Activation required. AI access management must be enabled for your tenant before you can use it. To get started, contact the C1 support team for a walkthrough.
What you’ll do
Setup spans two products. Two stages depend on someone other than you, so line those up before you start.Before you begin
Confirm all of these before you start. The organization policy change in particular can take time to arrange.- AI access management must be enabled for your tenant. See Enable AI access management.
- The users who will use Gemini Enterprise need C1 tool access already. Their access profiles determine which tools they can call, and a user with no toolset sees no tools at all. See Tools and toolsets.
- A Google Cloud project with a Gemini Enterprise app already created. See Google’s Create a Gemini Enterprise app documentation.
- Someone who holds
roles/orgpolicy.policyAdmin. Project Owner does not include it. In C1 testing, an organization-level grant was needed before the policy change below would apply. - Optional. The gcloud CLI, authenticated with
gcloud auth login, if you prefer the command line for the Google Cloud steps.
Required roles
Grant these on the Google Cloud project, except where noted.
To check what you already hold on the project:
Collect the values you’ll reuse
Every step below reuses these four values. Collect them once.
Your OAuth endpoints follow from the tenant. Confirm them against your tenant’s published metadata:
Enable the Google Cloud APIs
Enable all six. In the console, go to APIs & Services > Library, search for the API by the name in the first column, and select Enable. The service ID is the identifier you use with thegcloud CLI.
Google’s setup documentation for custom MCP servers does not list any APIs. In C1 testing, tool discovery failed until
connectors.googleapis.com, integrations.googleapis.com, and secretmanager.googleapis.com were enabled, so enable all six.Allow custom MCP data connectors
Google Cloud blocks custom MCP data connectors by default through theconstraints/discoveryengine.managed.disableCustomMcpServerConnector organization policy. Turn it off for this project before you create the data store.
If the policy is enforced, creating the data store fails at the final step with:
roles/orgpolicy.policyAdmin, which project Owner does not include.
1
In the Google Cloud console, go to IAM & Admin > Organization policies.
2
Filter for
discoveryengine.managed.disableCustomMcpServerConnector and open it.3
Select Manage policy.
4
Select Override parent’s policy, then set the enforcement to Off.
5
Select Set policy.
policy.yaml:
describe command above. The effective policy reports enforce: false, and your project can create custom MCP data connectors.
Allow several minutes for the change to propagate. Until it does, the console returns the same denial message, so a failure immediately after you apply the policy does not mean the policy is wrong.
Optional: Allow the C1 hostnames
If your organization restricts which external hosts a data connector may reach, it enforcesconstraints/discoveryengine.allowedEgressFqdns. Check it the same way:
<your-tenant>-mcp.conductor.one and <your-tenant>.conductor.one. Use hostnames only, not full URLs.
Get the OAuth client ID
Gemini Enterprise authenticates each user to C1 with the OAuth 2.0 authorization code flow. It needs an OAuth client that already exists, because it does not register one itself. C1 publishes a client metadata document for Gemini Enterprise. Its URL is your client ID:client_id field matching the URL you requested:
A
404 means your tenant is not yet running a release that publishes this document. Contact the C1 support team to confirm availability for your tenant before continuing.Create the data store
Connect the C1 MCP gateway to your Gemini Enterprise app.1
In the Google Cloud console, open Gemini Enterprise and select your app.
2
Select Connected data stores, then select New data store.
3
In Select a data source, search for
Custom MCP.4
On the Custom MCP Server card, select Add MCP server.
5
Under Authentication settings, choose OAuth 2.0.
6
Complete the fields. The third column is where this form most often goes wrong.
7
Select Verify Auth. A window opens for you to sign in through your identity provider and authorize the connection.
8
Select Continue.
9
Enter your Data connector name.
10
Select Create.
Enable the actions
Gemini Enterprise calls MCP tools actions, and imports every one of them turned off. Turn on only the actions your users need: a data store supports a maximum of 100 enabled actions, and a shorter list makes the agent’s tool selection more accurate.Wait for the connector state to reach Active before you start. The reload fails while the connector is still creating.
1
Open the data store and select the Actions tab.
2
Select Reload custom actions. Gemini Enterprise queries your MCP server for its current tool list.
3
Select the actions to expose.
4
Select Enable actions.
Verify the Gemini Enterprise connection
Seeing actions listed does not confirm your credentials work. You confirm the setup only when a user successfully calls a C1 tool.1
Open your Gemini Enterprise app as an end user who has C1 tool access, and ask a question that needs a C1 tool, such as “Who has access to” followed by an application you have connected to C1.
2
Authorize the connection when prompted. Sign in through your identity provider and approve.
3
In C1, go to AI access management > AI clients. The Gemini Enterprise client appears, bound to that user. Users can see their own connections under their profile menu at AI & API > AI connections.
4
Confirm the tool call was logged. Every call through C1 MCP records the end user, the tool, the result, and a denial reason when refused. See Audit AI tool usage.
Optional: Govern the server through Agent Registry
Agent Registry gives your organization a catalog of approved MCP servers, and Agent Gateway is the policy enforcement point for agent traffic. Neither is required here, and the setup above works without both.Adding them does not change how these tool calls are governed. Google’s documentation states that traffic to MCP servers added as a data connector does not pass through Agent Gateway, and Agent Gateway policies do not apply to it. C1 governs the tool calls. Use this path when you want the C1 gateway listed in a shared catalog alongside your other approved servers, not to add enforcement.
- Register MCP servers in Agent Registry
- Set up an Agent Gateway
- Import MCP servers from Agent Registry
- Your app, gateway, and registry regions must align, and Google’s import documentation has the current table. A
globalorusapp pairs with aus-central1gateway; aneuapp pairs witheurope-west1. When they do not align, the server never appears in the data store list and no error explains why. - Each app must be pointed at the gateway explicitly, under Security > Configuration > Agent Gateway configuration in the app. Creating a gateway is not enough, and until an app is bound to one, no registered server appears in its data store list.
- Every tool in a
toolspec.jsonneeds aninputSchema. Google’s published example omits it, and registration fails withinvalid MCP tool spec content: tools.0: inputSchema is required. - The gateway denies egress until you authorize it. By default it allows traffic only to resources explicitly authorized through IAM, so the identity making the call needs the egress role for each destination it should reach.
Troubleshoot Gemini Enterprise connection errors
The data connector name cannot be changed after creation. To correct an authentication value, edit the existing connector’s settings rather than recreating it. To change the name, create a new data store and remove the old one.
What this integration cannot do
These constraints come from Gemini Enterprise and Google Cloud.- VPC Service Controls and Private Service Connect are not supported for custom MCP data stores. If your Google Cloud perimeter requires either, this integration cannot run inside it.
- Gemini Enterprise supports egress mode only. It calls out to your MCP server; your MCP server cannot call in.
- A data store supports a maximum of 100 enabled actions.
Frequently asked questions about connecting Gemini Enterprise
Why does the Client Secret not matter?
Why does the Client Secret not matter?
The client is a public OAuth client with no secret. Client ID Metadata Document clients cannot use shared secrets, so C1 never reads the field. Security comes from the authorization code flow with PKCE, which you turn on with Enable PKCE Support.
Do I need Agent Gateway?
Do I need Agent Gateway?
No. Google’s documentation states that traffic to MCP servers added as a data connector does not pass through Agent Gateway, so adding it does not change how these tool calls are governed. C1 governs the tool calls. See Optional: Govern the server through Agent Registry.
How do I cut off access in a hurry?
How do I cut off access in a hurry?
In C1, open AI access management > AI clients, find the Gemini Enterprise client, and use its kill switch. It revokes all tokens for that client immediately, for every user. See Manage AI clients.
Can I see what tools Gemini Enterprise called?
Can I see what tools Gemini Enterprise called?
Yes. Every tool call through C1 MCP is logged with the end user, the tool, the result, and a denial reason when refused. See Audit AI tool usage.
Pages related to governing AI tool access
These pages cover the C1 side of the integration.- Tools and toolsets covers the access profiles that decide which tools each user can call.
- Manage AI clients covers lifecycle states, the kill switch, and allowed client types.
- Connect to the C1 MCP covers the same gateway from desktop AI assistants.
- Audit AI tool usage covers what C1 logs for every tool call.