How It Works

Ultra is a transparent proxy that sits between MCP agents and upstream MCP connectors. Every request and response passes through Ultra’s pipeline, where it’s traced, logged, audited, and measured.

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The Proxy Model

Your MCP agent sees Ultra as a single MCP server. Ultra connects to multiple upstream connectors and presents their combined tools, resources, and prompts as a unified interface.

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Key Components

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Transport Layer

Ultra supports all MCP transport types:

• stdio — Standard input/output (default for local agents like Claude Desktop and Codex)
• HTTP/SSE — Server-sent events over HTTP
• Streamable HTTP — Modern HTTP streaming transport

The agent connects to Ultra over stdio, while Ultra connects to upstream connectors using whatever transport they require (stdio for local commands, HTTP for remote connectors).

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Pipeline

Every MCP request passes through a chain of interceptors before reaching the upstream connector, and the response passes through the same chain in reverse order: Policy enforcement runs alongside observability, before the request reaches the upstream connector. Enforcement is configured in Ultra Hub and synced to every device. See Guardrails and Governance.

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Aggregator

The aggregator manages connections to multiple upstream MCP connectors and presents them as one:

• Tool namespacing — Tools from different connectors are namespaced to avoid conflicts
• Routing — Calls are routed to the correct upstream based on the tool/resource name
• Connection management — Handles connection lifecycle across transports
• OAuth — Supports OAuth2 authentication for upstream connectors that require it

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Storage

Observability data is stored locally on your device by default, with optional sync to Ultra Hub for cloud deployments.

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Hub Sync

When connected to Ultra Hub, your device periodically syncs traces and audit events to the cloud. The sync runs in the background with configurable intervals, and supports offline operation — data is stored locally and synced when connectivity is restored.

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What Gets Recorded

For every MCP operation, Ultra records:

• Trace records — Operation type, upstream connector, tool/resource name, request/response payloads, duration, status, and OpenTelemetry trace/span IDs
• Audit events — Event type, severity, principal (agent identity), outcome (allow/deny/error), and detailed context
• Metrics — Request counts, latency histograms, error rates, per-connector breakdowns

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Next Steps