generated: '2026-08-23'
method: searched
source: >-
  https://docs.inrupt.com/ess/services/service-mcp and
  https://docs.inrupt.com/ess/services/service-mcp/mcp-resource and
  https://docs.inrupt.com/guides/integrating-with-ess-mcp
name: Inrupt ESS MCP Resource Service
status: published
introduced: ESS 3.0.0 (released 2026-05-27)
description: >-
  Inrupt ships a first-party MCP server as an ESS service. The MCP Resource Service exposes four tools
  that let an AI agent ask a person for consent to their Pod data, watch for the approval, verify the
  resulting Access Grant, and then read the granted resource. Every call is scoped to the authenticated
  delegator, so the agent can never exceed the rights of the user it is acting for. Approving an Access
  Request is deliberately NOT an MCP tool — the human must approve it in a separate interface.
deployment:
  mode: remote
  endpoint: https://mcp.{ess-domain}/api
  transport: streamable-http
  auth: oauth
  verified: searched
  note: >-
    The endpoint is remote (an MCP client POSTs to it over streamable HTTP), but it is per-deployment
    rather than a single Inrupt-hosted URL: ESS is customer-deployed, and the service's own
    INRUPT_MCP_RESOURCE_HTTP_BASE_URL configures the host. Inrupt's docs give the default as
    https://mcp.<ESS Domain>/api. Probed 2026-08-23: mcp.inrupt.com does not resolve, so the hosted
    PodSpaces developer preview does not expose the MCP service publicly and there is no anonymous
    tools/list to introspect. No npx/stdio package is published, so mode is remote, not both.
authentication:
  scheme: Bearer
  token: ESS Access Token
  obtained_via: >-
    OAuth 2.0 Token Exchange (RFC 8693) against the Platform Management service:
    POST https://platform.{ess-domain}/access/token with
    grant_type=urn:ietf:params:oauth:grant-type:token-exchange,
    subject_token=<external IdP id_token>,
    subject_token_type=urn:ietf:params:oauth:token-type:id_token
  token_ttl: 5 minutes (default); re-exchange on expires_in, handle 401 by re-exchanging and retrying
  docs: https://docs.inrupt.com/ess/services/service-platform-management/token-exchange
tools:
- name: requestAccess
  category: access-management
  description: >-
    Create a new Access Request for one or more resources, stored as a Verifiable Credential and
    reviewable by the Resource Owner. Returns the Access Request URL with status pending.
  parameters:
  - name: resource
    type: string
    required: true
    description: URL of the target resource to request access to.
  - name: permission
    type: string
    required: true
    description: Access modes requested; only "read" is currently supported.
  - name: dataSubject
    type: string
    required: true
    description: WebID of the Resource Owner.
  - name: purpose
    type: string
    required: true
    description: Purpose or reason for the Access Request.
  constraints:
  - The Access Request is automatically attributed to the authenticated user, preventing an agent from
    spoofing identity to request another user's resources.
- name: checkAccessRequestStatus
  category: access-management
  description: >-
    Check the current status of a previously created Access Request. Returns one of pending, granted,
    denied or cancelled.
  parameters:
  - name: accessRequestUrl
    type: string
    required: true
    description: URL of the Access Request to check.
  constraints:
  - Only Access Requests issued to the current authenticated user can be checked; others fail with an
    authorization error.
- name: hasMatchingAccessGrant
  category: access-management
  description: >-
    Verify whether a valid (active, non-revoked, non-expired) Access Grant exists for a resource with
    the required access modes. Returns the Access Grant URL when one matches.
  parameters:
  - name: resourceUrl
    type: string
    required: true
    description: URL of the target resource to check.
  - name: purposeUrl
    type: string
    required: false
    description: URL of the purpose.
  - name: mode
    type: string
    required: true
    description: Access modes to verify; only "read" is currently supported.
  - name: dataSubject
    type: string
    required: true
    description: WebID of the agent who should have issued the Access Grant.
  - name: status
    type: string
    required: false
    description: Access Grant status - active, revoked or expired. Defaults to active.
  constraints:
  - Only grants where the grantee is the current authenticated user can be checked.
- name: getResource
  category: resource-management
  description: Retrieve the content of a resource using a valid Access Grant.
  parameters:
  - name: resourceUrl
    type: string
    required: true
    description: URL of the resource to retrieve.
  - name: accessGrantUrl
    type: string
    required: true
    description: URL of the Access Grant authorizing access.
  constraints:
  - The grant must exist, not be revoked, not be expired, cover the requested resource, have been
    issued to the agent, and include the required access modes.
  - The service validates that the grant's isProvidedTo field matches the agent's identity.
human_in_the_loop:
  approval_out_of_band: true
  note: >-
    "Reviewing and approving Access Requests cannot be done via the MCP service." The end user approves
    in a separate access-management interface, which is the point of the design: the agent may ask, but
    only the person may consent.
schema_provenance: >-
  Tool names, parameter names, types, requiredness and access-control constraints are transcribed
  from Inrupt's published MCP Resource Service reference tables. No live tools/list introspection was
  possible because there is no publicly reachable ESS MCP endpoint; the JSON Schema shapes an MCP
  client would receive were not fabricated here.