
BriefGate
io.github.sekera-radimPublished by GitHub account sekera-radimv0.10.7Updated Oct 24, 2026
Client intake: files, copy and logins from clients, from the browser or your AI agent.
Overview
BriefGate lets an assistant collect files, text, choices and credentials from an outside person through an emailed no-account portal, then retrieve the results.
- What you can do
- Create and manage client intakes: define requested items with types and constraints, add or edit items later, update settings, and organise intakes into folders
- Track progress: list intakes, check per-item status and reminder history, and send manual reminders
- Retrieve results: get typed values and signed file links, with one-time reveal of secret items, and request revisions for unsuitable submissions
- Manage recipients and webhooks: add, remove or reinstate people who receive invites and reminders, and register webhook endpoints for pushed events
- Sign in or out of the account from the assistant
- When to use it
- Use it when a task is blocked on material only someone outside the conversation can supply — a client, colleague or customer — especially when they may take days and need reminders. It is not meant for information already at hand or for questions to the user you are talking to.
- Requirements
- Either the hosted endpoint at mcp.briefgate.dev, which uses OAuth on first connect, or the local npm package run with npx, which needs Node.js. A BriefGate account is required: sign in with the login command or tool, or supply BRIEFGATE_API_KEY (free tier available). BRIEFGATE_BASE_URL optionally overrides the API address.
Installation
In SourceWeft
- Open BriefGate in the dashboard and add it to a workspace.
- Connect the required credentials. They are stored privately and never shown on public pages.
- Enable the server for the chats that should use its tools.
Web executable via Streamable HTTP. Remote servers run from the web runtime once configured in a workspace.
Use with an agent
Paste this prompt into Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or another agent — or into SourceWeft chat. The agent reads this server's install guide, shows you its publisher, endpoint and sign-in, and adds it to your client once you agree. Keys never go into a command.
Read https://sourceweft.com/mcp/io.github.sekera-radim%2Fbriefgate/install.md and connect the MCP server it describes to my client. Before changing any config, show me its publisher, endpoint and sign-in method and wait for my OK. Never put an API key in a command or in a file I would commit; ask me where it should come from.Other MCP clients
Add this to your client's mcpServers config. The client completes OAuth sign-in on first connect.
{
"mcpServers": {
"briefgate": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://mcp.briefgate.dev/mcp"
}
}
}README
BriefGate
[Listed on mcpservers.org] [M8ven Score]
Client intake — from your browser, or from your AI coding agent.
Your agent can build the website. BriefGate gets the missing things from the client.
No agent? You don't need one. Everything below can be done by hand at app.briefgate.dev: build the request, send the link, watch answers arrive, download the results as one ZIP — no code, no API key, no MCP client. This package is for the other way of working, where an agent does it for you. See the dashboard quickstart.
[BriefGate demo: an intake being defined, the client filling the portal, results coming back]
Watch as MP4 (25 s) · Full 47 s walkthrough
Website · MCP reference · llms.txt · Guides and checklists
The problem
Agents are fast. The bottleneck is the human on the other side of the project.
Somewhere in the middle of building, the agent needs something only the client has: a logo, homepage copy, brand colors, opening hours, hosting credentials, an API key, a piece of structured data like a price list. None of that exists in the chat, and none of it can be guessed.
The usual move is to stop and ask the developer to go chase the client by email. Instead, the agent creates a BriefGate intake. BriefGate emails the client, collects what comes back, chases automatically when it doesn't, and returns typed results the agent can use directly. The agent keeps building in the meantime.
Quickstart
Claude Code — hosted, no key to manage:
Then run /mcp in Claude Code, pick briefgate, and choose Authenticate.
Claude Code — local package:
Prefer to skip sign-in entirely? Get a key at briefgate.dev (free tier, no card) and pass it as BRIEFGATE_API_KEY.
Cursor — add to .cursor/mcp.json:
Then run npx -y @briefgate/mcp login, or ask the agent to call the login tool.
Codex:
Gemini CLI — installs as an extension from this repo's gemini-extension.json, pointed at the hosted endpoint:
It authenticates the same way as the other hosted clients above — via OAuth, on first use. The extension also ships GEMINI.md, a context file that tells the model what BriefGate is and when to reach for it.
By default gemini extensions install fetches the repo's latest GitHub Release rather than the main branch; if that release predates the current gemini-extension.json and the command reports a missing configuration file, install from main directly instead: gemini extensions install --ref main https://github.com/sekera-radim/briefgate-mcp.
