kubectl-mcp-server

Control your entire Kubernetes infrastructure through natural language conversations with AI.
Talk to your clusters like you talk to a DevOps expert. Debug crashed pods, optimize costs, deploy applications, audit security, manage Helm charts, and visualize dashboards, all through natural language.
Part of CNCF Landscape, Next to Terraform

# Run directly without installation - works instantly!
npx -y kubectl-mcp-server

# Or install globally for faster startup
npm install -g kubectl-mcp-server

# Standard installation
pip install kubectl-mcp-server

# With interactive UI dashboards (recommended)
pip install kubectl-mcp-server[ui]

• What Can You Do?
• Why kubectl-mcp-server?
• Live Demos
• Installation
  • Quick Start with npx
  • Install with pip
  • Docker
• Getting Started
• Quick Setup with Your AI Assistant
• All Supported AI Assistants
• Complete Feature Set
• Using the CLI
• Advanced Configuration
• Optional Features
  • Interactive Dashboards
  • Browser Automation
• Enterprise
• Integrations & Ecosystem
• In-Cluster Deployment
• Multi-Cluster Support
• Architecture
• Agent Skills
• Development & Testing
• Contributing
• Support & Community

Simply ask your AI assistant in natural language:

💬 "Why is my pod crashing?"

• Instant crash diagnosis with logs, events, and resource analysis
• Root cause identification with actionable recommendations

💬 "Deploy a Redis cluster with 3 replicas"

• Creates deployment with best practices
• Configures services, persistent storage, and health checks

💬 "Show me which pods are wasting resources"

• AI-powered cost optimization analysis
• Resource recommendations with potential savings

💬 "Which services can't reach the database?"

• Network connectivity diagnostics with DNS resolution
• Service chain tracing from ingress to pods

💬 "Audit security across all namespaces"

• RBAC permission analysis
• Secret security scanning and pod security policies

💬 "Show me the cluster dashboard"

• Interactive HTML dashboards with live metrics
• Visual timeline of events and resource usage

253 powerful tools | 8 workflow prompts | 8 data resources | Works with all major AI assistants

• 🚀 Stop context-switching - Manage Kubernetes directly from your AI assistant conversations
• 🧠 AI-powered diagnostics - Get intelligent troubleshooting, not just raw data
• 💰 Built-in cost optimization - Identify waste and get actionable savings recommendations
• 🔒 Enterprise-ready - OAuth 2.1 auth, RBAC validation, non-destructive mode, secret masking
• ⚡ Zero learning curve - Natural language instead of memorizing kubectl commands
• 🌐 Universal compatibility - Works with Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, Copilot, and 15+ other AI tools
• 📊 Visual insights - Interactive dashboards and browser automation for web-based tools
• ☸️ Production-grade - Deploy in-cluster with kMCP, 216 passing tests, active maintenance

From debugging crashed pods to optimizing cluster costs, kubectl-mcp-server is your AI-powered DevOps companion.

# Run directly without installation - works instantly!
npx -y kubectl-mcp-server

# Or install globally for faster startup
npm install -g kubectl-mcp-server

# Standard installation
pip install kubectl-mcp-server

# With interactive UI dashboards (recommended)
pip install kubectl-mcp-server[ui]

# Install specific version directly from GitHub release (replace {VERSION} with desired version)
pip install https://github.com/rohitg00/kubectl-mcp-server/releases/download/v{VERSION}/kubectl_mcp_server-{VERSION}-py3-none-any.whl

# Example: Install v1.19.0
pip install https://github.com/rohitg00/kubectl-mcp-server/releases/download/v1.19.0/kubectl_mcp_server-1.19.0-py3-none-any.whl

# Or install latest from git
pip install git+https://github.com/rohitg00/kubectl-mcp-server.git

• Python 3.9+ (for pip installation)
• Node.js 14+ (for npx installation)
• kubectl installed and configured
• Access to a Kubernetes cluster

# Pull from Docker Hub
docker pull rohitghumare64/kubectl-mcp-server:latest

# Or pull from GitHub Container Registry
docker pull ghcr.io/rohitg00/kubectl-mcp-server:latest

# Run with stdio transport
docker run -i -v $HOME/.kube:/root/.kube:ro rohitghumare64/kubectl-mcp-server:latest

# Run with HTTP transport
docker run -p 8000:8000 -v $HOME/.kube:/root/.kube:ro rohitghumare64/kubectl-mcp-server:latest --transport sse

Before integrating with your AI assistant, verify the installation:

