Buoyant Expands Linkerd Capabilities with Model Context Protocol Support for Enhanced Enterprise AI Implementation
San Francisco, CA – November 6, 2025 – Buoyant, the developers behind Linkerd, a prominent service mesh for enterprises, has announced new support for the Model Context Protocol (MCP). This enhancement aims to bolster the secure and efficient scaling of AI initiatives within organizations by providing a robust framework for managing agentic AI traffic in Kubernetes environments.
As businesses increasingly integrate AI technologies, they face the challenge of handling new forms of communication, like MCP, which standardizes connections between AI models and external data sources. Unlike traditional API traffic, agentic communication relies on historical interactions and persistent sessions, introducing unique complexities and security concerns. Moreover, AI workloads can lead to unpredictable traffic patterns, heightening the demand for advanced security measures and observability in application performance.
William Morgan, CEO of Buoyant, emphasizes, "Organizations are eager to embrace AI innovations, but they must prioritize security and reliability. Linkerd addresses this necessity by extending its capabilities to MCP traffic, empowering enterprises to accelerate AI adoption while maintaining confidence in their security posture."
Key features of Linkerd’s MCP support include:
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Comprehensive Observability: Enterprises will gain insights into MCP traffic, including metrics on resource usage, error rates, and data transmission volumes. This visibility will enable organizations to monitor agentic behavior effectively and respond to unusual patterns.
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Enhanced Security: Linkerd will implement fine-grained authorization policies for MCP calls, leveraging a zero-trust security framework based on cryptographic workload identities. This ensures that access to tools or resources provided by MCP servers is strictly controlled.
Blake Romano, Senior Engineer at Imagine Learning, notes the project’s significance: "Our ability to visualize MCP communication is crucial for driving innovation safely and reliably. Trusting Linkerd’s capabilities has alleviated major concerns around our AI rollout."
By integrating MCP support directly into the service mesh layer, organizations can manage both traditional and AI workloads seamlessly, eliminating the need for additional specialized tools. Linkerd remains committed to delivering its proven functionality, enhanced for the demands of modern AI environments.
Buoyant plans to showcase the new MCP support at Kubecon North America in Atlanta, GA, from November 10-13, 2025, at booth 440. The feature will be available soon in both open-source Linkerd and Buoyant’s enterprise distribution. Interested users can join the early access program for further insights.
For more information about Buoyant and Linkerd, visit buoyant.io.
