Elasticsearch MCP server

The Elasticsearch MCP Server connects agents to your Elasticsearch data using the Model Context Protocol, allowing natural language interactions with your Elasticsearch indices through compatible MCP clients like Claude Desktop.

Installation Options

Using Docker

1. Configure MCP Client

   • Open your MCP Client (e.g., Claude Desktop)
   • Go to Settings > Developer > MCP Servers
   • Click Edit Config and add a new MCP Server:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "elasticsearch-mcp-server": {
         "command": "docker",
         "args": [
           "run", "--rm", "-i",
           "-e", "ES_URL",
           "-e", "ES_API_KEY",
           "docker.elastic.co/mcp/elasticsearch", "stdio"
         ],
         "env": {
           "ES_URL": "<your-elasticsearch-url>",
           "ES_API_KEY": "<your-api-key>"
         }
       }
     }
   }
   

2. Start a Conversation

   • Open a new conversation in your MCP Client
   • The MCP server should connect automatically
   • Begin asking questions about your Elasticsearch data

Using the NPM Package

1. Configure MCP Client

   • Open your MCP Client (e.g., Claude Desktop)
   • Go to Settings > Developer > MCP Servers
   • Click Edit Config and add a new MCP Server:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "elasticsearch-mcp-server": {
         "command": "npx",
         "args": [
           "-y",
           "@elastic/mcp-server-elasticsearch"
         ],
         "env": {
           "ES_URL": "<your-elasticsearch-url>",
           "ES_API_KEY": "<your-api-key>",
           "OTEL_LOG_LEVEL": "none"
         }
       }
     }
   }
   

2. Start a Conversation

   • Open a new conversation in your MCP Client
   • The MCP server should connect automatically
   • Begin asking questions about your Elasticsearch data

Configuration Options

You must provide either an API key or both username and password for authentication.

Environment Variable	Description	Required
ES_URL	Your Elasticsearch instance URL	Yes
ES_API_KEY	Elasticsearch API key for authentication	No
ES_USERNAME	Elasticsearch username for basic authentication	No
ES_PASSWORD	Elasticsearch password for basic authentication	No
ES_CA_CERT	Path to custom CA certificate for Elasticsearch SSL/TLS	No
ES_SSL_SKIP_VERIFY	Set to '1' or 'true' to skip SSL certificate verification	No
ES_PATH_PREFIX	Path prefix for Elasticsearch instance exposed at a non-root path	No
ES_VERSION	Server assumes Elasticsearch 9.x. Set to 8 target Elasticsearch 8.x	No

Available Tools

The MCP server provides several tools for interacting with your Elasticsearch data:

• list_indices: List all available Elasticsearch indices
• get_mappings: Get field mappings for a specific Elasticsearch index
• search: Perform an Elasticsearch search with the provided query DSL. Supports highlighting, query profiling, and query explanation
• get_shards: Get shard information for all or specific indices

Example Questions

Here are some natural language queries you can try with your MCP Client:

• "What indices do I have in my Elasticsearch cluster?"
• "Show me the field mappings for the 'products' index."
• "Find all orders over $500 from last month."
• "Which products received the most 5-star reviews?"

Security Best Practices

Create a dedicated Elasticsearch API key with minimal permissions to control access to your data:

POST /_security/api_key
{
  "name": "es-mcp-server-access",
  "role_descriptors": {
    "mcp_server_role": {
      "cluster": [
        "monitor"
      ],
      "indices": [
        {
          "names": [
            "index-1",
            "index-2",
            "index-pattern-*"
          ],
          "privileges": [
            "read",
            "view_index_metadata"
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Troubleshooting

• Ensure your MCP configuration is correct
• Verify that your Elasticsearch URL is accessible from your machine
• Check that your authentication credentials have the necessary permissions
• If using SSL/TLS with a custom CA, verify that the certificate path is correct
• Look at the terminal output for error messages

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "elasticsearch-mcp-server" '{"command":"npx","args":["-y","@elastic/mcp-server-elasticsearch"],"env":{"ES_URL":"<your-elasticsearch-url>","ES_API_KEY":"<your-api-key>","OTEL_LOG_LEVEL":"none"}}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "elasticsearch-mcp-server": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "@elastic/mcp-server-elasticsearch"
            ],
            "env": {
                "ES_URL": "<your-elasticsearch-url>",
                "ES_API_KEY": "<your-api-key>",
                "OTEL_LOG_LEVEL": "none"
            }
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "elasticsearch-mcp-server": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "@elastic/mcp-server-elasticsearch"
            ],
            "env": {
                "ES_URL": "<your-elasticsearch-url>",
                "ES_API_KEY": "<your-api-key>",
                "OTEL_LOG_LEVEL": "none"
            }
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect