> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.mcpjungle.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Manage clients and users

> Manage machine identities for MCP clients and user accounts for human operators in Mcpjungle enterprise mode.

Enterprise mode separates machine identities from human identities.

* **MCP clients** represent IDEs, bridges, and agents that connect to the gateway.
* **Users** represent humans who need authenticated access to Mcpjungle.

That separation keeps client access control clean and avoids overloading one token model for every use case.

## MCP clients

MCP clients are intended for non-human consumers of the gateway, such as:

* Cursor
* Claude
* internal or custom agents

Each MCP client gets:

* a unique name
* an access token
* an allow-list of upstream MCP servers

See [Access control](/governance/access-control) for the main workflow.

## Users

Users are human accounts for operators who need authenticated CLI or API access.

Compared with admins, a standard user has a narrower permission set. They can inspect and use Mcpjungle, but they do not get the same write capabilities as an admin.

## Create users

```bash theme={null}
# Auto-generated token
mcpjungle create user bob

# Custom token
mcpjungle create user alice --access-token alice_token_123

# From config file
mcpjungle create user --conf /path/to/user-config.json
```

## User config file

```json theme={null}
{
  "name": "charlie",
  "access_token": "charlies_secret_token",
  "access_token_ref": {
    "file": "/path/to/token-file.txt",
    "env": "ENV_VAR_NAME"
  }
}
```

When using a config file, provide a token explicitly.

See the [configuration file reference](/reference/config-file#token-supply-strategies) for the supported token supply strategies for MCP client and user config files.

## Environment variable placeholders

JSON config files support `${VAR_NAME}` placeholders in string values.

See the [configuration file reference](/reference/config-file#var_name-placeholder-substitution) for the exact substitution rules and examples.

## Recommended identity model

For a small to medium sized deployment:

* create a small number of admin users for platform operators
* create one user in mcpjungle for each human operator who needs CLI or API access
* create one MCP client per consuming application or workflow
* avoid sharing one token across multiple tools or teams

That keeps auditability and token rotation manageable without introducing needless process overhead.

## Related pages

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Access control" icon="shield-halved" href="/governance/access-control">
    Control which upstream servers each MCP client can access.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Governance overview" icon="lock" href="/governance/overview">
    Understand the overall enterprise operating model.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Config file reference" icon="file-code" href="/reference/config-file">
    See the exact config schemas for clients and users.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Production deployment" icon="cloud" href="/deployment/production">
    Initialize and operate Mcpjungle correctly in enterprise mode.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>