Claude Desktop — one-click install as a Desktop Extension (.mcpb), running the local @briefgate/mcp package instead of the hosted endpoint. Build details: see MCPB bundle below.
Cursor — as a plugin from this repo's .cursor-plugin/plugin.json, which bundles the same MCP config together with the collect-from-client skill below.
Any Agent Skills-compatible tool (OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot / VS Code, Cursor, Gemini CLI, and other clients on that standard) — install the collect-from-client skill with the skills CLI:
The bare owner/repo shorthand the CLI's own docs show does not work against this layout as of [email protected] — it either 404s against its registry or, given the plain repo URL, clones the whole repo and reports "No SKILL.md found" because ours lives a directory deeper than the root. The full /tree/main/skills/<name> URL above is what actually installs it; verified by running it in an empty scratch directory before documenting it. This copies SKILL.md into that tool's local skills directory; the skill still assumes the briefgate MCP server (see the client-specific instructions above) is configured separately.
Full setup details, manual config, and API-key precedence: see Reference below.
For agents reading project instructions (AGENTS.md, Copilot, Cursor rules)
If your agent reads a project instructions file instead of (or in addition to) MCP tool descriptions or Agent Skills, add this block to your AGENTS.md, .github/copilot-instructions.md, or .cursor/rules:
Example: building a client's website
An agent is building a website for a restaurant. It has the layout and the booking flow, but it still needs the logo, a hero photo, the opening hours, a short description of the restaurant, the social media links, and admin access to the client's WordPress install. It calls define_intake:
From there, BriefGate (1) creates a branded portal, (2) emails the client, (3) validates each asset as it comes in, (4) chases the client automatically until everything is submitted, and (5) notifies the agent when it's done.
The agent keeps building the layout, the booking flow, and everything else that doesn't depend on this — then calls get_intake_results(intake_id) and gets back typed data and signed URLs for the files, plus a one-time reveal of the WordPress credentials. It stores the secret and continues.
Why not a form?
BriefGate is not trying to replace every form builder. It is designed for the point where an AI agent needs information from a human.
Free tier, no card required. BriefGate is a hosted service — this repository is the open-source MCP client, MIT licensed. Sign up at briefgate.dev.
Reference
Everything below is unchanged technical detail: manual setup, environment variables, HTTP/OAuth mode, the full tool reference, webhooks, pricing, and legal.
Claude Code: manual setup and API keys
Paste an API key (for CI, scripts, or if you'd rather manage the key yourself). Get one at briefgate.dev (free tier available, no card required):
Or add manually to ~/.claude/settings.json:
BRIEFGATE_API_KEY (or --api-key on the command line), if set, always takes precedence over a key login stored locally — running login while one is configured just says so instead of doing anything.
Verify it loaded — run /mcp in Claude Code and look for briefgate with 15 tools.
The same local-package and API-key setup works for any MCP client that runs the package locally (Cursor, Codex, others) — register it with no key at all and run login, or paste BRIEFGATE_API_KEY into that client's own MCP config the same way.
Sign in without an API key
Two ways to get a key onto this machine without pasting one — both run the same device-authorization flow (RFC 8628) against the same credential file, so pick whichever fits how you're using the package.
From a terminal — the login / logout subcommands:
login blocks until you approve it (or it times out at 10 minutes), then prints Signed in as <account_name> and exits 0 — or prints why it didn't work (denied, expired, an error) and exits 1. logout always removes the local copy; it also sends DELETE /v1/keys/current using that same key to revoke it server-side, and if that call fails (no network, API unreachable) it says so and points at the BriefGate dashboard instead of leaving you unsure whether the key is still live.
From an agent — the login / logout tools (see Tools):
Same flow, for a client that can't block a terminal on your click. login is two-phase because a tool call can't sit open for minutes:
- The first call starts the flow and returns immediately with the code and URL. A browser is opened automatically where possible.
- Call
loginagain — any time, or once you've approved it — to check progress. While it's still waiting, it says so; once approved, that same call reports success and the key is saved. No restart needed: the very next tool call is signed in.
logout as a tool does exactly what the subcommand does, including the best-effort remote revoke.
