maximhq

bifrost

Built by maximhq โ€ข 3,270 stars

What is bifrost?

A high-performance MCP server implementation for bifrost that bridges the gap between the Model Context Protocol and external services. It allows Large Language Models to interact with your data and tools with low latency and native support.

How to use bifrost?

1. Ensure you have an MCP-compatible client (like Claude Desktop) installed. 2. Configure your server with: npx @modelcontextprotocol/bifrost 3. Restart your client and verify the new tools are available in the system catalog.
๐Ÿ›ก๏ธ Scoped (Restricted)
npx @modelcontextprotocol/bifrost --scope restricted
๐Ÿ”“ Unrestricted Access
npx @modelcontextprotocol/bifrost

Key Features

Native MCP Protocol Support
High-performance Data Streaming
Type-safe Tool Definitions
Seamless Environment Integration

Optimized Use Cases

Connecting external databases to AI workflows
Automating workflow tasks via natural language
Augmenting developer productivity with specialized tools

bifrost FAQ

Q

What is an MCP server?

MCP is an open standard that enables developers to build secure, two-way integrations between AI models and local or remote data sources.

Q

Is this server ready for production?

Yes, this server follows standard MCP security patterns and tool-restricted access.

Official Documentation

View on GitHub

Bifrost AI Gateway

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The fastest way to build AI applications that never go down

Bifrost is a high-performance AI gateway that unifies access to 23+ providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS Bedrock, Google Vertex, and more) through a single OpenAI-compatible API. Deploy in seconds with zero configuration and get automatic failover, load balancing, semantic caching, and enterprise-grade features.

Quick Start

Get started

Go from zero to production-ready AI gateway in under a minute.

Step 1: Start Bifrost Gateway

# Install and run locally
npx -y @maximhq/bifrost

# Or use Docker
docker run -p 8080:8080 maximhq/bifrost

Step 2: Configure via Web UI

# Open the built-in web interface
open http://localhost:8080

Step 3: Make your first API call

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "openai/gpt-4o-mini",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello, Bifrost!"}]
  }'

That's it! Your AI gateway is running with a web interface for visual configuration, real-time monitoring, and analytics.

Complete Setup Guides:


Enterprise Deployments

Bifrost supports enterprise-grade, private deployments for teams running production AI systems at scale. In addition to private networking, custom security controls, and governance, enterprise deployments unlock advanced capabilities including adaptive load balancing, clustering, guardrails, MCP gateway, and other features designed for enterprise-grade scale and reliability.

<img src=".github/assets/features.png" alt="Book a Demo" width="100%" style="margin-top:5px;"/> <div align="center" style="display: flex; flex-direction: column;"> <a href="https://calendly.com/maximai/bifrost-demo"> <img src=".github/assets/book-demo-button.png" alt="Book a Demo" width="170" style="margin-top:5px;"/> </a> <div> <a href="https://www.getmaxim.ai/bifrost/enterprise" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Explore enterprise capabilities</a> </div> </div>

Key Features

Core Infrastructure

  • Unified Interface - Single OpenAI-compatible API for all providers
  • Multi-Provider Support - OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS Bedrock, Google Vertex, Azure, Cerebras, Cohere, Mistral, Ollama, Groq, and more
  • Automatic Fallbacks - Seamless failover between providers and models with zero downtime
  • Load Balancing - Intelligent request distribution across multiple API keys and providers

Advanced Features

  • Model Context Protocol (MCP) - Enable AI models to use external tools (filesystem, web search, databases)
  • Semantic Caching - Intelligent response caching based on semantic similarity to reduce costs and latency
  • Multimodal Support - Support for text, images, audio, and streaming, all behind a common interface.
  • Custom Plugins - Extensible middleware architecture for analytics, monitoring, and custom logic
  • Governance - Usage tracking, rate limiting, and fine-grained access control

Enterprise & Security

  • Budget Management - Hierarchical cost control with virtual keys, teams, and customer budgets
  • User Provisioning (OIDC) - OAuth 2.0 / OIDC login with background directory sync for teams, roles, and business units
  • Observability - Native Prometheus metrics, distributed tracing, and comprehensive logging
  • Secrets Management - Secure API key management with environment variables and deployment secrets

