Google Gemini

Add Cakewalk's MCP Gateway to Gemini CLI, plus what works today on Gemini Enterprise and what does not on the Gemini web app.

Google ships Gemini across three surfaces, and each one takes MCP servers differently. Pick the section that matches what your company uses.

Surface	Who sets it up	Status with Cakewalk
Gemini CLI	Each employee, in a terminal	Supported. One command.
Gemini Enterprise	An admin, in the Google Cloud console	Partly supported. One step is not self serve yet.
Gemini web app (gemini.google.com)	Each employee, in settings	Not available on company accounts.

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Gemini CLI

Gemini CLI registers MCP servers with the gemini mcp add command, or from an mcpServers block in settings.json. One command points it at the Cakewalk gateway. OAuth runs in your browser on the first connection.

Install Method

CLI command. Gemini CLI stores the server config in .gemini/settings.json in the project root (project scope) or ~/.gemini/settings.json (user scope).

Step 1: Run gemini mcp add

In your terminal, run:

gemini mcp add --transport http cakewalk https://mcp-gateway.getcakewalk.io/mcp

The --transport http flag is required. Gemini CLI defaults to stdio, which does not apply to a remote gateway.

By default this registers the server at project scope: stored in .gemini/settings.json in the current project root. To make the server available in every project you open, add --scope user:

gemini mcp add --transport http cakewalk https://mcp-gateway.getcakewalk.io/mcp --scope user

That writes to ~/.gemini/settings.json instead.

Step 2: Authenticate

Start a Gemini CLI session and run:

/mcp auth cakewalk

Gemini CLI opens the OAuth flow in your browser. Sign in with your Cakewalk account and approve the Connection. Gemini CLI discovers the gateway's OAuth endpoints automatically and registers itself as a client, so there is nothing to paste and no credential to handle.

Alternative: Edit settings.json Directly

Instead of the command, add the entry by hand to .gemini/settings.json or ~/.gemini/settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cakewalk": {
      "httpUrl": "https://mcp-gateway.getcakewalk.io/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Use httpUrl for the gateway. The url field is for SSE endpoints and command is for local processes, neither of which applies here. If the file already holds other servers, add "cakewalk" as a new entry inside the existing mcpServers object. Save the file, then authenticate as in Step 2.

Leave the optional oauth block out. Supplying endpoints by hand overrides the automatic discovery that already works against the gateway.

Verifying It Works

Run gemini mcp list from your terminal to confirm cakewalk appears. Inside a session, run /mcp to see live status. The server reports CONNECTED once authentication succeeds, and CONNECTING or DISCONNECTED while it is still coming up or has dropped. In Cakewalk, the Gemini CLI card on My Agents flips to Connected after the first agent call.

Troubleshooting

• cakewalk is missing from /mcp: confirm the scope. A server added at project scope lives in that project's .gemini/settings.json and does not appear elsewhere. Run the command again with --scope user for availability in every project.
• The server connects but exposes no tools: check for includeTools or excludeTools on the cakewalk entry in settings.json. excludeTools takes precedence over includeTools, so an entry in both lists is excluded.
• Authentication never prompts: run /mcp auth with no argument to list the servers waiting on authentication, then /mcp auth cakewalk to start the flow for the gateway specifically.
• Diagnosing a stuck connection: run /mcp list inside a session for per server detail. Gemini CLI also surfaces the hint MCP issues detected. Run /mcp list for status.

A Note on the trust Setting

Gemini CLI supports a trust flag per server, and a --trust flag on gemini mcp add, which suppresses Gemini CLI's own confirmation prompt before each tool call. It changes nothing about Cakewalk. Policy decisions happen at the gateway on every tool call, and every call is recorded either way. Leave trust at its default of false if you want the local prompt as well.

Removing the Connection

Run gemini mcp remove cakewalk to deregister the server. To keep the entry but stop using it for a while, run gemini mcp disable cakewalk, then gemini mcp enable cakewalk to bring it back.

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Gemini Enterprise

Gemini Enterprise takes a custom MCP server as a data store, configured once by an admin in the Google Cloud console rather than per employee. Google's form asks for OAuth endpoints and a client credential pair.

One step is not available yet. Gemini Enterprise requires a Client ID and Client Secret for the Cakewalk gateway, entered by hand. Cakewalk's gateway registers clients automatically instead, so there is no surface today where an admin can obtain that pair. Everything else below is ready. Contact Cakewalk to set up a Gemini Enterprise connection while this is in progress.

Install Method

Custom form, admin only, one connection for the whole organization.

Before You Start

Your Google Cloud administrator needs to:

• Hold the Discovery Engine Editor role (roles/discoveryengine.editor).
• Allow Custom MCP data store creation, if an organization policy constraint currently blocks it.
• Allow the fully qualified domain names Gemini Enterprise will call: mcp-gateway.getcakewalk.io for the server itself, and idp2.getcakewalk.io for the authorization and token URLs.

Step 1: Create the Data Store

In the Google Cloud console, go to the Gemini Enterprise page. In the navigation menu, click Data stores, then Create data store. Search for Custom MCP Server and click Add MCP server.

Step 2: Fill In the Server Details

Choose OAuth 2.0 as the authentication type. The alternative, No authentication, does not apply: the gateway authenticates every caller so it can bind agent activity to a person.

Enter these values:

Field	Value
MCP Server URL	https://mcp-gateway.getcakewalk.io/mcp
Authorization URL	https://idp2.getcakewalk.io/connect/authorize
Token URL	https://idp2.getcakewalk.io/connect/token
Scopes	openid profile email offline_access
Client ID	Not yet available. See the note above.
Client Secret	Not yet available. See the note above.

Select Enable PKCE Support. The gateway supports PKCE with the S256 challenge method.

Authorization URL Parameters is optional and the gateway needs nothing there. Leave it empty.

Step 3: Name the Connector

Set Location of your data connector and Your data connector name. These are Google side labels and do not affect how the gateway behaves.

Step 4: Enable the Tools

By default, no tools or actions from a custom MCP server are enabled. Turn on the ones your company wants available before employees can use them.

Cakewalk still applies your company's policies to every call the tools make, whichever ones you enable here.

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Gemini Web App

The Gemini web app at gemini.google.com can connect a custom MCP server, under Settings & help then Connected Apps. It is not usable for work today.

Google restricts the feature to personal Google Accounts. Their words: "For now, this feature isn't available if you sign in with a work or school Google Account." It also requires access to Gemini Spark, an account holder who is 18 or over and in the US, and the Keep Activity setting turned on.

Because employees sign in to the Gemini web app with your company's Google Workspace account, they cannot add the Cakewalk gateway there. Use Gemini CLI or Gemini Enterprise instead. If Google opens the feature to work accounts, the gateway will connect without any credential paste, since the connect flow registers clients automatically when a server supports it.

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Learn more

• MCP servers with the Gemini CLI from Google.
• Set up your custom MCP server data store from Google Cloud.
• Connect and manage custom apps for Gemini Spark in the Gemini web app from Google.