What is Claude Code?
Claude Code is Anthropic's agentic coding tool, available as a terminal CLI, IDE integration, and desktop app. It runs Claude in an agent loop that reads, edits, and executes code in a developer's environment, and it acts as an MCP client that can connect to external tools via Model Context Protocol servers.
WHY IT MATTERS
Claude Code matters to MCP governance because it is one of the most widely deployed MCP clients in engineering organisations. Developers attach MCP servers to it at three scopes: user-level configuration, a project-level .mcp.json checked into the repository, and enterprise-managed configuration. Each connected server contributes tools the agent can call autonomously during a session.
For fleet operators, the relevant surface is:
- Configuration sprawl — per-developer and per-repo server lists are easy to add and hard to inventory, a common source of shadow MCP.
- Permissions — Claude Code prompts for approval on sensitive actions by default, with allow/deny rules configurable in settings; teams tune how much runs unattended.
- Enterprise controls — administrators can deploy
managed-settings.jsonand a managed MCP configuration that pins or restricts which servers users may connect (allowlist/denylist, or managed-only mode), enforced ahead of user and project settings. - Delegation — sessions can fan out into subagents, multiplying concurrent tool callers under one user.
Comparable agentic coding tools (Cursor, Codex CLI, and others) raise the same questions; Claude Code is simply where many teams meet them first.
HOW POLICYLAYER USES THIS
PolicyLayer governs Claude Code's MCP traffic when its servers are routed through the gateway: the developer's .mcp.json points at PolicyLayer endpoints with a per-person scoped token, and every tools/call Claude Code makes is evaluated against the team's policies before it reaches the upstream server. That gives platform teams one enforcement and audit point across Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, and any other MCP client in the fleet.