Tailscale Status MCP server

This MCP server allows Claude to query Tailscale status by running the tailscale CLI on macOS. It's a compact implementation that bridges Claude's capabilities with your Tailscale network information.

Requirements

Before getting started, ensure you have:

• Python installed on your system
• Tailscale installed at /Applications/Tailscale.app/Contents/MacOS/Tailscale
• uv for dependency management

Running the Server

You can run the Tailscale MCP server using either the STDIO transport (default) or HTTP/SSE transport.

Using STDIO Transport

The simplest way to run the server is with the default STDIO transport:

python tailscale.py

Using HTTP/SSE Transport

Alternatively, you can run the server with HTTP transport on a specific port:

python tailscale.py --transport http --port 4001

This allows you to specify:

• --transport http - Sets the server to use HTTP/SSE communication
• --port 4001 - Configures which port the server will listen on (can be changed to any available port)

How to add this MCP server to 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 > MCP and click "Add new global MCP server".

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

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "cursor-rules-mcp": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "cursor-rules-mcp"
            ]
        }
    }
}

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 explictly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.