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The 1Password Environments MCP Server lets MCP clients such as Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and Kiro securely manage your 1Password Environments. The server can only see the names of your secrets and Environments, and never returns the actual secret values stored in your Environments, which stay safe in 1Password. You can use the MCP server to:
  • Create, list, and rename Environments.
  • List the names of secrets stored in an Environment.
  • Add secrets to an Environment.
  • Create locally mounted .env files that make your secrets available on demand without writing them to disk.
  • List locally mounted .env files.
Learn more about 1Password’s approach to MCP servers.

How the 1Password Environments MCP Server works

The 1Password Environments MCP Server runs locally on your computer as part of the 1Password desktop app. When your MCP client connects to the server or uses a tool that requires per-Environment approval, the 1Password app shows a secure authorization prompt. If you approve, the client can use the approved tool with the Environment again without prompting you until 1Password locks. By design, the server cannot return secret values stored in 1Password to the client, even if an agent requests them. This walkthrough shows how to use the MCP server for Codex:

Requirements

Before you can use the MCP server, you’ll need to:
1Password Enterprise Password Manager admins can turn the MCP server feature on and off. To do so, sign in to your account on 1Password.com, then go to Policies > Agentic permissions and turn the Local MCP server option on or off as needed.

Step 1: Turn on access to the MCP server

In 1Password, go to Settings > Developer, then select Integrate with MCP clients.

Step 2: Configure your MCP client

Next, you’ll need to configure 1Password as a local MCP server within your MCP client.
To configure the 1Password MCP server, install the 1Password plugin for Claude Code. The plugin registers the MCP configuration for you, along with an agent skill that gives Claude Code a full Environments setup workflow.
  1. Open your terminal, go to your project directory, then enter claude to start a Claude Code session.
  2. Add the 1Password marketplace:
  3. Install the plugin:
  4. Restart Claude Code, then enter /mcp to confirm the 1Password server is connected.
Learn more about the 1Password plugin for Claude Code.

Step 3: Ask your client to manage an Environment

After you connect the MCP server, you can ask your client to perform tasks like:
  • “List my 1Password Environments”
  • “Create a local .env mount here”
  • “Show me the secret names in my project environment”
  • “Add a secret for my OpenAI API key”
  • “Create a new Environment called my-project”
Make sure to rotate any secrets you import into 1Password that were previously stored in plaintext in your codebase or .env files. Moving your project secrets to 1Password secures them going forward, but doesn’t mitigate any past exposure, such as in your Git history or your coding agent memory.

Available tools

The following tools are exposed to MCP clients. The first time a client calls a tool to interact with a specific Environment, 1Password may prompt you to approve.

Troubleshooting

If your MCP client can’t connect on macOS 27 Golden Gate

If you updated to macOS 27 Golden Gate and your MCP client shows MCP error -32000: Connection closed, or the MCP server log shows Failed to start logger: Log cannot be written, even though you’ve turned on “Integrate with MCP clients”, macOS may be blocking your MCP client from accessing data from the 1Password app. To allow access:
  1. Open System Settings > Privacy & Security > Files & Folders.
  2. Select your MCP client app, like Claude, Cursor, or Codex.
  3. Turn on the setting that starts with “Data shared by 1Password”. The rest of the name depends on which 1Password apps you’ve installed.
  4. Quit and reopen your MCP client app, then try again.
If you use more than one MCP client, turn on the setting for each one.

Learn more