OpenTelemetry Collector MCP server

The OpenTelemetry Collector MCP Server allows you to dynamically configure OpenTelemetry Collectors through MCP (Model Context Protocol), providing tools to manage components like receivers, processors, and exporters with ease.

Installation

To use the OpenTelemetry Collector MCP Server, you need to configure your MCP client to connect to the server. This is done by updating your mcp.json configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
      "otelcol": {
        "url": "http://localhost:3001/sse"
      }
    }
}

Features

• Dynamic OpenTelemetry Configuration: Configure OpenTelemetry Collectors through MCP tools
• Component Management: Add, remove, and configure receivers, processors, and exporters

Available Tools

Update Resources

This tool updates local resource files with the latest component information from GitHub.

• No input parameters required
• Returns statistics about updated components (receivers, processors, exporters)

Available Resources

Receivers

Access all available OpenTelemetry receivers through receivers://receivers.

This resource returns receiver metadata including:

• Name
• Description
• Stability level

Processors

Access all available OpenTelemetry processors through processors://processors.

This resource returns processor metadata including:

• Name
• Description
• Stability level

Exporters

Access all available OpenTelemetry exporters through exporters://exporters.

This resource returns exporter metadata including:

• Name
• Description
• Stability level

Component Schemas

Retrieve configuration schemas for specific components through component://{type}/{name}.

Parameters:

• type: Component type ("receiver", "processor", or "exporter")
• name: Name of the specific component (optional)

You can either list all available schemas or get a specific component's schema using this resource.

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 "otelcol" '{"url":"http://localhost:3001/sse"}'

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": {
        "otelcol": {
            "url": "http://localhost:3001/sse"
        }
    }
}

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": {
        "otelcol": {
            "url": "http://localhost:3001/sse"
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect