Kiteworks MCP Server

The Kiteworks MCP Server enables Large Language Model (LLM) applications to securely interact with your Kiteworks instance through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). This cross-platform server provides AI assistants with the ability to manage files, folders, and user information within your Kiteworks environment while maintaining enterprise-grade security.

Key Capabilities:

File Management: Upload, download, and retrieve metadata for files stored in Kiteworks
Folder Operations: Navigate folder hierarchies, create new folders, and manage folder structures
User Information: Access current user details and authentication status
OAuth 2.0 Authentication: Secure authorization with refresh token support
Rate Limiting: Built-in protection with configurable request limits
Cross-Platform Support: Native binaries for Windows, Linux, and macOS

Built as a local STDIO-based server, it runs per user on their machine, connecting LLM clients to Kiteworks through secure OAuth 2.0 authentication.

Security considerations

This MCP server may handle sensitive data, which will be accessible to the LLM you attach. Make sure you only install MCP Servers that are trusted and verified.

The Kiteworks MCP Server does not expose credentials or security tokens to the LLM. They are securely stored in your operating system keychain/credentials store.

The Kiteworks MCP Server does not make the data it transfers available to the LLM (in the LLM context). In addition, by default absolute paths are not allowed for upload or for storing downloaded content. You will not be able to upload /etc/passwd or download to /etc/passwd. To allow absolute paths, consult the command line options.

The Kiteworks MCP Server validates the TLS certificate of the remote Kiteworks server it connects to. It will abort if it can't be validated, to protect against man in the middle attacks. If your Kiteworks instance uses a self-signed certificate or a certificate from an unknown certificate authority, you can supply the Root CA chain using a command line option.

Installation & setup

Kiteworks

IMPORTANT: before you can start, you need to set up a custom OAuth application in the Kiteworks Admin UI. Navigate to Application Setup -> Clients and Plugins -> API. Ensure the OAuth application has the following scopes:

Files: CREATE,READ
Folders: CREATE,READ
Users: READ

Further, ensure you have

Authorization Code flow enabled
Refresh Token enabled
redirect URI set to http://localhost:9999/callback

Save the provided Client Application ID and Client Secret Key in a secure place. You will need to enter them on the first run of the MCP Server.

Windows Client

Download the binary for Windows.

Initiate setup (one-time OAuth flow):

C:\Path\To\kiteworks-mcp.exe setup https://your.kiteworks.domain

Claude Code setup

claude mcp add --transport stdio kiteworks C:\Path\To\kiteworks-mcp.exe start https://your.kiteworks.domain

MacOS Client

Download the binary for MacOS.

Initiate setup (one-time OAuth flow):

/Path/To/kiteworks-mcp setup https://your.kiteworks.domain

Claude Code setup

claude mcp add --transport stdio kiteworks /Path/To/kiteworks-mcp start https://your.kiteworks.domain

Linux Client

The instructions are the same as for MacOS.

NOTE: The Linux implementation depends on the Secret Service dbus interface, which is provided by GNOME Keyring (https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/GnomeKeyring).

Visual Studio Code

For instruction on setting up MCP Servers in VS Code, you can refer to this article: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/customization/mcp-servers

MCP Inspector

Command: /Path/To/kiteworks-mcp
Arguments: start https://your.kiteworks.domain
Transport: STDIO

A sample json configuration

kiteworks-mcp start --insecure-absolute-paths --ca-cert path_to_cert/ca_chain.pem https://your.kiteworks.domain

Translates to a Claude Desktop json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kiteworks": {
      "command": "path_to/kiteworks-mcp",
      "args": [
        "start",
        "--insecure-absolute-paths",
        "--ca-cert",
        "path_to_cert/ca_chain.pem",
        "https://your.kiteworks.domain"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Command Reference

The Kiteworks MCP Server provides the following commands:

setup

Set up Kiteworks connection (one-time OAuth authentication).

kiteworks-mcp setup [flags] <kiteworks URL>

Flags:

--port, -p <port>: specify different OAuth callback server port in case of conflict (default: 9999, range: 1024-65535)
--ca-cert, -c <path>: Path to custom CA certificate in PEM format

