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Kubernetes MCP Server

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Native Kubernetes and OpenShift control for AI assistants via MCP.

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★ 2.0k Stars Category · Dev Tools Very popular Source revision d98b21b48464

63FMRS · C

Reliability

10/20

Security and permissions

10/20

Maintenance

14/20

Documentation

17/20

Setup experience

12/20

The README describes an actively maintained, well-documented Go-native MCP server with broad tool coverage (Kubernetes, OpenShift, Helm, Tekton, KubeVirt, Kiali, NetObserv) and multiple install paths (npm, PyPI/uvx, native binaries, Docker); no third-party user reviews are included in the source material.

Read the FMRS scoring method →

Kubernetes MCP Server is a Go-native Model Context Protocol server that talks directly to the Kubernetes/OpenShift API server rather than wrapping kubectl or helm CLI tools. It supports CRUD on pods, generic resources, namespaces, and events, plus optional toolsets for Helm, Tekton, KubeVirt, Kiali (Istio service mesh), and NetObserv (network observability), with multi-cluster, read-only, and fine-grained resource-restriction support.

Tools

configuration_contexts_list

List all available context names and associated server URLs from the kubeconfig file

targets_list

List all available targets

configuration_view

Get the current Kubernetes configuration content as a kubeconfig YAML

events_list

List Kubernetes events (warnings, errors, state changes) for debugging and troubleshooting

namespaces_list

List all Kubernetes namespaces in the current cluster

projects_list

List all OpenShift projects in the current cluster

nodes_log

Get logs from a Kubernetes node (kubelet, kube-proxy, or other system logs) via the API proxy

nodes_stats_summary

Get detailed resource usage statistics from a node via the kubelet Summary API, including PSI metrics

nodes_top

List CPU and memory consumption for nodes as recorded by the Kubernetes Metrics Server

pods_list

List all Kubernetes pods in the current cluster from all namespaces

pods_list_in_namespace

List all Kubernetes pods in the specified namespace

pods_get

Get a Kubernetes Pod in the current or provided namespace by name

pods_delete

Delete a Kubernetes Pod in the current or provided namespace by name

pods_top

List CPU and memory consumption for pods as recorded by the Metrics Server

pods_exec

Execute a command in a Kubernetes Pod (shell access, run commands in container)

pods_log

Get the logs of a Kubernetes Pod by name

pods_run

Run a Kubernetes Pod with the provided container image and optionally expose a port

resources_list

List Kubernetes resources and objects by apiVersion and kind, optionally namespace and label selector

resources_get

Get a Kubernetes resource by apiVersion, kind, namespace, and name

resources_create_or_update

Create or update a Kubernetes resource via Server-Side Apply using a complete desired-state manifest

resources_delete

Delete a Kubernetes resource by apiVersion, kind, namespace, and name

resources_scale

Get or update the scale (replica count) of a Kubernetes resource

helm_install

Install a Helm chart to create a release in the current or provided namespace

helm_list

List Helm releases in the current, provided, or all namespaces

helm_uninstall

Uninstall a Helm release in the current or provided namespace

kcp_workspaces_list

List all available kcp workspaces in the current cluster

kcp_workspace_describe

Get detailed information about a specific kcp workspace

kiali_get_mesh_traffic_graph

Return service-to-service traffic topology, dependencies, and network metrics for the specified namespaces

kiali_get_mesh_status

Retrieve the high-level health, topology, and environment details of the Istio service mesh

kiali_manage_istio_config_read

Read Istio, Gateway API, and Inference API configuration (list or get)

kiali_manage_istio_config

Create, patch, or delete Istio, Gateway API, and Inference API configuration

kiali_list_mesh_clusters

List Istio mesh clusters accessible to Kiali

kiali_get_resource_details

Fetch a list of resources or detailed data for a specific resource (apps, ArgoCD apps)

kiali_list_traces

List distributed traces for a service in a namespace

kiali_get_trace_details

Fetch a single distributed trace by trace ID and return its call hierarchy

kiali_get_pod_performance

Return a summary of Pod CPU/memory usage compared to Kubernetes requests/limits

kiali_get_logs

Get the logs of a Kubernetes Pod or workload in a namespace

kiali_get_metrics

Return a compact summary of Istio metrics (latency, traffic, throughput, payload sizes) for a resource

vm_clone

Clone a VirtualMachine on KubeVirt by creating a VirtualMachineClone resource

vm_create

Create a VirtualMachine on KubeVirt with automatic instance type, preference, and image resolution

vm_guest_info

Get guest OS information from a VirtualMachine's QEMU guest agent

vm_lifecycle

Manage KubeVirt VirtualMachine lifecycle: start, stop, or restart

vm_troubleshoot

Diagnose KubeVirt VirtualMachine issues with automated root-cause detection

netobserv_list_flows

List NetObserv network flow records from Loki

netobserv_get_flow_metrics

Return aggregated NetObserv flow metrics as topology or time-series data

netobserv_export_flows

Export NetObserv flow records as CSV with the same filters as list_flows

Setup

For Claude Desktop, edit claude_desktop_config.json to add: {"mcpServers":{"kubernetes":{"command":"npx","args":["-y","kubernetes-mcp-server@latest"]}}} (requires Node.js/npm). Alternatively run the PyPI package via uvx (requires Python/uv), or download a native Go binary release. For Docker/OCI, mount the kubeconfig file as a volume, set the KUBECONFIG env var, map port 8080, and connect over streamable-http to http://localhost:8080/mcp. VS Code, VS Code Insiders, and Cursor have one-click install links; Goose CLI uses a similar npx entry in config.yaml. Requires access to a Kubernetes cluster.

claude_desktop_config.json

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

Generate and validate client config

Fit and risk

Best for

Developers and platform engineers who want AI assistants (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, VS Code, Cursor) to interact directly with Kubernetes/OpenShift clusters
Teams needing lightweight, dependency-free cluster access without kubectl/helm binaries installed locally
Multi-cluster environments defined across kubeconfig contexts

Not for

Users without access to a Kubernetes cluster
Strictly read-only or isolated environments where --read-only/--disable-destructive flags haven't been reviewed first
Users who just want a thin kubectl wrapper (this is a native reimplementation, not kubectl passthrough)

Required permissions

Requires a kubeconfig file (or in-cluster ServiceAccount) with API access to the target cluster(s)
Docker/OCI deployment requires a mounted kubeconfig volume and an exposed HTTP port
By default has full read/write access to cluster resources unless --read-only or --disable-destructive is set
The pods_exec tool can run arbitrary commands inside cluster containers

Risks and side effects

Default configuration allows create/update/delete on any Kubernetes/OpenShift resource, including Secrets, unless restricted via denied_resources or read-only mode
pods_exec and resources_create_or_update can be used to run arbitrary commands or alter cluster state
Streamable HTTP mode exposes a network endpoint (port 8080 in the Docker example) that should be secured with the supported OAuth/OIDC before exposing beyond localhost
Multi-cluster support means a single compromised MCP session could reach every cluster defined in the kubeconfig

Troubleshooting

Verify the --kubeconfig path or in-cluster config resolves correctly if the server can't reach the cluster
Use a higher --log-level value for verbose Kubernetes API debugging
If a tool is missing, check that --toolsets includes the needed toolset (e.g., helm, tekton, kubevirt)
For Docker/OCI deployment, confirm the kubeconfig volume mount path matches the KUBECONFIG env var inside the container
Check the /stats endpoint or OpenTelemetry tracing (docs/OTEL.md) for observability issues

Use cases

Diagnose and automatically fix failing Deployments

Manage pods, namespaces, and generic Kubernetes/OpenShift resources

Install, list, and uninstall Helm releases

Start and troubleshoot Tekton Pipelines and Tasks

Create, clone, and troubleshoot KubeVirt virtual machines

Inspect Istio service mesh topology and metrics via Kiali

Analyze network flows and packet drops via NetObserv

Supported clients

Claude DesktopFull support

Claude CodeFull support

VS CodeFull support

CursorFull support

Goose CLIFull support

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