Either way, the key lands in ~/.briefgate/credentials.json (directory mode 0700, file mode 0600; override the path with BRIEFGATE_CREDENTIALS_FILE), keyed by which BriefGate server it's for so a staging BRIEFGATE_BASE_URL and production never collide. An explicit key always wins over a stored one — --api-key, then BRIEFGATE_API_KEY, then whatever login last saved — and login says so instead of running the flow when one of those is already set. Neither the subcommands nor the tools apply to the shared hosted endpoint (mcp.briefgate.dev) — see Hosted endpoint + OAuth, where connecting a client triggers real OAuth instead.
Environment variables
--api-key bg_live_... is also accepted on the command line, ahead of BRIEFGATE_API_KEY in priority. login and logout are also accepted as the first command-line argument (npx @briefgate/mcp login), instead of --http/no flag.
HTTP (Streamable HTTP) mode
For remote or multi-session deployments, start the server in HTTP mode:
The server binds to 127.0.0.1 only and includes DNS-rebinding protection. Behind a reverse proxy, terminate TLS there and forward to the local port — do not expose the port directly.
Hosted endpoint + OAuth
Set BRIEFGATE_MCP_PUBLIC_HOST to the hostname the server is published under and
it becomes a shared, multi-customer endpoint: each caller sends its own key as
Authorization: Bearer bg_live_... (an OAuth access token, for this API, is
that same key — see below), and the server speaks to the BriefGate API as that
caller. The public instance is https://mcp.briefgate.dev/mcp.
Several things change, on purpose:
- the listener binds
0.0.0.0and the Host guard accepts that name, because a server behind a reverse proxy is reached by its public name; - the
BRIEFGATE_API_KEYfallback and the locallogincredential are both switched off. Leaving either on would let an anonymous caller spend the operator's key, or read whatever the machine's ownloginlast stored; login/logout, tools and subcommands alike, are unavailable — connecting a client triggers real OAuth instead, described below;- the server becomes an OAuth 2.1 resource server, per the MCP authorization
spec, so an OAuth-aware client can add it with nothing but the URL. This
package never runs the authorization flow itself — it only advertises where
to find it and enforces that a request carries a token:
- it serves
GET /.well-known/oauth-protected-resource(RFC 9728), and the same content again under/.well-known/oauth-protected-resource/mcp(the resource-scoped path the MCP spec also has clients try), both with open CORS and naming the BriefGate API as the authorization server — seeBRIEFGATE_MCP_AUTH_SERVERabove; - every MCP request now needs a Bearer token — including
initializeandtools/list, which used to work without one so a registry could introspect the tool list. One with no token gets HTTP401and aWWW-Authenticate: Bearer resource_metadata="https://<host>/.well-known/oauth-protected-resource"header, which is the signal an OAuth client uses to start signing in; - if a tool call's key turns out to be expired or revoked (the API answers
401), the response is rewritten into a real HTTP401with the same header pluserror="invalid_token", rather than an ordinary tool error — so the client knows to refresh rather than just reporting the call failed.
- it serves
What a connecting client actually does, against the authorization server named
in that metadata: standard OAuth 2.1 discovery
(GET /.well-known/oauth-authorization-server), dynamic client registration
(POST /v1/oauth/register), then an authorization-code exchange with PKCE
(S256) at POST /v1/oauth/token — no client secret, since MCP clients are
public clients — and POST /v1/oauth/revoke to end a session. None of that is
this package's concern; it only has to be a correct resource server pointing
at it. The access token that comes out the other end is a bg_live_... key
like any other, with a one-hour expiry the API enforces.
None of this applies without BRIEFGATE_MCP_PUBLIC_HOST: a local --http run
keeps behaving exactly as before, including an absent key reaching
initialize/tools/list and a plain Authorization: Bearer ... header
working with no OAuth involved.
Tools
define_intake
Create a new client intake — a branded portal where the client submits the assets you need. BriefGate sends the invite email and chases the client automatically until everything is collected.
Item key rules: must be snake_case (e.g. logo, hero_copy, ga4_id). Keys become property names in get_intake_results — no uppercase, no spaces, no hyphens.
Returns { intake_id, portal_url, status }. Save intake_id for all follow-up calls.
get_intake_status
Check which items are submitted, pending, or need revision. Includes the history of automated chase emails and when the client last opened the portal.
Returns per-item status and a full chase history.
get_intake_results
Retrieve typed submitted values. Files are signed URLs (valid 24 hours). Secrets are one-time — decrypted and returned on the first call only; store them before moving on.
