How to get direct SSE access to Atlassian MCP Server using OAuth instead of mcp-remote proxy?

[Sos Zakaryan]

We've implemented a complete OAuth 2.0 AuthProvider for direct SSE connections to MCP servers and would like to use it with https://mcp.atlassian.com/v1/sse.

Current Setup
✅ mcp-remote proxy works perfectly with our OAuth client
✅ AuthProvider loads same credentials from ~/.mcp-auth/mcp-remote-0.1.18/
✅ Implements full OAuth 2.0 flow with PKCE, token refresh, redirects
❌ Direct SSE connection returns HTTP 401 Unauthorized

Technical Details
Using the same OAuth client and tokens that work via mcp-remote proxy, but direct SSE connections fail with authentication errors.

Questions
1. Is the mcp-remote OAuth client restricted to proxy-only mode?
2. What's the process for direct SSE access approval?
3. Do we need different OAuth scopes/client configuration?
4. Is there a whitelist application process for enterprise integrations?

Could the Atlassian team provide guidance on enabling direct SSE access or point us toward the approval process?

[Sos Zakaryan]

I discovered that the Atlassian MCP server only allows clients to use the redirect URL http://localhost:5598. This becomes very difficult when I need to integrate the MCP server in environments like Kubernetes with my own hosted services. Is there a planned feature to allow custom redirect URLs?

[itsmesunil]

Did you get to solve your problem? Am facing almost same issue

[Sos Zakaryan]

Yes, I’ve implemented my custom OAuth2 flow.

You also need to open the Atlassian Rovo MCP server configuration page and add your domain to the list of allowed domains.

More details here: https://support.atlassian.com/security-and-access-policies/docs/control-atlassian-rovo-mcp-server-settings/#Add-domains

You should use it for standard OAuth2 client

authorize:  https://mcp.atlassian.com/v1/authorize

token: https://cf.mcp.atlassian.com/v1/token

[Akanksha Raj]

Hi @Sos Zakaryan !
I also tried implementing the OAuth2.1 Flow and connecting to mcp server using the token. And, I have already added my domain in the list of allowed domains.

But, still I am getting an error (401 Unauthorized) when trying to connect to MCP server using a valid MCP client with a valid token.

Could you please provide a detailed solution of your flow?

Thank you!

[Sos Zakaryan]

Hi @Akanksha Raj !

How did you pass the token? It should be sent in the Authorization header as Bearer <jwt_token>.

Note that this JWT is not the actual Jira token; it is a dynamically generated token created by MCP.