Standard MCP vs the KYA-OS MCP Extension

The same operations, run live against two real servers, side by side. On the left, an ordinary @modelcontextprotocol/sdk server. On the right, the same MCP server with the KYA-OS extension (org.kya-os/decentralized-authority) enabled, with every claim checked by the shipped @kya-os/mcp verifier. Nothing is mocked.

KYA-OS gives AI agents and MCP servers verifiable identity (W3C DIDs), delegated authority with per-hop attenuation (W3C Verifiable Credentials), and a per-request holder-of-key proof - so that an MCP server or an A2A peer can verify, on every call, who is acting, whether their authority permits the request, and that the live caller controls the key.

New in this comparison: fine-grained per-tool authorization. A scope binds to an individual tool - a delegation for vault:write unlocks exactly vault_write and nothing else.

Left = a real bare MCP server running in-process (standard-mcp-demo).

Right = the same server with the KYA-OS extension enabled (…), verified live.

Both are driven over genuine MCP sessions.

Standard MCP bare @modelcontextprotocol/sdk · in-process

toolsvault_readwhoamivault_write

KYA-OS MCP Extension org.kya-os/decentralized-authority · @kya-os/mcp

toolsvault_readwhoamivault_write

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Connect to the serverWhen a client connects, can it verify who the server actually is?

runstools/call whoami

Standard MCP

click to run

KYA-OS Extension

click to run

Can you trust the response?Read a file, then check whether the response is bound to a signer.

runstools/call vault_read

Standard MCP

click to run

KYA-OS Extension

click to run

Gate a sensitive toolWrite a file. The extension refuses, then a human authorizes a scoped grant and the agent retries - and the write lands.

runstools/call vault_write

Standard MCP

click to run

KYA-OS Extension

click to run

Fine-grained per-tool authorizationThe vault:write scope is bound to vault_write. A different scope cannot open it.

gatestools/call vault_write

Standard MCP

click to run

KYA-OS Extension

click to run

Revoke after the factPull a live delegation on the published status list; the same write flips to refused, then restore it.

revokesthe vault_write grant

Standard MCP

click to run

KYA-OS Extension

click to run

Independent verificationCheck everything from the published records - and in a second language.

verifiesthe published records

Standard MCP

click to run

KYA-OS Extension

click to run

Every KYA-OS extension verdict comes from the shipped @kya-os/mcp verifier resolving the server's published did:web document and status list; the baseline is a real bare MCP server, not a stub. Row 3's authorized write is a genuine live call: on Authorize, a scoped vault:write delegation is minted and the agent retries against the live server, which performs the write. In this demo the walkthrough plays the authorization service locally; in production the server pins the trusted authorization service that may issue such grants. Want the full gate-by-gate story, including attacks? Open the interactive walkthrough →.