·guide·Fasad Salatov
Remote (HTTP) vs stdio MCP: which to pick
The same MCP can ship as a local process or a hosted endpoint. The choice changes auth, sharing, and which clients can use it.
Two transports, two very different operational stories.
stdio — local process
The client spawns your server (npx, a binary) and talks over stdin/stdout. Great for:
- Personal, desktop use — no hosting, runs on your machine.
- Full local access — filesystem, local databases, dev tools.
Weak spots: it can't be shared, mobile-only users can't run it, and web clients (claude.ai, ChatGPT) can't reach it at all.
Remote — hosted HTTP endpoint
Your server runs somewhere and speaks Streamable HTTP. Great for:
- Teams and sharing — one endpoint, many users.
- Web clients — claude.ai and ChatGPT connectors only accept remote.
- OAuth — a persistent URL is what OAuth flows need.
Weak spots: you host it, and it needs an auth story (token or OAuth).
The shortcut
Don't want to host? The Unyly Gateway runs stdio/npm MCPs for you and exposes them as one remote endpoint — so even local-only servers become reachable from ChatGPT. See /account/gateway.