SolarWinds Observability Logs MCP server for AI agents

The SolarWinds Logs MCP server enables access and visualization of SolarWinds Observability logs through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). This integration allows you to search and analyze logs directly through Claude interfaces.

Features

search_logs

Search SolarWinds Observability logs with filtering options:

Filter logs by keywords, entity, group, and more
Configure time ranges and pagination
View formatted log entries with timestamps and messages
Default search covers the last 24 hours

visualize_logs

Generate histogram visualizations of log event frequency:

View log patterns in customizable time intervals (minute, hour, day)
Choose between UTC or local time zones
Format results for Claude's visualization capabilities
Default visualization covers the last 24 hours

Installation

Install from npm:

npm install -g mcp-solarwinds

Or clone and build from source:

git clone https://github.com/@jakenuts/mcp-solarwinds.git
cd mcp-solarwinds
npm install
npm run build

You can also use npx in your configurations without installing.

Configuration

For Claude VSCode Extension

Add to %APPDATA%/Code - Insiders/User/globalStorage/saoudrizwan.claude-dev/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "solarwinds": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-solarwinds"],
      "env": {
        "SOLARWINDS_API_TOKEN": "your-api-token"
      },
      "autoApprove": ["search_logs", "visualize_logs"]
    }
  }
}

For Claude Desktop

Add to the appropriate config file:

Windows: %APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
MacOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "solarwinds": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-solarwinds"],
      "env": {
        "SOLARWINDS_API_TOKEN": "your-api-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

Special Windows Configuration

If you encounter ENOENT spawn npx issues on Windows, use this alternative configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "solarwinds": {
      "command": "C:\\Users\\[username]\\AppData\\Roaming\\nvm\\[node-version]\\node.exe",
      "args": [
        "C:\\Users\\[username]\\AppData\\Roaming\\npm\\node_modules\\npm\\bin\\npx-cli.js",
        "-y",
        "mcp-solarwinds"
      ],
      "env": {
        "SOLARWINDS_API_TOKEN": "your-api-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

Authentication Methods

Provide your SolarWinds API token using one of these methods:

MCP Settings Configuration (Recommended): Add to your Claude config file
Environment Variable: Set SOLARWINDS_API_TOKEN in your environment
Local .env File (For Testing): Create a .env file with your token

For local testing:

Copy .env.example to .env and add your token
Run the example script: node examples/local-test.js

Usage Examples

Search Logs

Basic search:

{
  "filter": "error"
}

Advanced search with time range and pagination:

{
  "filter": "error",
  "entityId": "web-server",
  "startTime": "2025-03-01T00:00:00Z",
  "endTime": "2025-03-05T23:59:59Z",
  "pageSize": 100,
  "direction": "backward"
}

Visualize Logs

Basic histogram:

{
  "filter": "error",
  "interval": "hour"
}

Advanced visualization:

{
  "filter": "error",
  "entityId": "web-server",
  "startTime": "2025-03-01T00:00:00Z",
  "endTime": "2025-03-05T23:59:59Z",
  "interval": "day",
  "use_utc": true
}

JSON format for Claude visualization:

{
  "filter": "error",
  "interval": "hour",
  "format": "json"
}

The JSON response will contain data Claude can visualize as a chart:

{
  "timeRanges": ["12:02", "12:03", "12:04", "12:05", "12:06", "12:07", "12:08", "12:09"],
  "counts": [261, 47, 48, 48, 31, 262, 270, 33],
  "total": 1000,
  "queryParams": {
    "query": "error",
    "startTime": "2025-03-05T00:00:00.000Z",
    "endTime": "2025-03-05T23:59:59.000Z"
  }
}

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 "solarwinds" '{"command":"npx","args":["-y","mcp-solarwinds"],"env":{"SOLARWINDS_API_TOKEN":"your-api-token"},"autoApprove":["search_logs","visualize_logs"]}'

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": {
        "solarwinds": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "mcp-solarwinds"
            ],
            "env": {
                "SOLARWINDS_API_TOKEN": "your-api-token"
            },
            "autoApprove": [
                "search_logs",
                "visualize_logs"
            ]
        }
    }
}

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": {
        "solarwinds": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "mcp-solarwinds"
            ],
            "env": {
                "SOLARWINDS_API_TOKEN": "your-api-token"
            },
            "autoApprove": [
                "search_logs",
                "visualize_logs"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect