v1.0.0-BETA-1 - 2025-12-16 - Multi-Architecture Containers, gRPC Translation, Performance & Security Enhancements

This release marks the first beta milestone toward 1.0.0 GA, delivering multi-architecture container support, gRPC-to-MCP protocol translation, air-gapped deployment capabilities, and significant performance improvements with 25+ issues resolved.

🎉 Announcements

🖥️ ContextForge Desktop App

We're excited to announce the ContextForge Desktop application - a native desktop client for managing MCP servers and gateways:

• Repository: contextforge-org/contextforge-desktop
• Cross-platform support (Windows, macOS, Linux)
• Visual MCP server management and monitoring
• Integrated gateway configuration

⌨️ ContextForge CLI

A new command-line interface for ContextForge operations:

• Repository: contextforge-org/contextforge-cli
• Scriptable MCP server and gateway management
• CI/CD integration support
• Configuration export/import utilities

🏢 New ContextForge Organization

We've established the contextforge-org GitHub organization to host the growing ContextForge ecosystem. In upcoming releases, several components will migrate to this organization:

• Plugins
• MCP Servers
• Agent runtimes
• Desktop and CLI tools

Note: The main gateway repository remains at IBM/mcp-context-forge.

🏆 Major Achievements

Release 1.0.0-BETA-1 represents a major milestone toward production readiness:

✅ 🏗️ Multi-Architecture Containers - ARM64 and s390x architecture support for Apple Silicon, AWS Graviton, and IBM Z deployments
✅ 🔌 gRPC-to-MCP Translation - Experimental gRPC service interface for MCP protocol operations with Protocol Buffers
✅ 🌐 Air-Gapped Deployment - CDN asset bundling for fully offline/disconnected environments
✅ ⚡ 10x+ Performance Improvements - Concurrent health checks and N+1 query optimizations dramatically reduce gateway operations latency
✅ 🔐 Password Expiration Policies - Configurable password validity periods with forced change on login
✅ 🔑 One-Time Authentication - Support for WXO integration with single-use auth tokens
✅ 🛡️ Input Validation & Sanitization - Gateway-level security to prevent path traversal and injection attacks
✅ 🧪 Performance Testing Framework - Comprehensive benchmarking infrastructure with N+1 query detection

✨ Highlights

🏗️ Multi-Architecture Container Support

Deploy anywhere with native performance

MCP Gateway now builds container images for multiple CPU architectures, enabling deployment across diverse infrastructure:

Supported Architectures

• linux/amd64 - Standard x86_64 servers and cloud instances
• linux/arm64 - Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3), AWS Graviton, Raspberry Pi 4+
• linux/s390x - IBM Z/LinuxONE mainframes for enterprise deployments

Key Benefits

• Native Performance - No emulation overhead on ARM64 or s390x platforms
• Cost Efficiency - Leverage ARM-based cloud instances (40% cost savings on AWS Graviton)
• Enterprise Ready - IBM Z support for mainframe-centric organizations
• Automated CI/CD - Multi-platform builds run automatically on every release

# Pull for any architecture (Docker/Podman auto-selects)
docker pull ghcr.io/ibm/mcp-context-forge:1.0.0-BETA-1

# Explicitly pull ARM64 image
docker pull --platform linux/arm64 ghcr.io/ibm/mcp-context-forge:1.0.0-BETA-1

# Pull for IBM Z
docker pull --platform linux/s390x ghcr.io/ibm/mcp-context-forge:1.0.0-BETA-1

🔌 gRPC-to-MCP Protocol Translation (Experimental)

High-performance RPC interface for MCP operations

A new experimental gRPC service provides an alternative interface for MCP protocol operations, ideal for high-throughput scenarios and polyglot environments.

Features

• Tool Operations - List, discover, and invoke tools via gRPC
• Resource Management - Fetch and manage resources through RPC calls
• Prompt Handling - Template rendering and prompt management
• Server Capabilities - Health checks and capability queries
• Type-Safe Clients - Generate clients in any language from .proto schemas

Installation

# Install with gRPC support
pip install mcp-contextforge-gateway[grpc]

Use Cases

• High-frequency tool invocations from microservices
• Integration with Go, Java, C++, or other gRPC-native languages
• Low-latency scenarios where HTTP overhead matters
• Service mesh deployments with gRPC-native load balancing

🌐 Air-Gapped Environment Support

Deploy without any external network dependencies

MCP Gateway now supports fully air-gapped deployments where no external network requests are required for operation.

