Use MCP servers in Codex with Toolport
Toolport is a free, open source local MCP gateway. Add your servers to Toolport once, flip the Codex toggle, and Codex gets all of them through a single gateway entry. Toolport picks a full tool list or search for each client, and you can change it in Clients.
Setup
- Download Toolport for Windows, macOS or Linux, and add your MCP servers to it (or import the ones your other AI agents already have; secrets go to your OS keychain).
- Open the Clients tab and toggle Codex on. Toolport writes its gateway entry into Codex's config, next to anything already there.
- Restart or reload Codex. Your full server set is available through Toolport, and any server you add later shows up without touching Codex again.
Where Codex keeps its MCP config
Codex MCP config
All platforms ~/.codex/config.toml
TOML with [mcp_servers.<name>] tables. The CLI and desktop app read the same file.
Why a gateway instead of Codex's own server list?
- One setup, every agent. The same servers work in Codex and every other AI agent on your machine; add a server once and they all get it.
- Secrets in the OS keychain. API keys are injected at runtime and never sit in Codex's config file.
- Watched by default. Rug-pull and tool-poisoning detection on every tool, plus per-tool governance and a destructive-tool kill switch. How the security works.
Free on this machine. Pro puts it on every machine. Team gives it to everyone.