diff --git a/litellm/proxy/gateway/mcp/outbound_credentials/resolver.py b/litellm/proxy/gateway/mcp/outbound_credentials/resolver.py
index 2e752fc9ff6..5231f952f2c 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/gateway/mcp/outbound_credentials/resolver.py
+++ b/litellm/proxy/gateway/mcp/outbound_credentials/resolver.py
@@ -111,9 +111,7 @@ class UpstreamCredentialProvider:
             case SharedKey() as source:
                 # The shared key is read straight from ServerSpec.config, not the per-user
                 # store; it is the same credential for every caller.
-                return Ok(
-                    StaticHeaderAuth(config.header_for(source.value.get_secret_value()))
-                )
+                return Ok(_api_key_auth(config, source.value.get_secret_value()))
             case PerUserEnvVar():
                 fetched = await self._per_user_value(subject, server)
                 if isinstance(fetched, Error):
@@ -125,7 +123,7 @@ class UpstreamCredentialProvider:
                             "api_key: per-user env var not set for this subject"
                         )
                     )
-                return Ok(StaticHeaderAuth(config.header_for(value)))
+                return Ok(_api_key_auth(config, value))
             case Byok():
                 fetched = await self._per_user_value(subject, server)
                 if isinstance(fetched, Error):
@@ -137,7 +135,7 @@ class UpstreamCredentialProvider:
                             "api_key: no BYOK credential for this subject"
                         )
                     )
-                return Ok(StaticHeaderAuth(config.header_for(value)))
+                return Ok(_api_key_auth(config, value))
         assert_never(config.key_source)
 
     async def _per_user_value(
@@ -276,3 +274,8 @@ class UpstreamCredentialProvider:
 
 def _bearer(token: StoredToken) -> StaticHeaderAuth:
     return StaticHeaderAuth(f"Bearer {token.access_token.get_secret_value()}")
+
+
+def _api_key_auth(config: ApiKeyConfig, value: str) -> StaticHeaderAuth:
+    header_name, header_value = config.header(value)
+    return StaticHeaderAuth(header_value, header_name=header_name)
diff --git a/litellm/proxy/gateway/mcp/outbound_credentials/types.py b/litellm/proxy/gateway/mcp/outbound_credentials/types.py
index 36d0f0008ab..6e45f7162a8 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/gateway/mcp/outbound_credentials/types.py
+++ b/litellm/proxy/gateway/mcp/outbound_credentials/types.py
@@ -134,9 +134,6 @@ class CredError:
         assert_never(self.tag)
 
 
-ApiKeyScheme = Literal["bearer", "apikey", "basic", "token", "raw"]
-
-
 class AuthorizationCodeConfig(BaseModel):
     """Per-user 3LO; the gateway is the OAuth client and stores the user's token.
 
@@ -212,27 +209,20 @@ ApiKeySource = Annotated[
 
 class ApiKeyConfig(BaseModel):
     """A fixed credential injected as a header. The value is shared (in config) or seeded
-    per-user (pulled from the store); `scheme` is how it is written into the header."""
+    per-user (pulled from the store); `header_name` and `value_prefix` say where and how it is
+    written, modeled like OpenAPI's apiKey scheme so any upstream convention is expressible
+    (Authorization + Bearer, a raw value on X-API-Key, Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key, etc.).
+    """
 
     model_config = ConfigDict(frozen=True)
     kind: Literal[AuthSpecKind.api_key] = AuthSpecKind.api_key
-    scheme: ApiKeyScheme = "bearer"
+    header_name: str = "Authorization"
+    value_prefix: str = "Bearer"
     key_source: ApiKeySource
 
-    def header_for(self, value: str) -> str:
-        # Reconstructs v1's per-scheme Authorization prefixes (mcp_server_manager.py:877-884).
-        match self.scheme:
-            case "bearer":
-                return f"Bearer {value}"
-            case "apikey":
-                return f"ApiKey {value}"
-            case "basic":
-                return f"Basic {value}"
-            case "token":
-                return f"token {value}"
-            case "raw":
-                return value
-        assert_never(self.scheme)
+    def header(self, value: str) -> tuple[str, str]:
+        formatted = f"{self.value_prefix} {value}" if self.value_prefix else value
+        return self.header_name, formatted
 
 
 class PassthroughConfig(BaseModel):
diff --git a/tests/mcp_tests/gateway/test_resolver.py b/tests/mcp_tests/gateway/test_resolver.py
index 590fc8d9098..e599396257d 100644
--- a/tests/mcp_tests/gateway/test_resolver.py
+++ b/tests/mcp_tests/gateway/test_resolver.py
@@ -262,21 +262,28 @@ async def test_none_attaches_no_credential():
 
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
-    "scheme,expected",
+    "header_name,value_prefix,expected_header,expected_value",
     [
-        ("bearer", "Bearer k"),
-        ("apikey", "ApiKey k"),
-        ("basic", "Basic k"),
-        ("token", "token k"),
-        ("raw", "k"),
+        ("Authorization", "Bearer", "Authorization", "Bearer k"),  # v1 bearer_token
+        ("Authorization", "Basic", "Authorization", "Basic k"),  # v1 basic
+        ("Authorization", "token", "Authorization", "token k"),  # v1 token
+        ("Authorization", "", "Authorization", "k"),  # v1 authorization (raw)
+        ("X-API-Key", "", "X-API-Key", "k"),  # v1 api_key (its own header, raw)
+        ("Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key", "", "Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key", "k"),  # custom
     ],
 )
-async def test_api_key_emits_the_right_scheme(scheme: str, expected: str):
-    config = ApiKeyConfig(scheme=scheme, key_source=SharedKey(value="k"))  # type: ignore[arg-type]
+async def test_api_key_writes_value_to_the_configured_header(
+    header_name: str, value_prefix: str, expected_header: str, expected_value: str
+):
+    config = ApiKeyConfig(
+        header_name=header_name,
+        value_prefix=value_prefix,
+        key_source=SharedKey(value="k"),
+    )
     result = await PROVIDER.resolve(SUBJECT, _spec(config))
     assert isinstance(result, Ok)
     assert isinstance(result.ok, StaticHeaderAuth)
-    assert _applied_headers(result.ok)["Authorization"] == expected
+    assert _applied_headers(result.ok)[expected_header] == expected_value
 
 
 def test_secret_fields_are_masked_in_serialization():