# Check if kubectl is configured
kubectl cluster-info

# Test the MCP server directly
kubectl-mcp-server info

# List all available tools
kubectl-mcp-server tools

# Try calling a tool
kubectl-mcp-server call get_pods '{"namespace": "kube-system"}'

Choose your favorite AI assistant and add the configuration:

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kubernetes": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "kubectl-mcp-server"]
    }
  }
}

Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kubernetes": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "kubectl-mcp-server"]
    }
  }
}

Add to ~/.config/windsurf/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kubernetes": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "kubectl-mcp-server"]
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kubernetes": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "kubectl_mcp_tool.mcp_server"],
      "env": {
        "KUBECONFIG": "/path/to/.kube/config"
      }
    }
  }
}

More integrations: GitHub Copilot, Goose, Gemini CLI, Roo Code, and 15+ other clients —> see full configuration guide below.

After adding the configuration, restart your AI assistant (GitHub Copilot, Claude Code,Claude Desktop, Cursor, etc.) to load the MCP server.

Start a conversation with your AI assistant and try these:

Troubleshooting:

"Show me all pods in the kube-system namespace"
"Why is the nginx-deployment pod crashing?"
"Diagnose network connectivity issues in the default namespace"

Deployments:

"Create a deployment for nginx with 3 replicas"
"Scale my frontend deployment to 5 replicas"
"Roll back the api-server deployment to the previous version"

Cost & Optimization:

"Which pods are using the most resources?"
"Show me idle resources that are wasting money"
"Analyze cost optimization opportunities in the production namespace"

Security:

"Audit RBAC permissions in all namespaces"
"Check for insecure secrets and configurations"
"Show me pods running with privileged access"

Helm:

"List all Helm releases in the cluster"
"Install Redis from the Bitnami chart repository"
"Show me the values for my nginx-ingress Helm release"

Multi-Cluster:

"List all available Kubernetes contexts"
"Switch to the production cluster context"
"Show me cluster information and version"

Works seamlessly with all MCP-compatible AI assistants:

Add to ~/.config/claude-code/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kubernetes": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "kubectl-mcp-server"]
    }
  }
}

Add to VS Code settings.json:

{
  "mcp": {
    "servers": {
      "kubernetes": {
        "command": "npx",
        "args": ["-y", "kubectl-mcp-server"]
      }
    }
  }
}

Add to ~/.config/goose/config.yaml:

extensions:
  kubernetes:
    command: npx
    args:
      - -y
      - kubectl-mcp-server

Add to ~/.gemini/settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kubernetes": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "kubectl-mcp-server"]
    }
  }
}

Add to ~/.config/roo-code/mcp.json or ~/.config/kilo-code/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kubernetes": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "kubectl-mcp-server"]
    }
  }
}

Access Kubernetes data as browsable resources:

Pre-built workflow prompts for common Kubernetes operations:

• 🤖 253 Powerful Tools - Complete Kubernetes management from pods to security
• 🎯 8 AI Workflow Prompts - Pre-built workflows for common operations
• 📊 8 MCP Resources - Browsable Kubernetes data exposure
• 🎨 6 Interactive Dashboards - HTML UI tools for visual cluster management
• 🌐 26 Browser Tools - Web automation with cloud provider support
• 🔄 107 Ecosystem Tools - GitOps, Cert-Manager, Policy, Backup, KEDA, Cilium, Rollouts, CAPI, KubeVirt, Istio, vCluster
• ⚡ Multi-Transport - stdio, SSE, HTTP, streamable-http
• 🔐 Security First - Non-destructive mode, secret masking, RBAC validation
• 🏥 Advanced Diagnostics - AI-powered troubleshooting and cost optimization
• ☸️ Multi-Cluster - Target any cluster via context parameter in every tool
• 🎡 Full Helm v3 - Complete chart lifecycle management
• 🔧 Powerful CLI - Shell-friendly tool discovery and direct calling
• 🐳 Cloud Native - Deploy in-cluster with kMCP or kagent

The built-in CLI lets you explore and test tools without an AI assistant:

# List all tools with descriptions
kubectl-mcp-server tools -d

# Search for pod-related tools
kubectl-mcp-server grep "*pod*"

# Show specific tool schema
kubectl-mcp-server tools get_pods

# Call a tool directly
kubectl-mcp-server call get_pods '{"namespace": "kube-system"}'

# Pipe JSON from stdin
echo '{"namespace": "default"}' | kubectl-mcp-server call get_pods

# Check dependencies
kubectl-mcp-server doctor

# Show/switch Kubernetes context
kubectl-mcp-server context
kubectl-mcp-server context minikube

# List resources and prompts
kubectl-mcp-server resources
kubectl-mcp-server prompts

# Show server info
kubectl-mcp-server info

• Structured errors: Actionable error messages with suggestions
• Colorized output: Human-readable with JSON mode for scripting (--json)
• NO_COLOR support: Respects NO_COLOR environment variable
• Stdin support: Pipe JSON arguments to commands