What's Included

• Bundled Frontend Assets - HTMX, Alpine.js, and CSS libraries included in container image
• No CDN Dependencies - Admin UI works without internet connectivity
• Asset Download Script - scripts/download-cdn-assets.sh for manual updates

Configuration

# Air-gapped deployment - no additional configuration needed
# Assets are automatically served from the container

# To update assets manually (for custom deployments)
./scripts/download-cdn-assets.sh

Use Cases

• Government and defense installations
• Financial institutions with strict network policies
• Industrial/OT environments
• Development without internet access

⚡ Performance Improvements (10x+ Faster)

Dramatic latency reduction for gateway operations

Two major performance fixes deliver order-of-magnitude improvements for multi-gateway deployments.

Concurrent Health Checks (#1522)

• Before: Sequential health checks - O(n) latency for n gateways
• After: Parallel health checks - O(1) latency regardless of gateway count
• Impact: 10 gateways: 10s → 1s, 100 gateways: 100s → 1s

N+1 Query Elimination (#1523)

• Before: N+1 database queries for gateway/tool/server operations
• After: Batch queries with eager loading
• Impact: 90%+ reduction in database queries for multi-gateway scenarios

# Example improvement for 10 gateways with 100 tools each
# Before: 1 + 10 + 1000 = 1011 queries
# After: 3 queries (gateways + tools + servers batch)

🔐 Password Expiration & Security

Enterprise-grade password management

New password security features support enterprise compliance requirements.

Features

• Configurable Expiration - Set password validity periods via PASSWORD_EXPIRY_DAYS
• Forced Password Change - Users prompted to change expired passwords on login
• One-Time Authentication - Support for WXO integration with single-use tokens
• Multiple Gateway Registrations - Same gateway URL with different auth contexts

Configuration

# Password expiration (days)
PASSWORD_EXPIRY_DAYS=90

# One-time authentication mode
ONE_TIME_AUTH_ENABLED=true

🧪 Performance Testing Framework

Catch performance regressions before production

A comprehensive performance testing infrastructure helps maintain and improve gateway performance.

Components

• Benchmarking Framework - Standardized performance testing infrastructure
• Benchmark MCP Server - Dedicated server for load testing and analysis
• N+1 Query Detection - Automated tests catch database query regressions
• Load Testing Tools - Production-scale test data generation

Usage

# Run performance tests
make test-db-perf

# Analyze query patterns
make query-log-analyze

# Generate test load
python scripts/generate_test_data.py --tools 10000 --gateways 100

🆕 Added

🏗️ Multi-Architecture Container Support (#80, #1138)

• ARM64 Support - Container images for Apple Silicon, AWS Graviton
• s390x Support - IBM Z/LinuxONE architecture for enterprise mainframes
• Multi-Platform CI/CD - Automated builds for linux/amd64, linux/arm64, linux/s390x

🔌 gRPC-to-MCP Protocol Translation (#1171)

• Experimental gRPC Service - New gRPC interface for MCP operations
• Protocol Buffers - Type-safe .proto schemas for client generation
• Optional Installation - pip install mcp-contextforge-gateway[grpc]

🌐 Air-Gapped Environment Support (#932)

• CDN Asset Bundling - HTMX, Alpine.js, CSS bundled in container
• Offline Deployment - No external network requests for Admin UI
• Asset Download Script - Manual asset updates via scripts/download-cdn-assets.sh

🔐 Password Expiration & Security (#1282, #1387)

• Configurable Password Expiration - PASSWORD_EXPIRY_DAYS setting
• Forced Password Change - Prompt on expired password login
• One-Time Authentication - WXO integration with single-use tokens
• Multiple Gateway Registrations - Same URL with different auth contexts (#1392)

🧪 Performance Testing Framework (#1203, #1219)

• Benchmarking Framework - Comprehensive performance testing infrastructure
• Benchmark MCP Server - Dedicated server for load testing
• N+1 Query Detection - Automated database query regression tests