Example:

kiteworks-mcp setup https://your.kiteworks.domain
kiteworks-mcp setup --port 8080 --ca-cert /path/to/ca_chain.pem https://your.kiteworks.domain

start

Run the MCP Server (requires prior setup).

kiteworks-mcp start [flags] <Kiteworks URL>

Flags:

--port, -p <port>: specify different OAuth callback server port in case of conflict (default: 9999, range: 1024-65535)
--ca-cert, -c <path>: Path to custom CA certificate in PEM format
--insecure-absolute-paths: allow absolute file paths in operations (insecure)

Example:

kiteworks-mcp start https://your.kiteworks.domain
kiteworks-mcp start --ca-cert /path/to/ca_chain.pem https://your.kiteworks.domain
kiteworks-mcp start --insecure-absolute-paths https://your.kiteworks.domain

remove

Delete all stored credentials and tokens for a Kiteworks server.

kiteworks-mcp remove <Kiteworks URL>

Example:

kiteworks-mcp remove https://your.kiteworks.domain

version

Print version information.

kiteworks-mcp version

TLS Certificate Verification

If your Kiteworks instance uses a self-signed certificate or a certificate from an unknown certificate authority, you may encounter TLS verification errors during OAuth authentication. You can supply the Root CA chain using the --ca-cert (or -c) flag:

kiteworks-mcp setup --ca-cert ca_cert_chain.pem https://your.kiteworks.domain
kiteworks-mcp start --ca-cert ca_cert_chain.pem https://your.kiteworks.domain

Note: The CA certificate must be in PEM format and contain the complete certificate chain.

Absolute Path Access

By default, for additional security, the MCP Server restricts file operations to relative paths only. Uploads and Downloads will use the current working directory of the MCP Client. You can enable full file system access using the --insecure-absolute-paths flag of the "start" command.

When enabled, file operations can access:

Full system directories: /home/user/documents/file.txt
Root filesystem access: /etc/passwd, /var/log/system.log
Windows system paths: C:\Windows\System32\config.txt

Examples with absolute paths:

# Upload from absolute path
upload_file(parent_id="folder123", source="/Users/john/Desktop/report.pdf")

# Download to absolute path
download_file(file_id="file456", target="C:\Users\jane\Documents\downloaded.xlsx")

Quick Start Guide for macOS users

OAuth Application

Create a custom OAuth application in your Admin Console:

Ensure that:

redirect URI is set to http://localhost:9999/callback
Authorization Code flow is enabled
Refresh Token is enabled

Ensure the OAuth application has at least the following scopes for basic functionality:

READ and CREATE Folders
READ and CREATE Files
READ Users

Save the provided Client Application ID and Client Secret Key in a secure place:

If the Custom Application is created successfully, it appears in the list of available applications:

Authenticate the OAuth Client

Download the latest darwin-based Kiteworks MCP server binary for macOS.

Authenticate previously created OAuth application:

<FOLDER_WITH_MCP_BINARY>/kiteworks-mcp setup https://your.kiteworks.domain

If the command above executes successfully, the browser opens automatically. Login to your Kiteworks box and grant access to the Custom Application:

Run Kiteworks MCP server with MCP Inspector

MCP Inspector is a convenient tool to investigate an MCP server functionality.

Ensure that node.js v18+ is installed.

Start the MCP inspector (the browser opens automatically):

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector

In the opened MCP Inspector window, ensure that:

Transport Type is STDIO.
Command is a path to kiteworks-mcp binary.
Arguments are start https://your.kiteworks.domain.

Press "Connect" button and get access to the list of prompts, tools and resources available at Kiteworks MCP server:

Configure MCP Client

The customer needs to bring their own MCP Client and an LLM to be able to work with Kiteworks MCP server. There can be different combinations of MCP Client and LLM, and in this guide we will describe two possible combinations:

Claude Desktop
Claude Code with AWS Bedrock

⚠️ Disclaimer on Large Language Model (LLM) Integration

Important: Customers are responsible for selecting and configuring their own MCP Client and LLM.

The chosen LLM must align with the customer’s internal compliance policies, security requirements, and data handling guidelines.