The server supports multiple transport protocols:

# stdio (default) - Best for Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf
kubectl-mcp-server
# or: python -m kubectl_mcp_tool.mcp_server

# SSE - Server-Sent Events for web clients
kubectl-mcp-server --transport sse --port 8000

# HTTP - Standard HTTP for REST clients
kubectl-mcp-server --transport http --port 8000

# streamable-http - For agentgateway integration
kubectl-mcp-server --transport streamable-http --port 8000

Transport Options:

• --transport: Choose from stdio, sse, http, streamable-http (default: stdio)
• --host: Bind address (default: 0.0.0.0)
• --port: Port for network transports (default: 8000)
• --disable-destructive (or --non-destructive): Block destructive operations (allow create/update, block delete)
• --read-only: Block all write operations

Core Settings:

Authentication (Enterprise):

Browser Automation (Optional):

Get beautiful HTML dashboards for visual cluster management.

Installation:

# Install with UI support
pip install kubectl-mcp-server[ui]

6 Dashboard Tools:

• 📊 show_pods_dashboard_ui - Real-time pod status table
• 📝 show_pod_logs_ui - Interactive log viewer with search
• 🎯 show_cluster_overview_ui - Complete cluster dashboard
• ⚡ show_events_timeline_ui - Events timeline with filtering
• 📄 show_resource_yaml_ui - YAML viewer with syntax highlighting
• 📸 render_k8s_dashboard_screenshot - Export dashboards as PNG

Features:

• 🎨 Dark theme optimized for terminals (Catppuccin)
• 🔄 Graceful fallback to JSON for incompatible clients
• 🖼️ Screenshot rendering for universal compatibility
• 🚀 Zero external dependencies

Works With: Goose, LibreChat, Nanobot (full HTML UI) | Claude Desktop, Cursor, others (JSON + screenshots)

Automate web-based Kubernetes operations with agent-browser integration.

Quick Setup:

# Install agent-browser
npm install -g agent-browser
agent-browser install

# Enable browser tools
export MCP_BROWSER_ENABLED=true
kubectl-mcp-server

What You Can Do:

• 🌐 Test deployed apps via Ingress URLs
• 📸 Screenshot Grafana, ArgoCD, or any K8s dashboard
• ☁️ Automate cloud console operations (EKS, GKE, AKS)
• 🏥 Health check web applications
• 📄 Export monitoring dashboards as PDF
• 🔐 Test authentication flows with persistent sessions

26 Available Tools: browser_open, browser_screenshot, browser_click, browser_fill, browser_test_ingress, browser_screenshot_grafana, browser_health_check, and 19 more

Advanced Features:

• Cloud providers: Browserbase, Browser Use
• Persistent browser profiles
• Remote CDP connections
• Session management

A standalone npm package that provides beautiful, interactive UI dashboards for Kubernetes management using the MCP ext-apps SDK.

Installation:

# Via npm
npm install -g kubectl-mcp-app

# Or via npx (no install)
npx kubectl-mcp-app

Claude Desktop Configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kubectl-app": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["kubectl-mcp-app"]
    }
  }
}

8 Interactive UI Tools:

Features:

• 🎨 Dark/light theme support
• 📊 Real-time data visualization
• 🖱️ Interactive actions (scale, restart, delete)
• 🔗 Seamless integration with kubectl-mcp-server

More Info: See kubectl-mcp-app/README.md for full documentation.

Secure your MCP server with OAuth 2.1 authentication (RFC 9728).

export MCP_AUTH_ENABLED=true
export MCP_AUTH_ISSUER=https://your-idp.example.com
export MCP_AUTH_AUDIENCE=kubectl-mcp-server
kubectl-mcp-server --transport http --port 8000

Supported Identity Providers: Okta, Auth0, Keycloak, Microsoft Entra ID, Google OAuth, and any OIDC-compliant provider.

Use Case: Multi-tenant environments, compliance requirements, audit logging.

