Desktop App

The MCPFirewall desktop app wraps the gateway in a native application with a tray icon, automatic updates, and auto-start on login. It is available for macOS, Windows, and Linux.

If you have not installed it yet, see Install.

Tray icon

The tray icon sits in your menu bar (macOS) or system tray (Windows/Linux) and gives you quick access without opening the full dashboard:

• Status display: shows the number of blocked calls
• Pending approvals count: how many calls are waiting for your decision
• Open Approvals: jumps straight to the approval queue
• Safety controls: switch to Safe Mode, Lockdown, or clear overrides
• Open Dashboard: opens the full web dashboard

The icon changes color based on system state:

• Green: normal operation
• Yellow: warnings or pending approvals
• Red: active blocks or lockdown

Left-click the icon to open the approvals page. Right-click for the full menu.

Auto-updates

The desktop app checks for updates automatically. When an update is available, a banner appears in the dashboard. Click Install and restart to apply it. The update installs in the background and takes effect on restart.

Auto-start

The desktop app starts automatically when you log in. This is handled by the native auto-launch mechanism on each platform. No configuration needed.

CLI auto-start (without the desktop app)

If you installed MCPFirewall via the CLI (without the desktop app), you can set up auto-start manually:

mcpfw service install
mcpfw service start

This registers the gateway as a login service. On macOS this creates a LaunchAgent, on Linux a systemd user unit.

Manage it with:

mcpfw service status    # check if running
mcpfw service stop      # stop the service
mcpfw service restart   # restart
mcpfw service uninstall # remove auto-start
mcpfw service logs      # view gateway logs

On headless Linux (no graphical login), you also need:

loginctl enable-linger $USER

This allows the service to start without a graphical session.