mrostamii/rancher-mcp-server

Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for the **Rancher ecosystem**: multi-cluster Kubernetes, Harvester HCI (VMs, storage, networks), and Fleet GitOps.
Demo
A walkthrough of how this MCP server works (example in Cursor).
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/7d8fb814-e504-47b4-956d-28f43aeea3b8
Features
- **Harvester toolset**: List/get VMs, images, volumes, networks, hosts; VM actions; addon list/switch (enable/disable)
- **Rancher toolset**: Clusters and projects via **Steve** (management proxy); **Norman** management API (/v3) for schemas, users, tokens, auth configs, global role bindings, cluster registration tokens, node drivers, cloud credentials, catalogs, cluster repos, feature flags, settings, audit (when exposed); support bundle and generic actions when writes are enabled
- **Kubernetes toolset**: List/get/create/patch/delete resources by apiVersion/kind; describe (resource + events), events, capacity
- **Helm toolset**: List/get/history of releases; install, upgrade, rollback, uninstall; repo list
- **Fleet toolset**: GitRepo list/get/create; Bundle list; Fleet cluster list; drift detection
- **Rancher APIs**: Same Bearer token for **Steve** (/k8s/clusters/...) and **Norman** (/v3/...); no CLI wrappers
- **Security**: Read-only default, disable-destructive, sensitive data masking (Norman token/credential fields redacted unless --show-sensitive-data)
- **Config**: Flags, env (RANCHER_MCP_*), or file (YAML/TOML)
Quick start
Install
Cursor
Add to .cursor/mcp.json (project-level) or ~/.cursor/mcp.json (global):
Restart Cursor after saving. Check **Settings → Tools & MCP** that **rancher** is listed and enabled.
Claude Desktop
Add to your Claude Desktop config (claude_desktop_config.json):
With env vars instead of args
If you prefer to keep the token out of the JSON config:
Enable write operations
For VM create, snapshots, backups, image/volume create, addon switch, host maintenance mode, VPC create/update/delete, VPC NAT gateway create, Harvester setting updates, Kubernetes create/patch/delete, Helm install/upgrade/rollback, Fleet gitrepo create/delete, and **Norman** writes (tokens, users, auth configs, role bindings, cluster registration tokens, cloud credentials, catalog refresh, feature flags, settings, rancher_norman_action, support bundle), add --read-only=false. **Delete** operations (Norman tokens/bindings/registration tokens/cloud credentials, VPC NAT gateway delete, plus existing toolset deletes) also require --disable-destructive=false (default).
Streamable HTTP transport
For web clients or remote access (e.g. Claude Code claude mcp add -t http), add --transport and --port:
The server uses the MCP Streamable HTTP transport. The default MCP path is /mcp; connect to http://localhost:8080/mcp (or your server base URL + /mcp). Best supported with Claude Code; Cursor support may vary.
Build from source
If you prefer to build the Go binary yourself:
Then reference the binary directly in your MCP config:
---
Configuration
| Option | Env | Default | Description |
| ----------------------------- | --------------------------------------- | --------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| --rancher-server-url | RANCHER_MCP_RANCHER_SERVER_URL | — | Rancher server URL (required) |
| --rancher-token | RANCHER_MCP_RANCHER_TOKEN | — | Bearer token (required) |
| --tls-insecure | RANCHER_MCP_TLS_INSECURE | false | Skip TLS verification |
| --read-only | RANCHER_MCP_READ_ONLY | true | Disable write operations |
| --disable-destructive | RANCHER_MCP_DISABLE_DESTRUCTIVE | false | Disable delete operations |
| --show-sensitive-data | RANCHER_MCP_SHOW_SENSITIVE_DATA | false | Show Norman token/credential fields without redaction (use with care) |
| --toolsets | RANCHER_MCP_TOOLSETS | harvester | Toolsets to enable: harvester, rancher, kubernetes, helm, fleet |
| --transport | RANCHER_MCP_TRANSPORT | stdio | Transport: stdio or http (Streamable HTTP; default path /mcp) |
| --port | RANCHER_MCP_PORT | 0 | Port for HTTP (0 = stdio only) |
---
Harvester tools
| Tool | Description |
| ------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |
| harvester_vm_list | List VMs with status, namespace, spec/status |