Works with Docker MCP Toolkit:

docker mcp server add kubectl-mcp-server mcp/kubectl-mcp-server:latest
docker mcp server configure kubectl-mcp-server --volume "$HOME/.kube:/root/.kube:ro"
docker mcp server enable kubectl-mcp-server
docker mcp client connect claude

Install from the centralized agentregistry:

# Install arctl CLI
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/agentregistry-dev/agentregistry/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

# Install kubectl-mcp-server
arctl mcp install io.github.rohitg00/kubectl-mcp-server

Available via: PyPI (uvx), npm (npx), OCI (docker.io/rohitghumare64/kubectl-mcp-server)

Route to multiple MCP servers through agentgateway:

# Start with streamable-http
kubectl-mcp-server --transport streamable-http --port 8000

# Configure gateway
cat > gateway.yaml <<EOF
binds:
- port: 3000
  listeners:
  - routes:
    - backends:
      - mcp:
          targets:
          - name: kubectl-mcp-server
            mcp:
              host: http://localhost:8000/mcp
EOF

# Start gateway
agentgateway --config gateway.yaml

Connect clients to http://localhost:3000/mcp for unified access to all 253 tools.

Deploy with kMCP - a control plane for MCP servers:

# Install kMCP
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kagent-dev/kmcp/refs/heads/main/scripts/get-kmcp.sh | bash
kmcp install

# Deploy kubectl-mcp-server (easiest)
kmcp deploy package --deployment-name kubectl-mcp-server \
   --manager npx --args kubectl-mcp-server

# Or with Docker image
kmcp deploy --file deploy/kmcp/kmcp.yaml --image rohitghumare64/kubectl-mcp-server:latest

See kMCP quickstart for details.

Deploy with kubectl/kustomize:

# Using kustomize (recommended)
kubectl apply -k deploy/kubernetes/

# Or individual manifests
kubectl apply -f deploy/kubernetes/namespace.yaml
kubectl apply -f deploy/kubernetes/rbac.yaml
kubectl apply -f deploy/kubernetes/deployment.yaml
kubectl apply -f deploy/kubernetes/service.yaml

# Access via port-forward
kubectl port-forward -n kubectl-mcp svc/kubectl-mcp-server 8000:8000

See deploy/ directory for all manifests and configuration options.

Integrate with kagent - a CNCF Kubernetes-native AI agent framework:

# Install kagent
brew install kagent
kagent install --profile demo

# Register as ToolServer
kubectl apply -f deploy/kagent/toolserver-stdio.yaml

# Open dashboard
kagent dashboard

Your AI agents now have access to all 253 Kubernetes tools. See kagent quickstart.

┌─────────────────┐     ┌──────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐
│   AI Assistant  │────▶│   MCP Server     │────▶│  Kubernetes API │
│ (Claude/Cursor) │◀────│ (kubectl-mcp)    │◀────│    (kubectl)    │
└─────────────────┘     └──────────────────┘     └─────────────────┘

The MCP server implements the Model Context Protocol, translating natural language requests into kubectl operations.

kubectl_mcp_tool/
├── mcp_server.py          # Main server (FastMCP, transports)
├── tools/                  # 253 MCP tools organized by category
│   ├── pods.py            # Pod management & diagnostics
│   ├── deployments.py     # Deployments, StatefulSets, DaemonSets
│   ├── core.py            # Namespaces, ConfigMaps, Secrets
│   ├── cluster.py         # Context/cluster management
│   ├── networking.py      # Services, Ingress, NetworkPolicies
│   ├── storage.py         # PVCs, StorageClasses, PVs
│   ├── security.py        # RBAC, ServiceAccounts, PodSecurity
│   ├── helm.py            # Complete Helm v3 operations
│   ├── operations.py      # kubectl apply/patch/describe/etc
│   ├── diagnostics.py     # Metrics, namespace comparison
│   ├── cost.py            # Resource optimization & cost analysis
│   ├── ui.py              # MCP-UI interactive dashboards
│   ├── gitops.py          # GitOps (Flux/ArgoCD)
│   ├── certs.py           # Cert-Manager
│   ├── policy.py          # Policy (Kyverno/Gatekeeper)
│   ├── backup.py          # Backup (Velero)
│   ├── keda.py            # KEDA autoscaling
│   ├── cilium.py          # Cilium/Hubble network observability
│   ├── rollouts.py        # Argo Rollouts/Flagger
│   ├── capi.py            # Cluster API
│   ├── kubevirt.py        # KubeVirt VMs
│   ├── kiali.py           # Istio/Kiali service mesh
│   └── vind.py            # vCluster (virtual clusters)
├── resources/              # 8 MCP Resources for data exposure
├── prompts/                # 8 MCP Prompts for workflows
└── cli/                    # CLI interface

Extend your AI coding agent with Kubernetes expertise using our Agent Skills library. Skills provide specialized knowledge and workflows that agents can load on demand.

