Write tools (require OPENLANE_ALLOW_WRITE=true or --allow-write):

Delete tools (require OPENLANE_ALLOW_DELETE=true or --allow-delete):

See docs/tools.md for full details. With all modes enabled there are 77 tools (44 read, 27 write, 6 delete).

Enriched get tools return bounded relationship summaries (count + items) so agents can answer program, vendor, control, and finding questions without chaining dozens of shallow calls.

List responses are paginated (items, next_cursor, has_more, total_count). Default page size is 20; maximum is 50.

There is no dedicated control search GraphQL operation in the current Openlane Go client. openlane_controls_search uses o