production-readiness-mcp-auth

name	production-readiness-mcp-auth
description	Walks through a structured production readiness checklist for Scalekit MCP authentication implementations. Use when the user says they are going live, launching to production, doing a pre-launch review, or wants to verify their MCP server authentication is production-ready.

Scalekit MCP Auth Production Readiness

Work through each section in order — earlier sections are blockers for later ones.

---

Quick checks (run first)

• Production environment URL, client ID, and client secret are set (not dev/staging values)
• HTTPS enforced on all auth endpoints
• CORS restricted to your domains only
• API credentials stored in environment variables — never committed to code

---

Core auth flows

• Test login initiation with authorization URL
• Validate redirect URLs match dashboard configuration exactly
• Test authentication completion and code exchange
• Validate state parameter in callbacks (CSRF protection)
• Verify session token storage uses httpOnly, secure, and sameSite flags
• Configure token lifetimes for your security requirements
• Test session timeout and automatic token refresh
• Verify logout clears sessions completely
• Expired tokens handled gracefully
• Network failures show user-friendly messages

---

MCP authentication

• Test MCP server authentication flow end-to-end
• Verify OAuth consent screen displays correctly for MCP clients
• Test token exchange for MCP connections
• Verify resource metadata published at /.well-known/oauth-protected-resource
• Test MCP session management (session creation, expiry, refresh)
• Verify custom auth handlers behave correctly (if using)
• Test MCP client reconnection after token expiry
• Verify scopes are correctly enforced per MCP tool/resource

---

Monitoring and incident readiness

• Auth logs monitoring configured in Dashboard > Auth Logs
• Alerts set for suspicious activity (repeated auth failures, unusual access patterns)
• Error tracking configured for authentication failures
• Log retention policies configured
• Incident response runbook written (who to contact, how to roll back)
• Rollback plan ready (disable MCP auth without breaking existing sessions)

Key metrics:

• MCP auth success/failure rates
• Token exchange latency
• Session creation and duration
• Token refresh frequency