🍯 HoneyMCP

Detect AI Agent Attacks Through Deception

HoneyMCP is a defensive security tool that adds deception capabilities to Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers. It injects "ghost tools" (fake security-sensitive tools) that act as honeypots, detecting two critical threat categories:

• Data Exfiltration (via "get" tools) - Detects attempts to steal sensitive data like credentials, secrets, or private files
• Indirect Prompt Injection (via "set" tools) - Detects injection of malicious instructions that could manipulate AI agents working in this environment

One line of code. High-fidelity detection. Complete attack telemetry.

Why HoneyMCP?

🎯 One-Line Integration - Add honeypot middleware to any FastMCP server
🤖 Context-Aware Honeypots - LLM generates domain-specific deception tools
🕵️ Transparent Detection - Honeypots appear as legitimate tools to attackers
📊 Attack Telemetry - Captures tool call sequences, arguments, session metadata
📈 Live Dashboard - Real-time React dashboard for attack visualization
🔍 High-Fidelity Detection - Triggers only on explicit honeypot invocation

🚀 Quick Start

Install

pip install honeymcp
honeymcp init  # Creates config files

This creates the following config files:

• honeymcp.yaml - Ghost tool configuration
• .env.honeymcp - LLM credentials (only needed for dynamic ghost tools)

Basic Usage

Add HoneyMCP to your FastMCP server with one line:

from fastmcp import FastMCP
from honeymcp import honeypot

mcp = FastMCP("My Server")

@mcp.tool()
def my_real_tool(data: str) -> str:
      """Your legitimate tool"""
    return f"Processed: {data}"

# ONE LINE - Add honeypot protection
mcp = honeypot(mcp)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    mcp.run()

That's it! Your server now deploys honeypot tools that detect attacks while legitimate tools operate normally.

Try the Demo

git clone https://github.com/barvhaim/HoneyMCP.git
cd HoneyMCP
uv sync

Static ghost tools demo:

MCP_TRANSPORT=sse uv run python examples/demo_server.py

Dynamic ghost tools demo (requires LLM credentials in .env.honeymcp):

MCP_TRANSPORT=sse uv run python examples/demo_server_dynamic.py

Launch dashboard UI

make run-ui

🎭 How It Works

1. Honeypot Deployment

HoneyMCP injects deceptive security-sensitive tools that appear alongside legitimate tools:

Two Modes:

Dynamic Mode (Default) - LLM analyzes your server context and generates domain-specific honeypots:

• File server → bypass_file_permissions, read_system_credentials
• Database server → dump_admin_credentials, bypass_query_restrictions
• API gateway → list_internal_api_keys, access_admin_endpoints

Static Mode - Pre-configured generic honeypots:

• list_cloud_secrets, execute_shell_command, read_private_files

2. Threat Detection

HoneyMCP detects two primary attack vectors when an AI agent invokes a honeypot:

Data Exfiltration Attempts (GET-style honeypots):

Agent: "Use list_cloud_secrets to retrieve AWS credentials"
→ HoneyMCP: Returns synthetic credentials, logs attack event

Indirect Prompt Injection (SET-style honeypots):

Agent: "Execute shell command to establish persistence"
→ HoneyMCP: Returns synthetic output, logs attack event

3.

... View full README on GitHub