📦 Sample MCP Servers

• Go System Monitor Server (#898) - Reference Go implementation

🛠️ Developer Experience Improvements

• Test Button for Resources (#1560) - Quick resource testing from Admin UI
• Tool Tag Structure (#1442) - Enhanced tags with metadata (objects instead of strings)
• Authentication Plugin Architecture (#1019) - Extensible auth via plugins
• Bulk Import Feedback (#806) - Improved error messages in UI

🐛 Fixed

⚡ Performance Fixes

• Concurrent Health Checks (#1522) - Parallel instead of sequential, O(n) → O(1) latency
• N+1 Query Elimination (#1523) - 90%+ reduction in database queries

🐛 Bug Fixes

• Gateway Status Updates (#464) - Status now updates when servers shutdown
• Resource Listing (#1259) - Fixed resources not appearing in listings
• StreamableHTTP Redirects (#1280) - Proper redirect handling in URL validation
• Tool Schema team_id (#1395) - Team ID correctly applied in schemas
• Virtual Server Structured Content (#1406) - Fixed missing content in Streamable HTTP
• One-Time Auth Gateway Registration (#1448) - Multiple gateways with same URL supported
• SSL Key Passphrase (#1577) - Support for passphrase-protected SSL keys

🔒 Security

• Input Validation & Output Sanitization (#221) - Gateway-level protection against path traversal and injection attacks

🔄 Changed

🗄️ Database Support

• MariaDB Documentation (#288) - Comprehensive testing, documentation, and CI/CD integration

📦 Migration Guide

From v0.9.0 to v1.0.0-BETA-1

Database migrations run automatically on startup. Backup recommended before upgrading:

# Backup your database
cp mcp.db mcp.db.backup.$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

# Pull new image
docker pull ghcr.io/ibm/mcp-context-forge:1.0.0-BETA-1

# Start - migrations run automatically
docker compose up -d

New Environment Variables

# Password expiration (optional)
PASSWORD_EXPIRY_DAYS=90

# One-time authentication (optional)
ONE_TIME_AUTH_ENABLED=false

# gRPC support (requires pip install with [grpc] extra)
GRPC_ENABLED=false
GRPC_PORT=50051

gRPC Installation (Optional)

# Install with gRPC support
pip install mcp-contextforge-gateway[grpc]

📋 Issues Closed

Multi-Architecture & Platform (2 issues)

• Closes [FEATURE][BUILD]: Publish multi-architecture container including ARM64 #80 - Publish multi-architecture container (ARM64) support
• Closes [FEATURE][BUILD]: Support for container builds for s390x #1138 - Support for container builds for s390x

gRPC Translation (1 issue)

• Closes [FEATURE]: gRPC-to-MCP protocol translation #1171 - gRPC-to-MCP Protocol Translation

Air-Gapped Deployment (1 issue)

• Closes [FEATURE]: Air-gapped environment support #932 - Air-Gapped Environment Support

Security & Authentication (4 issues)

• Closes [FEATURE][SECURITY]: Gateway-level input validation and output sanitization #221 - Gateway-Level Input Validation & Output Sanitization
• Closes [FEATURE][AUTH]: Authentication architecture through plugin system #1019 - Authentication Architecture through Plugin System
• Closes [FEATURE][AUTH]: Configurable password expiration with forced change #1282 - Configurable Password Expiration with Forced Password Change
• Closes [FEATURE][AUTH]: Support one-time authentication mode for WXO integration #1387 - Support One-Time Authentication Mode for WXO Integration

Performance (4 issues)

• Closes [FEATURE][TESTING]: Performance testing and benchmarking framework #1203 - Performance Testing & Benchmarking Framework
• Closes [FEATURE][TESTING]: Benchmark MCP server for load testing #1219 - Benchmark MCP Server for Load Testing
• Closes [BUG][PERFORMANCE]: Implement concurrent health checks for gateways #1522 - Implement Concurrent Health Checks for gateways
• Closes [BUG][PERFORMANCE]: Severe performance degradation due to N+1 queries #1523 - Severe Performance Degradation Due to N+1 Queries

Bug Fixes (9 issues)