Returns { results: { logo: "https://signed...", hero_copy: "text...", wp_admin: "s3cr3t" }, meta: { ... } }.
request_revision
Ask the client to resubmit an item with a note explaining what is wrong.
Returns { status: "revision_requested", item_key }.
send_chase
Send a manual reminder outside the automatic schedule. Use when a deadline is approaching or email attempts have failed.
Returns { sent: true }.
list_intakes
List all intakes across projects, optionally filtered by status, client email, folder, or a text search.
Returns { intakes: [...], total }.
add_items
Add new items to an already-sent intake — for example a favicon you forgot, or additional credentials needed mid-project.
Returns the updated intake.
update_item
Change an item's definition after the intake was sent — the type, label, help text or constraints. Use this when you asked for the wrong thing, e.g. you requested an image but the client has a PDF.
Returns the updated item. If the client already submitted a value that the new definition would reject, the call fails with item_answer_would_be_discarded until you pass discard_submitted_value: true.
update_intake
Change settings on an already-sent intake — project name, due date, reminder cadence, quiet hours, the client brief, or the client's name, phone, language, and timezone. Use this instead of deleting and recreating the intake, which would re-send the invite.
If any chase-related field changes (chase_schedule, chase_interval, chase_interval_unit, chase_at_time, max_reminders, respect_quiet_hours, due_date, client.timezone) on a sent intake, every pending reminder is cancelled and re-planned from now — reminders already sent still count toward max_reminders. folder_id never touches the chase schedule.
The client's e-mail address cannot be changed here — the portal link and login are bound to it. Use manage_recipients for that. Fails if the intake is archived. Returns the full, updated intake object.
manage_recipients
Add, remove, or reinstate a person who receives an intake's invite and reminders, alongside or instead of the primary client.
action="add" invites another address the same way also_notify does at define_intake time. action="remove" stops future reminders to that address. action="reinstate" is for a bounce that was wrong — the person did get the e-mail — it clears the bounce flag so reminders resume, and re-plans the chase schedule from now if that address was the only one still being chased.
manage_webhook
Register, list or remove a webhook endpoint so events are pushed to your service instead of you polling.
action: "create" returns a secret once — store it, it verifies every delivery signature and cannot be retrieved again. Remove with action: "delete" and webhook_id.
Because an agent receives the secret in a tool result, it can come to rest wherever that conversation is stored. There is no rotation endpoint: if a transcript leaks, delete the endpoint and create a new one to get a fresh secret.
Only register an endpoint you can actually receive on. An agent running in a terminal has no public HTTPS address; for that case register nothing and check on a schedule instead (see below).
list_folders
List the folders in your account, used to group intakes by client or project. Takes no arguments.
Call this before create_folder or before setting folder_id on define_intake, update_intake, or list_intakes — reuse an existing folder for a returning client instead of creating a duplicate.
Returns { folders: [{ id, name, sort_order, intake_count, created_at }] }.
create_folder
Create a new folder to group intakes, e.g. one per client.
Call list_folders first and reuse a matching folder — only create one when none of the existing folders fits. Fails with folder_exists if a folder with this name already exists. Returns the created folder.
login
Sign in without an API key — see Sign in without an API key. Takes no arguments.
Call it whenever another tool reports "Not signed in" or that the stored key was revoked or expired. The first call starts a device-authorization flow and returns a URL and a short code immediately; call it again (any time) to check whether it's been approved yet. Has no effect — it says so instead — if --api-key or BRIEFGATE_API_KEY already supplies a key. Not available on the hosted endpoint. Same flow as running npx @briefgate/mcp login from a terminal (which blocks until approved instead of needing a second call) — see Sign in without an API key.
logout
Removes the API key login stored locally for this BriefGate server, and best-effort revokes it on the server too. Takes no arguments.
If the revoke call fails — no network, the API unreachable — the local copy is still removed; the response says so and points at the BriefGate dashboard to revoke it there instead. Not available on the hosted endpoint. Same effect as running npx @briefgate/mcp logout from a terminal — see Sign in without an API key.
Decisions — questions for the developer
An agent building something hits things only the account holder can settle: does the discounted plan cost $19 or $29? Stopping to wait wastes the run; picking silently buries the assumption. A decision is the third option — pose the question, record the answer you are proceeding on, keep building.
type: "multiselect" takes several answers, bounded by constraints.min_count / max_count.