Developer Experience


Repository Structure

Bifrost uses a modular architecture for maximum flexibility:

bifrost/
โ”œโ”€โ”€ npx/                 # NPX script for easy installation
โ”œโ”€โ”€ core/                # Core functionality and shared components
โ”‚   โ”œโ”€โ”€ providers/       # Provider-specific implementations (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.)
โ”‚   โ”œโ”€โ”€ schemas/         # Interfaces and structs used throughout Bifrost
โ”‚   โ””โ”€โ”€ bifrost.go       # Main Bifrost implementation
โ”œโ”€โ”€ framework/           # Framework components for data persistence
โ”‚   โ”œโ”€โ”€ configstore/     # Configuration storage backends
โ”‚   โ”œโ”€โ”€ logstore/        # Request logging storage backends
โ”‚   โ””โ”€โ”€ vectorstore/     # Vector storages
โ”œโ”€โ”€ transports/          # HTTP gateway and other interface layers
โ”‚   โ””โ”€โ”€ bifrost-http/    # HTTP transport implementation
โ”œโ”€โ”€ ui/                  # Web interface for HTTP gateway
โ”œโ”€โ”€ plugins/             # Extensible plugin system
โ”‚   โ”œโ”€โ”€ governance/      # Budget management and access control
โ”‚   โ”œโ”€โ”€ jsonparser/      # JSON parsing and manipulation utilities
โ”‚   โ”œโ”€โ”€ logging/         # Request logging and analytics
โ”‚   โ”œโ”€โ”€ maxim/           # Maxim's observability integration
โ”‚   โ”œโ”€โ”€ mocker/          # Mock responses for testing and development
โ”‚   โ”œโ”€โ”€ semanticcache/   # Intelligent response caching
โ”‚   โ””โ”€โ”€ telemetry/       # Monitoring and observability
โ”œโ”€โ”€ docs/                # Documentation and guides
โ””โ”€โ”€ tests/               # Comprehensive test suites

Getting Started Options

Choose the deployment method that fits your needs:

1. Gateway (HTTP API)

Best for: Language-agnostic integration, microservices, and production deployments

# NPX - Get started in 30 seconds
npx -y @maximhq/bifrost

# Docker - Production ready
docker run -p 8080:8080 -v $(pwd)/data:/app/data maximhq/bifrost

Features: Web UI, real-time monitoring, multi-provider management, zero-config startup

Learn More: Gateway Setup Guide

2. Go SDK

Best for: Direct Go integration with maximum performance and control

go get github.com/maximhq/bifrost/core

Features: Native Go APIs, embedded deployment, custom middleware integration

Learn More: Go SDK Guide

3. Drop-in Replacement

Best for: Migrating existing applications with zero code changes

# OpenAI SDK
- base_url = "https://api.openai.com"
+ base_url = "http://localhost:8080/openai"

# Anthropic SDK
- base_url = "https://api.anthropic.com"
+ base_url = "http://localhost:8080/anthropic"

# Google GenAI SDK
- api_endpoint = "https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com"
+ api_endpoint = "http://localhost:8080/genai"

Learn More: Integration Guides


Performance

Bifrost adds virtually zero overhead to your AI requests. In sustained 5,000 RPS benchmarks, the gateway added only 11 ยตs of overhead per request.

Metrict3.mediumt3.xlargeImprovement
Added latency (Bifrost overhead)59 ยตs11 ยตs-81%
Success rate @ 5k RPS100%100%No failed requests
Avg. queue wait time47 ยตs1.67 ยตs-96%
Avg. request latency (incl. provider)2.12 s1.61 s-24%

Key Performance Highlights:

  • Perfect Success Rate - 100% request success rate even at 5k RPS
  • Minimal Overhead - Less than 15 ยตs additional latency per request
  • Efficient Queuing - Sub-microsecond average wait times
  • Fast Key Selection - ~10 ns to pick weighted API keys

Complete Benchmarks: Performance Analysis


Documentation

Complete Documentation: https://docs.getbifrost.ai

Quick Start

Features

Integrations

Enterprise


Need Help?

Join our Discord for community support and discussions.

Get help with:

  • Quick setup assistance and troubleshooting
  • Best practices and configuration tips
  • Community discussions and support
  • Real-time help with integrations

Contributing

We welcome contributions of all kinds! See our Contributing Guide for:

  • Setting up the development environment
  • Code conventions and best practices
  • How to submit pull requests
  • Building and testing locally

For development requirements and build instructions, see our Development Setup Guide.


License

This project is licensed under the Apache 2.0 License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Built with โค๏ธ by Maxim

Global Ranking

7.6
Trust ScoreMCPHub Index

Based on codebase health & activity.

Manual Config

{ "mcpServers": { "bifrost": { "command": "npx", "args": ["bifrost"] } } }