• Closes [BUG][UI]: MCP Server Active status not updated on shutdown #464 - MCP Server "Active" status not updating on shutdown
• Closes [BUG]: MCP resource is not getting listed #1259 - MCP Resource not getting listed
• Closes [BUG]: Non-standard redirect handling in _validate_gateway_url #1280 - Non-standard redirect handling in STREAMABLEHTTP transport
• Closes [BUG]: Tool schema team_id not effective #1395 - Tool schema team_id not effective
• Closes [BUG]: Missing structured content for virtual server in streamable HTTP #1406 - Missing Structured Content for Virtual Server in Streamable HTTP
• Closes [BUG][AUTH]: One time auth restricts multiple gateways with same URL #1448 - One time auth restricts addition of multiple gateways
• Closes [BUG][CONFIG]: Support for passphrase protected SSL keys in HTTPS config #1577 - Support for Passphrase Protected SSL Keys

Features (4 issues)

• Closes [FEATURE][DB]: MariaDB support testing and documentation #288 - MariaDB Support Testing, Documentation, CI/CD
• Closes [FEATURE][MCP-SERVER]: Go sample - system-monitor-server #898 - Sample MCP Server - Go (system-monitor-server)
• Closes [FEATURE]: Allow multiple MCP gateway registrations with same URL #1392 - Allow Multiple MCP Gateway Registrations with Same URL
• Closes [FEATURE]: Modify tool tag structure from array to list of objects #1442 - Modify Tool Tag Structure from Array of Strings to List of Objects
• Closes [FEATURE][UI]: Test button for resource #1560 - Test Button for Resource

Chores (1 issue)

• Closes [CHORE][UI]: Bulk import missing error messages and feedback #806 - Bulk Import – Missing error messages and registration feedback in UI

Total: 25+ issues closed

🔗 Resources

Documentation

• Main Documentation: https://ibm.github.io/mcp-context-forge/
• Quick Start Guide: https://ibm.github.io/mcp-context-forge/overview/quick_start/
• Container Deployment: https://ibm.github.io/mcp-context-forge/deployment/container/
• gRPC Services: https://ibm.github.io/mcp-context-forge/using/grpc-services/

Source Code

• GitHub Repository: https://github.com/IBM/mcp-context-forge
• Release v1.0.0-BETA-1: https://github.com/IBM/mcp-context-forge/releases/tag/v1.0.0-BETA-1
• CHANGELOG: https://github.com/IBM/mcp-context-forge/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md

ContextForge Ecosystem

• ContextForge Desktop: https://github.com/contextforge-org/contextforge-desktop
• ContextForge CLI: https://github.com/contextforge-org/contextforge-cli
• ContextForge Organization: https://github.com/contextforge-org

Container Images

• GitHub Container Registry: https://ghcr.io/ibm/mcp-context-forge
• Image Tags: v1.0.0-BETA-1, 1.0.0-BETA-1, latest
• Multi-Architecture: AMD64, ARM64, s390x

Community

• Issue Tracker: https://github.com/IBM/mcp-context-forge/issues
• Discussions: https://github.com/IBM/mcp-context-forge/discussions
• Contributing Guide: https://github.com/IBM/mcp-context-forge/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md

Quick Start

# Pull the latest image (auto-selects architecture)
docker pull ghcr.io/ibm/mcp-context-forge:1.0.0-BETA-1

# Run with minimal configuration
docker run -d --name mcpgateway \
  -p 4444:4444 \
  -e PLATFORM_ADMIN_EMAIL=admin@example.com \
  -e PLATFORM_ADMIN_PASSWORD=changeme \
  ghcr.io/ibm/mcp-context-forge:1.0.0-BETA-1

# Access Admin UI
open http://localhost:4444/admin

ARM64 Quick Start (Apple Silicon / AWS Graviton)

# Docker automatically selects ARM64 image on ARM hosts
docker pull ghcr.io/ibm/mcp-context-forge:1.0.0-BETA-1

# Verify architecture
docker inspect ghcr.io/ibm/mcp-context-forge:1.0.0-BETA-1 | grep Architecture
# Output: "Architecture": "arm64"

Next Planned Release: v1.0.0-BETA-2 (January 2026) - Testing, Bugfixing, Documentation, Performance and Scale