The proposal is stored apart from the real answer, so it can never be mistaken for one the developer gave — and it survives being overruled, which is the point: in three months you can still see that $19 was assumed, not agreed. Read it back from get_intake_results:
decided_by is "owner" once a person has settled it and "agent_proposal" while it is still your own pick. A proposed decision comes back even without include_pending — you need the assumption you are building on. It does not bump revision, so an only_new read surfaces exactly the decisions someone has since answered.
You cannot answer your own question. The answer endpoint takes a dashboard session, not an API key: if the agent could confirm its own proposal and have it recorded as the developer's, the distinction would be worth nothing. Decisions are answered in the BriefGate dashboard.
Owner items never reach the client portal, never appear in a reminder, and never hold up completion — the intake is finished when the client is finished.
Knowing when the client is done
Nothing pushes to an MCP client on its own — MCP is request/response, so the server cannot wake your agent when the client finishes. define_intake therefore returns a follow_up block naming the mechanism that fits your setup:
- You run a service → register a webhook with
manage_webhookand act onintake.completed. - You are an agent in a terminal → set up a recurring check that calls
get_intake_statuseveryevery_hourshours untiluntil. A cron entry, a systemd timer, or your agent host's own scheduler all work.
Events worth acting on: intake.completed (everything is in) and intake.overdue (the deadline passed with required items missing — the project is blocked and the client needs a human, not another reminder).
The cadence tightens near the deadline (24h normally, 12h inside a week, 6h inside two days) and is not tied to the reminder schedule: a client can submit everything at 2am having never opened a reminder.
End-to-end example
Verifying webhooks
BriefGate signs every webhook with HMAC-SHA256 to prevent forgery and replay attacks. The @briefgate/mcp package exports a ready-made helper:
The signature lives in the X-BriefGate-Signature header as t=<unix>,v1=<hex>:
Fastify (recommended)
Express
Webhook events
Pricing
Full pricing at GET https://api.briefgate.dev/pricing.json (no auth required — agents can read it directly).
Data residency
BriefGate is hosted in the EU: application servers at netcup GmbH in Nuremberg, Germany; files in Cloudflare R2 under EU jurisdiction. See the GDPR notes and the DPA.
Privacy Policy
This package is a thin client: it holds no data of its own and sends nothing
anywhere except to the BriefGate API at api.briefgate.dev, using the API key
you configure. It writes no telemetry and no analytics.
What BriefGate itself collects, how long it keeps it, who it is shared with and how to have it deleted is covered in full here:
- Privacy Policy — https://briefgate.dev/docs/privacy
- Security — https://briefgate.dev/docs/security
- Data Processing Agreement — https://briefgate.dev/docs/dpa
Contact for privacy requests: [email protected]
MCPB bundle (Claude Desktop Extension)
manifest.json at the repo root packages the local
@briefgate/mcp package as a one-click Claude Desktop install
(MCPB spec). It runs dist/index.js
locally and prompts for an optional API key at install time — the same
login/BRIEFGATE_API_KEY setup documented above, not the hosted
endpoint's OAuth flow.
Build the bundle (production dependencies only, packed in a throwaway
staging directory so it never touches this repo's own node_modules):
This produces briefgate.mcpb at the repo root (gitignored — install it
locally to test, don't commit it). Not yet submitted anywhere; see
scripts/build-mcpb.mjs for what the command does.
Contributing
This repository is the BriefGate MCP client only — a thin wrapper over the public BriefGate REST API. The BriefGate service itself is closed source.
License
MIT — use freely in commercial projects.
Made by Radim Sekera. Related project: impri.dev — human-in-the-loop approval inbox for AI agents.
Source: README.md at commit f67321d
Tools
0Version history
3- v0.10.7LatestSep 30, 2026
- v0.10.5Sep 16, 2026
- v0.10.0Sep 16, 2026
Score
85% of the applicable checks met
How complete this listing is, computed from the registry entry, the endpoint and public sources. Not a rating of the server and not a statement that it is safe or working today: reachability is a dated check, and no installs or reviews go into the score.
- Reached in the last 30 daysRequired25 pts
- Auth declaredRequired10 pts
- Tools listed15 pts
Answer tools/list without a credential, or ship a package that starts in a sandbox without one.
- DescriptionRequired15 pts
- Logo10 pts
- Documentation15 pts
- License10 pts