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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

General

What is Jarvis Registry?

Jarvis Registry is an open-source, enterprise-grade MCP (Model Context Protocol) and A2A Agent Gateway and Workflow Orchestration platform built by ASCENDING Inc. It gives AI copilots and autonomous agents secure, governed access to internal tools and data through a single control plane.

→ Full overview: What is Jarvis Registry?

How is Jarvis Registry different from other MCP frameworks?

Most MCP frameworks focus on protocol implementation. Jarvis Registry adds the enterprise layer on top: identity governance, fine-grained ACL enforcement down to the tool level, A2A agent orchestration, and full observability — all through a single gateway.

→ See the full feature comparison: Why Use Jarvis Registry?

What is the difference between the MCP Gateway and A2A Agent Gateway?

The MCP Gateway is the authenticated entry point for AI copilots (Cursor, Claude Desktop, GitHub Copilot) to reach your MCP servers. The A2A Agent Gateway is the entry point for autonomous agents communicating over JSON-RPC 2.0 or HTTP+JSON — both share the same control plane, identity governance, and ACL enforcement.

→ Details: Gateway & Proxy · A2A Agent Workflow

What is A2A Agent Orchestration?

A2A Agent Orchestration is Jarvis Registry's model for coordinating autonomous agents. An orchestrator agent decomposes work and delegates to worker agents, each registered in the registry with their own skills, ACL policies, and transport configuration. The gateway enforces permissions on every agent-to-agent call.

→ See: A2A Agent Workflow Orchestration · A2A Agent Registry

Getting Started

How do I install Jarvis Registry?

→ Follow the Quick Start Guide — the full stack runs in under 5 minutes with Docker Compose.

What are the deployment options?

Jarvis Registry supports Docker Compose for local development and Kubernetes (EKS, AKS, GKE) for production.

→ See: Deployment Guide

Features

Which Identity Providers (IdP) are supported?

Keycloak (open-source), Amazon Cognito, and Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD).

→ Setup guides: Keycloak · Cognito · Entra ID

How does the ACL engine work?

Jarvis Registry uses a two-layer authorization model: scopes control which API endpoints are accessible, and ACLs enforce fine-grained per-resource permissions (VIEW, EDIT, DELETE) down to the individual MCP tool level.

→ Full design: RBAC & Scope System · Identity & Access Management

Which AI copilots can connect?

Any MCP-compatible client: Cursor, Claude Desktop, GitHub Copilot, VS Code, Windsurf, and others.

→ See: AI Copilot Integration

How does Skill & Context-Based Discovery work?

Jarvis Registry provides semantic search over MCP server and A2A agent metadata (skills, descriptions, tags) so agents and copilots can find the right tool at runtime.

→ See: Skill & Context-Based Discovery

What observability features are available?

Full request logging, OpenTelemetry distributed tracing, and Prometheus metrics — compatible with Grafana, Datadog, and any standard observability stack.

→ See: Observability with OpenTelemetry

Integration

How do I register an MCP server?

→ See: MCP Server Registry

How do I register an A2A agent?

→ See: A2A Agent Registry · A2A Agent Management

Configuration

What configuration files do I need?

The main files are .env (runtime config, copy from .env.example), oauth2_providers.yml (IdP settings), and scopes.yml (RBAC scope mappings).

→ Full reference: Configuration Reference

How do I manage ACL permissions?

No configuration files needed. ACLs are managed directly from the registry UI via the Share dialog on each MCP server or A2A agent. You can search for users or groups by name or email, assign roles (Owner, Editor, Viewer), and toggle public access — all from the interface.

→ See: Identity & Access Management · RBAC & Scope System Design

Troubleshooting

Jarvis Registry won't start

Check your .env for missing IdP credentials, verify Docker is running, and confirm ports 80/443 are free.

docker compose logs

→ See: Quick Start Guide — Troubleshooting

MCP clients can't connect

Verify your IdP credentials and token, confirm ACL rules permit the user/scope, and check network access to the gateway endpoint.

docker compose logs registry | grep -i acl

→ See: Authentication and Authorization Guide

A2A agents are not coordinating

Confirm the agent is registered and that orchestrator-to-worker ACL permissions are in place.

docker compose logs registry | grep -i agent

→ See: A2A Agent Workflow · A2A Agent Management

Help & Resources