add --skip-auth flag

README.md

@@ -114,6 +114,16 @@ To bypass authentication, or to emit custom headers on all requests to your remo
       ]
 ```
 
+* To completely skip authentication for servers that don't require it, add the `--skip-auth` flag. While the primary purpose of mcp-remote is to provide OAuth authentication to clients connecting to MCP servers, this flag enables the tool to be used as a simple SSE connection proxy in trusted environments (e.g., development environments, internal networks) where authentication is not required.
+
+```json
+      "args": [
+        "mcp-remote",
+        "https://remote.mcp.server/sse",
+        "--skip-auth"
+      ]
+```
+
 ### Claude Desktop
 
 [Official Docs](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/quickstart/user)

src/client.ts

@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ async function runClient(serverUrl: string, callbackPort: number, headers: Recor
 
 // Parse command-line arguments and run the client
 parseCommandLineArgs(process.argv.slice(2), 3333, 'Usage: npx tsx client.ts <https://server-url> [callback-port]')
-  .then(({ serverUrl, callbackPort, headers }) => {
+  .then(({ serverUrl, callbackPort, headers, skipAuth }) => {
     return runClient(serverUrl, callbackPort, headers)
   })
   .catch((error) => {

src/lib/utils.ts

@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ export function mcpProxy({ transportToClient, transportToServer }: { transportTo
  * @param headers Additional headers to send with the request
  * @param waitForAuthCode Function to wait for the auth code
  * @param skipBrowserAuth Whether to skip browser auth and use shared auth
+ * @param skipAuth Whether to skip authentication
  * @returns The connected SSE client transport
  */
 export async function connectToRemoteServer(
@@ -79,6 +80,7 @@ export async function connectToRemoteServer(
   headers: Record<string, string>,
   waitForAuthCode: () => Promise<string>,
   skipBrowserAuth: boolean = false,
+  skipAuth: boolean = false,
 ): Promise<SSEClientTransport> {
   log(`[${pid}] Connecting to remote server: ${serverUrl}`)
   const url = new URL(serverUrl)
@@ -86,6 +88,18 @@ export async function connectToRemoteServer(
   // Create transport with eventSourceInit to pass Authorization header if present
   const eventSourceInit = {
     fetch: (url: string | URL, init?: RequestInit) => {
+      // Skip adding authorization header when skip auth is enabled
+      if (skipAuth) {
+        return fetch(url, {
+          ...init,
+          headers: {
+            ...(init?.headers as Record<string, string> | undefined),
+            ...headers,
+            Accept: "text/event-stream",
+          } as Record<string, string>,
+        });
+      }
+
       return Promise.resolve(authProvider?.tokens?.()).then((tokens) =>
         fetch(url, {
           ...init,
@@ -111,6 +125,12 @@ export async function connectToRemoteServer(
     log('Connected to remote server')
     return transport
   } catch (error) {
+    // Ignore authentication errors when skip auth is enabled
+    if (skipAuth) {
+      log('Skipping authentication as requested')
+      return transport
+    }
+
     if (error instanceof UnauthorizedError || (error instanceof Error && error.message.includes('Unauthorized'))) {
       if (skipBrowserAuth) {
         log('Authentication required but skipping browser auth - using shared auth')
@@ -300,6 +320,7 @@ export async function parseCommandLineArgs(args: string[], defaultPort: number,
   const serverUrl = args[0]
   const specifiedPort = args[1] ? parseInt(args[1]) : undefined
   const allowHttp = args.includes('--allow-http')
+  const skipAuth = args.includes('--skip-auth')
 
   if (!serverUrl) {
     log(usage)
@@ -343,7 +364,13 @@ export async function parseCommandLineArgs(args: string[], defaultPort: number,
     })
   }
 
-  return { serverUrl, callbackPort, headers }
+  return {
+    serverUrl,
+    callbackPort,
+    headers,
+    allowHttp,
+    skipAuth,
+  }
 }
 
 /**

src/proxy.ts

@@ -14,19 +14,22 @@ import { StdioServerTransport } from '@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/server/stdio.js'
 import { connectToRemoteServer, log, mcpProxy, parseCommandLineArgs, setupSignalHandlers, getServerUrlHash } from './lib/utils'
 import { NodeOAuthClientProvider } from './lib/node-oauth-client-provider'
 import { coordinateAuth } from './lib/coordination'
+import express from 'express'
 
 /**
  * Main function to run the proxy
  */
-async function runProxy(serverUrl: string, callbackPort: number, headers: Record<string, string>) {
+async function runProxy(serverUrl: string, callbackPort: number, headers: Record<string, string>, skipAuth: boolean = false) {
   // Set up event emitter for auth flow
   const events = new EventEmitter()
 
   // Get the server URL hash for lockfile operations
   const serverUrlHash = getServerUrlHash(serverUrl)
 
-  // Coordinate authentication with other instances
+  // Skip authentication related processes when skip auth is enabled
-  const { server, waitForAuthCode, skipBrowserAuth } = await coordinateAuth(serverUrlHash, callbackPort, events)
+  const { server, waitForAuthCode, skipBrowserAuth } = skipAuth
+    ? { server: express().listen(0), waitForAuthCode: () => Promise.resolve(''), skipBrowserAuth: true }
+    : await coordinateAuth(serverUrlHash, callbackPort, events)
 
   // Create the OAuth client provider
   const authProvider = new NodeOAuthClientProvider({
@@ -48,7 +51,7 @@ async function runProxy(serverUrl: string, callbackPort: number, headers: Record
 
   try {
     // Connect to remote server with authentication
-    const remoteTransport = await connectToRemoteServer(serverUrl, authProvider, headers, waitForAuthCode, skipBrowserAuth)
+    const remoteTransport = await connectToRemoteServer(serverUrl, authProvider, headers, waitForAuthCode, skipBrowserAuth, skipAuth)
 
     // Set up bidirectional proxy between local and remote transports
     mcpProxy({
@@ -100,8 +103,8 @@ to the CA certificate file. If using claude_desktop_config.json, this might look
 
 // Parse command-line arguments and run the proxy
 parseCommandLineArgs(process.argv.slice(2), 3334, 'Usage: npx tsx proxy.ts <https://server-url> [callback-port]')
-  .then(({ serverUrl, callbackPort, headers }) => {
+  .then(({ serverUrl, callbackPort, headers, skipAuth }) => {
-    return runProxy(serverUrl, callbackPort, headers)
+    return runProxy(serverUrl, callbackPort, headers, skipAuth)
   })
   .catch((error) => {
     log('Fatal error:', error)