Deploy fast-agent MCP Servers to Hugging Face Spaces using Docker. Use when the user wants to deploy an "agent card" as an MCP Server. Includes templates and CLI commands for deploying agent cards with custom tools to HF Spaces.
npx skills add https://github.com/huggingface/research-agent --skill hf-space-deployer
Deploy fast-agent agents as MCP servers to Hugging Face Spaces using the hf CLI tool.
| | Shared Secrets | Token Passthrough |
|---|---|---|
| Who pays? | You (Space owner) | Users (their HF account) |
| Setup | Add API keys as Space secrets | Enable Space OAuth + FAST_AGENT_SERVE_OAUTH=huggingface + request scope |
| Best for | Internal tools, demos | Public deployments, multi-tenant |
| Models | Any provider | HF Inference only |
| Client auth | None required | Bearer token in header |
When FAST_AGENT_SERVE_OAUTH=huggingface is set, clients can authenticate two ways:
Authorization: Bearer <HF_TOKEN> header/.well-known/oauth-protected-resource for discoveryBoth methods work - the server accepts either Authorization or X-HF-Authorization headers. FAST_AGENT_SERVE_OAUTH=hf is also accepted, but current docs use huggingface.
# 1. Create a Space
hf repo create <username>/<space-name> --repo-type space --space-sdk docker --exist-ok
# 2. Prepare files (see structure below)
# 3. Upload to Space
hf upload <username>/<space-name> <local-directory> --repo-type space --commit-message "Deploy fast-agent"
> Important: The AgentCard name becomes the MCP tool name. Use an explicit, stable name; the filename is only the path you pass to --agent-cards/--card.
space-directory/
├── README.md # HF Space config with YAML header
├── Dockerfile # Docker setup with Python 3.13 + uv
├── hf-api-agent.md # Your agent card (card name = MCP tool name)
└── hf_api_tool.py # Optional: Python tools referenced in agent card
See references/readme_template.md for the complete template with YAML frontmatter.
Key fields:
title: Space display namesdk: docker (required)app_port: 7860 (HF Spaces default)hf_oauth: true plus hf_oauth_scopesToken passthrough frontmatter example:
---
title: My fast-agent MCP server
sdk: docker
app_port: 7860
hf_oauth: true
hf_oauth_expiration_minutes: 480
hf_oauth_scopes:
- inference-api
---
See references/dockerfile_template.md for the complete template.
FROM python:3.13-slim
RUN apt-get update && \
apt-get install -y bash git git-lfs wget curl procps && \
rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
COPY --from=ghcr.io/astral-sh/uv:latest /uv /usr/local/bin/uv
WORKDIR /app
RUN uv pip install --system --no-cache fast-agent-mcp
COPY --link ./ /app
RUN chown -R 1000:1000 /app
USER 1000
EXPOSE 7860
# Replace YOUR_AGENT_NAME.md with your actual agent card filename
CMD ["fast-agent", "serve", "--agent-cards", "YOUR_AGENT_NAME.md", "--transport", "http", "--host", "0.0.0.0", "--port", "7860"]
Your agent card defines the agent's capabilities. The name becomes the MCP tool name:
---
type: agent
name: my-agent
function_tools:
- tool_file.py:my_function
model: kimi
default: true
description: Agent description
---
# Agent Instructions
Your agent's instructions and capabilities...
| Option | Flag | Example |
|--------|------|---------|
| Agent card | --agent-cards / --card | --agent-cards hf-api-agent.md |
| Multiple cards | --agent-cards / --card (repeat) | --agent-cards agent1.md --agent-cards agent2.md |
| Override model | --model | --model kimi |
| Shell access | --shell | --shell |
| Instance scope | --instance-scope | --instance-scope request |
| Transport | --transport | --transport http |
Controls how agent instances are managed per MCP client:
| Scope | Behavior | Use Case |
|-------|----------|----------|
| shared (default) | Single instance for all requests | Trusted/private deployments, demos |
| connection | New instance per MCP connection/session | Multi-user with MCP session continuity |
| request | New instance per tool call; MCP sessions disabled | Public/token passthrough, per-request isolation |
Required for token passthrough: Use --instance-scope request so each request uses the caller's token, not a shared one.
Set API keys as Space secrets. All users share your keys:
from huggingface_hub import add_space_secret
add_space_secret("username/my-space", "HF_TOKEN", "hf_xxx")
add_space_secret("username/my-space", "OPENAI_API_KEY", "sk-xxx")
Or via Space Settings > Repository Secrets in the web UI.
| Variable | Value | Description |
|----------|-------|-------------|
| FAST_AGENT_SERVE_OAUTH | huggingface | Enable HF authentication (hf is accepted alias) |
| FAST_AGENT_OAUTH_SCOPES | ${OAUTH_SCOPES} or inference-api | Required scopes; Spaces sets OAUTH_SCOPES when hf_oauth is enabled |
| FAST_AGENT_OAUTH_RESOURCE_URL | https://your-space.hf.space | Your Space's public URL; auto-derived from SPACE_HOST on Spaces if omitted |
from huggingface_hub import add_space_variable
SPACE_ID = "username/my-space"
add_space_variable(SPACE_ID, "FAST_AGENT_SERVE_OAUTH", "huggingface")
add_space_variable(SPACE_ID, "FAST_AGENT_OAUTH_SCOPES", "inference-api")
add_space_variable(SPACE_ID, "FAST_AGENT_OAUTH_RESOURCE_URL", "https://username-my-space.hf.space")
Do not set a shared HF_TOKEN for user-scoped inference unless you intentionally want a server credential fallback. Enable Hugging Face OAuth in the Space README frontmatter with hf_oauth: true and hf_oauth_scopes.
hf repo create evalstate/my-agent-space --repo-type space --space-sdk docker
hf-api-agent.md) hf upload evalstate/my-agent-space ./space-files --repo-type space
https://huggingface.co/spaces/<username>/<space-name>Serve multiple agents from one Space:
CMD ["fast-agent", "serve", \
"--agent-cards", "agent1.md", \
"--agent-cards", "agent2.md", \
"--transport", "http", \
"--host", "0.0.0.0", \
"--port", "7860", \
"--instance-scope", "request"]
Add packages to the Dockerfile:
RUN uv pip install --system --no-cache \
fast-agent-mcp \
requests \
pandas
Or use a requirements.txt:
COPY requirements.txt .
RUN uv pip install --system --no-cache -r requirements.txt
Build fails: Check Space build logs for missing dependencies or syntax errors
Space runs but errors: Verify:
Tool import errors: Ensure tool files are in the Space root directory with your agent card
Token passthrough not working: Check:
FAST_AGENT_SERVE_OAUTH=huggingface is sethf_oauth: true and the needed hf_oauth_scopes--instance-scope request in CMDAuthorization: Bearer <token> headerTake huggingface/hf-space-deployer from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal
use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.
The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the
same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.
The instructions reference pip, uv, apt.
Without those the skill loads but fails at the first command.