Sift Gateway
Reliability gateway for AI tool output: schema-stable, secret-safe, pagination-complete JSON for MCP and CLI agents.
What is Sift Gateway?
Sift Gateway is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that allows AI assistants like Claude, Cursor, and VS Code to reliability gateway for ai tool output: schema-stable, secret-safe, pagination-complete json for mcp and cli agents.
Reliability gateway for AI tool output: schema-stable, secret-safe, pagination-complete JSON for MCP and CLI agents.
This server falls under the Developer Tools category on MCPgee, the world's largest MCP server directory with 33,000+ servers.
Features
- Reliability gateway for AI tool output: schema-stable, secre
Use Cases
Maintainer
Works with
Installation
Manual Installation
npx sift-gatewayConfiguration
Configuration Details
claude_desktop_config.json
Performance
Response Metrics
Resource Usage
How to Set Up and Use Sift Gateway
Sift Gateway is a reliability layer that sits between MCP clients and upstream MCP servers or CLI commands, solving three persistent pain points: large tool outputs that flood the context window, pagination that stops early leaving agents with partial data, and tool outputs that may contain secrets or credentials. It persists every tool result as an artifact in a local SQLite database, returns either the full inline payload for small responses or a compact schema_ref for large ones, and lets agents query the stored artifacts using Python code for precise extraction. In benchmarks on 103 factual questions across 12 real JSON datasets, Sift improved accuracy from 33% to 99% while cutting input tokens by 95.4%.
Prerequisites
- Python 3.11 or later installed
- pipx installed (pip install pipx) for isolated installation
- An MCP-compatible client such as Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, or VS Code
- Optional: existing upstream MCP servers to proxy through Sift
Install sift-gateway via pipx
Install Sift Gateway into an isolated environment using pipx so it does not conflict with other Python packages.
pipx install sift-gatewayRun the init command for your MCP client
The init command auto-detects your MCP client and updates its config file to route tool calls through Sift. Supported shortcuts include claude, claude-code, cursor, vscode, windsurf, zed, and auto.
sift-gateway init --from claudeRestart your MCP client
After init updates the config, restart your MCP client so it picks up the Sift gateway. Mirrored versions of all your upstream tool calls will now be available.
Use Sift for CLI artifact capture
Use sift-gateway run to capture any shell command's JSON output as an artifact for later querying. The artifact_id is printed in the JSON output.
sift-gateway run --json -- kubectl get pods -A -o jsonQuery a stored artifact with Python code
Use sift-gateway code to run a Python function over a stored artifact by its ID. The function receives the full data structure regardless of how large it was.
sift-gateway code --json <artifact_id> '$' --code "def run(data, schema, params): return {'rows': len(data)}"Handle paginated responses
For paginated upstream tools, continue fetching pages until pagination.retrieval_status equals COMPLETE. Query all pages at once using --scope all_related.
sift-gateway run --json --continue-from <artifact_id> -- <next-command-with-next-page-params>Sift Gateway Examples
Client configuration
Sift Gateway wraps an upstream MCP server. This example shows how to proxy through sift-gateway when using it as an MCP server. The init command generates this automatically, but here is a manual example.
{
"mcpServers": {
"sift-gateway": {
"command": "sift-gateway",
"args": ["serve"]
}
}
}Prompts to try
Once Sift is running, mirrored tool calls work transparently. These prompts show patterns where Sift's artifact-backed approach is most valuable.
- "Use gateway.inspect_tool to show the full description for the upstream filesystem list_directory tool"
- "List all Kubernetes pods across all namespaces and tell me how many are in a non-Running state"
- "Fetch all pages of GitHub issues for this repo and count how many are labeled 'bug'"
- "Run a Python query on artifact <id> to extract all entries where status is 'ERROR'"Troubleshooting Sift Gateway
sift-gateway init does not detect my MCP client automatically
Pass the config path explicitly: sift-gateway init --from /path/to/your/mcp-config.json. You can also pass --from auto to let Sift search common config locations, or add the MCP server block manually.
Secrets still appear in tool output after Sift is configured
Outbound secret redaction is enabled by default, but it relies on pattern matching for common secret formats (tokens, keys, passwords). Check the deployment.md config reference to add custom redaction patterns for your specific secret formats.
Agent stops on partial data claiming pagination is complete
Instruct the agent explicitly: do not claim completion until pagination.retrieval_status == COMPLETE. Each page response includes this field. Use sift-gateway run --continue-from with the next-page parameters to fetch subsequent pages.
Frequently Asked Questions about Sift Gateway
What is Sift Gateway?
Sift Gateway is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that reliability gateway for ai tool output: schema-stable, secret-safe, pagination-complete json for mcp and cli agents. It connects AI assistants to external tools and data sources through a standardized interface.
How do I install Sift Gateway?
Follow the installation instructions on the Sift Gateway GitHub repository. Clone the repo, install dependencies, and add the server config to your AI client.
Which AI clients work with Sift Gateway?
Sift Gateway works with all major MCP-compatible AI clients including Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code (GitHub Copilot), Windsurf, and Cline.
Is Sift Gateway free to use?
Yes, Sift Gateway is open source and available under the MIT license. You can use it freely in both personal and commercial projects.
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