# Copy all skills to Claude
cp -r kubernetes-skills/claude/* ~/.claude/skills/

# Or install specific skills
cp -r kubernetes-skills/claude/k8s-helm ~/.claude/skills/

Use SkillKit to convert skills to your preferred AI agent format:

npm install -g skillkit

# Convert to Cursor format
skillkit translate kubernetes-skills/claude --to cursor --output .cursor/rules/

# Convert to Codex format
skillkit translate kubernetes-skills/claude --to codex --output ./

Supported agents: Claude, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot, Goose, Windsurf, Roo, Amp, and more.

See kubernetes-skills/README.md for full documentation.

Seamlessly manage multiple Kubernetes clusters through natural language. Every tool supports an optional context parameter to target any cluster without switching contexts.

Most kubectl-backed tools accept an optional context parameter to target specific clusters. Note: vCluster (vind) and kind tools run via their local CLIs and do not accept the context parameter.

Talk to your AI assistant:

"List pods in the production cluster"
"Get deployments from staging context"
"Show logs from the api-pod in the dev cluster"
"Compare namespaces between production and staging clusters"

Direct tool calls with context:

# Target a specific cluster context
kubectl-mcp-server call get_pods '{"namespace": "default", "context": "production"}'

# Get deployments from staging
kubectl-mcp-server call get_deployments '{"namespace": "app", "context": "staging"}'

# Install Helm chart to production cluster
kubectl-mcp-server call install_helm_chart '{"name": "redis", "chart": "bitnami/redis", "namespace": "cache", "context": "production"}'

# Compare resources across clusters
kubectl-mcp-server call compare_namespaces '{"namespace1": "prod-ns", "namespace2": "staging-ns", "context": "production"}'

Talk to your AI assistant:

"List all available Kubernetes contexts"
"Switch to the production cluster"
"Show me details about the staging context"
"What's the current cluster I'm connected to?"

Or use the CLI directly:

kubectl-mcp-server context                    # Show current context
kubectl-mcp-server context production         # Switch context
kubectl-mcp-server call list_contexts_tool    # List all contexts via MCP

• If context is omitted, the tool uses your current kubectl context
• If context is specified, the tool targets that cluster directly
• Response includes "context": "production" or "context": "current" for clarity
• Works with all kubeconfig setups and respects KUBECONFIG environment variable
• No need to switch contexts for cross-cluster operations

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/rohitg00/kubectl-mcp-server.git
cd kubectl-mcp-server

# Create virtual environment
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

# Install development dependencies
pip install -r requirements-dev.txt

# Run all tests
pytest tests/ -v

# Run specific test file
pytest tests/test_tools.py -v

# Run with coverage
pytest tests/ --cov=kubectl_mcp_tool --cov-report=html

# Run only unit tests
pytest tests/ -v -m unit

tests/
├── __init__.py          # Test package
├── conftest.py          # Shared fixtures and mocks
├── test_tools.py        # Unit tests for 253 MCP tools
├── test_resources.py    # Tests for 8 MCP Resources
├── test_prompts.py      # Tests for 8 MCP Prompts
└── test_server.py       # Server initialization tests

234 tests covering: tool registration, resource exposure, prompt generation, server initialization, non-destructive mode, secret masking, error handling, transport methods, CLI commands, browser automation, and ecosystem tools.

# Format code
black kubectl_mcp_tool tests

# Sort imports
isort kubectl_mcp_tool tests

# Lint
flake8 kubectl_mcp_tool tests

# Type checking
mypy kubectl_mcp_tool

We ❤️ contributions! Whether it's bug reports, feature requests, documentation improvements, or code contributions.

Ways to contribute:

• 🐛 Report bugs via GitHub Issues
• 💡 Suggest features or improvements
• 📝 Improve documentation
• 🔧 Submit pull requests
• ⭐ Star the project if you find it useful!

Development setup: See Development & Testing section above.

Before submitting a PR:

1. Run tests: pytest tests/ -v
2. Format code: black kubectl_mcp_tool tests
3. Check linting: flake8 kubectl_mcp_tool tests

• 📖 Documentation
• 💬 GitHub Discussions
• 🐛 Issue Tracker
• 🎯 Feature Requests
• 🌟 agentregistry Profile

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

Package Repositories:

• 🐍 PyPI Package
• 📦 npm Package
• 🐳 Docker Hub

Project:

• 🔧 GitHub Repository
• 🐛 Issue Tracker
• 📋 Changelog

Ecosystem:

• 📚 Model Context Protocol
• ☸️ Kubernetes Documentation

Made with ❤️ for the Kubernetes and AI community

If kubectl-mcp-server makes your DevOps life easier, give it a ⭐ on GitHub!