Please be aware that different LLM providers offer varying levels of data privacy and security. Some providers may retain, log, or use input data for training or other purposes.

Kiteworks provides guidance on LLM integration but assumes no responsibility or liability for any data exposure, compliance breaches, or other risks resulting from the use of third-party LLM services.

Configure Claude Desktop

Prerequisites:

Claude Desktop installed.

NOTE: Claude Desktop has preconfigured LLMs provided by Anthropic. The customer has to ensure that usage of public Anthropic LLMs is allowed within their organization (see the Disclaimer above).

Open Claude Desktop settings and press "Edit Config".

Include in the provided JSON configuration file the following:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kiteworks": {
      "command": "<FOLDER_WITH_MCP_BINARY>/kiteworks-mcp",
      "args": [
        "start",
        "https://your.kiteworks.domain"
      ]
    }
  }
}

To allow full file system access use the --insecure-absolute-paths flag

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kiteworks": {
      "command": "<FOLDER_WITH_MCP_BINARY>/kiteworks-mcp",
      "args": [
        "start",
        "--insecure-absolute-paths",
        "https://your.kiteworks.domain"
      ]
    }
  }
}

For self-signed certificates, use the --ca-cert (or -c) flag:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kiteworks": {
      "command": "<FOLDER_WITH_MCP_BINARY>/kiteworks-mcp",
      "args": [
        "start",
        "--ca-cert",
        "path_to_cert/ca_chain.pem",
        "https://your.kiteworks.domain"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Important: Restart Claude Desktop to pick up the new configuration. The browser opens automatically. Login to your Kiteworks box and grant access to the Custom Application.

Verify that Kiteworks MCP server is running:

Now let's ask Claude about Kiteworks MCP server functionality:

Happy prompting!

Configure Claude Code with AWS Bedrock

Prerequisites:

AWS CLI installed.
Claude Code installed and authenticated.
AWS Bedrock access enabled.

It is possible to use LLMs provided by Anthropic together with Claude Code, however, our customers can also use their own LLMs provided via popular cloud services, e.g. Google Cloud, AWS, MS Azure.

In this example we will use AWS Bedrock as our secure LLM provider. We chose two models from AWS Bedrock:

Claude Sonnet 4.5 (larger model for deep thinking)
Claude 3.5 Haiku (smaller model for simple requests)

Activate AWS Bedrock models for Claude Code via the environment variables:

export CLAUDE_CODE_USE_BEDROCK=1
export AWS_REGION=<YOUR_AWS_REGION>
export ANTHROPIC_MODEL=<CLAUDE_SONNET_4.5_MODEL_ID>
export ANTHROPIC_SMALL_FAST_MODEL=<CLAUDE_3.5_HAIKU_MODEL_ID>
export AWS_PROFILE=<AWS_PROFILE>

Add Kiteworks MCP server to the Claude configuration:

claude mcp add --transport stdio kiteworks <FOLDER_WITH_MCP_BINARY>/kiteworks-mcp start https://your.kiteworks.domain

Everything is set up! Run claude command and prompt "What can I do with Kiteworks MCP server?"

Verify with /status prompt that Claude uses AWS Bedrock:

Happy prompting!

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Kiteworks MCP Server

Security considerations

Installation & setup

Kiteworks

Windows Client

MacOS Client

Linux Client

Visual Studio Code

MCP Inspector

A sample json configuration

Command Reference

setup

start

remove

version

TLS Certificate Verification

Absolute Path Access

Quick Start Guide for macOS users

OAuth Application

Authenticate the OAuth Client

Run Kiteworks MCP server with MCP Inspector

Configure MCP Client

Configure Claude Desktop

Configure Claude Code with AWS Bedrock

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Kiteworks MCP Server

Security considerations

Installation & setup

Kiteworks

Windows Client

MacOS Client

Linux Client

Visual Studio Code

MCP Inspector

A sample json configuration

Command Reference

setup

start

remove

version

TLS Certificate Verification

Absolute Path Access

Quick Start Guide for macOS users

OAuth Application

Authenticate the OAuth Client

Run Kiteworks MCP server with MCP Inspector

Configure MCP Client

Configure Claude Desktop

Configure Claude Code with AWS Bedrock

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