FlowFuse 2.26: Bringing access-controls to your MCP nodes

With the holiday break sitting in the middle of this release cycle, it's a smaller release than usual this month. But that hasn't stopped us continuing to make the FlowFuse Expert even more useful.

Role-based access control for your MCP tools

Following on the the introduction of FlowFuse Expert MCP-Powered Insights we have added annotations to the FlowFuse MCP nodes and linked them up with the FlowFuse roles. This permits a level of control over who can access what. This is just a first step, we will be working in the area over the next few iterations.

The MCP nodes now allow you to set some standard annotations to give the platform a hint as to what type of action the node performs. This lets you separate tools that provide read-only information from those that make potentially-destructive changes.

Within the FlowFuse team, you can then use the granular RBAC feature to configure what users have access to the different types of node.

For example, Viewer role users can have access to read-only nodes, whilst Owners get to access the full range of tools. These roles can be customised for each Application within the team.

The annotations we apply are part of the MCP standard, so will be recognised by your own Agents and LLMs.

MCP Server Tool Node with new annotations

Integrating FlowFuse Expert with Node-RED

This release also brings some new abilities for the FlowFuse Expert to help you do things inside Node-RED itself.

• Streamlined Node Installation: When the Expert suggests a node module, it can now automatically open the Palette Manager and filter for the correct package, leaving you just one click away from installation.
• Direct Flow Imports: When the Expert provides demo flows, you no longer need to copy-paste JSON. The Expert can now inject those flows directly into your editor, ready for deployment.

Make sure you've updated the @flowfuse/nr-assistant module inside your instance to unlock these new capabilities.

FlowFuse Expert integration with the Palette Manager

What else is new?

For a complete list of everything included in our 2.26 release, check out the release notes.

Your feedback continues to be invaluable in shaping FlowFuse's development. We'd love to hear your thoughts on these new features and any suggestions for future improvements. Please share your experiences or report any issues on GitHub.

Which of these new features are you most excited to try? Reach out on GitHub or social media!

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