ArangoDB MCP server for AI agents

The ArangoDB MCP Server provides an interface to interact with ArangoDB databases through the Model Context Protocol, allowing you to use ArangoDB functionality directly within Claude AI or VSCode extensions like Cline.

Installation Options

Global Installation via NPM

npm install -g arango-server

Running with NPX (No Installation)

npx arango-server

Configuration for VSCode Agent

To use with VSCode Copilot agent (requires VSCode 1.99.0+):

Create or edit the MCP configuration file:
- For workspace-specific: Create .vscode/mcp.json
- For user-specific: Edit through VSCode settings
Add this configuration:

{
  "servers": {
    "arango-mcp": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["arango-server"],
      "env": {
        "ARANGO_URL": "http://localhost:8529",
        "ARANGO_DB": "v20",
        "ARANGO_USERNAME": "app",
        "ARANGO_PASSWORD": "75Sab@MYa3Dj8Fc"
      }
    }
  }
}

Start the server:
- Open Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P or Cmd+Shift+P)
- Run MCP: Start Server and select arango-mcp
Verify in Chat view using the Tools button

Installation via Smithery

npx -y @smithery/cli install @ravenwits/mcp-server-arangodb --client claude

Claude Desktop Configuration

Edit config at:

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

Cline VSCode Extension Configuration

Edit config at:

MacOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/globalStorage/cline.cline/config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%/Code/User/globalStorage/cline.cline/config.json

Add to the mcpServers section:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "arango": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/arango-server/build/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "ARANGO_URL": "your_database_url",
        "ARANGO_DB": "your_database_name",
        "ARANGO_USERNAME": "your_username",
        "ARANGO_PASSWORD": "your_password"
      }
    }
  }
}

Required Environment Variables

The server needs these environment variables:

ARANGO_URL - ArangoDB server URL (default port is 8529)
ARANGO_DB - Database name
ARANGO_USERNAME - Database user
ARANGO_PASSWORD - Database password

Available Tools and Usage

Tools Overview

arango_query: Execute AQL queries
arango_insert: Insert documents into collections
arango_update: Update existing documents
arango_remove: Remove documents from collections
arango_backup: Backup collections to JSON files
arango_list_collections: List all collections in the database
arango_create_collection: Create a new collection

Example Usage

You can use natural language prompts with Claude, such as:

"List all collections in the database"
"Query all users"
"Insert a new document with name 'John Doe' and email '[email protected]' to the 'users' collection"
"Update the document with key '123456' to change the age to 48"
"Create a new collection named 'products'"

Tool Parameters

Query documents

{
  "query": "FOR user IN users RETURN user"
}

Insert a document

{
  "collection": "users",
  "document": {
    "name": "John Doe",
    "email": "[email protected]"
  }
}

Update a document

{
  "collection": "users",
  "key": "123456",
  "update": {
    "name": "Jane Doe"
  }
}

Remove a document

{
  "collection": "users",
  "key": "123456"
}

List all collections

{}

Backup database collections

{
  "outputDir": "./backup",
  "collection": "users",
  "docLimit": 1000
}

Create a new collection

{
  "name": "products",
  "type": "document",
  "waitForSync": false
}

Security Notice

This tool is designed for local development environments only. Using it with production databases creates significant security risks and is not recommended.

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 "arango-mcp" '{"type":"stdio","command":"npx","args":["arango-server"],"env":{"ARANGO_URL":"http://localhost:8529","ARANGO_DB":"v20","ARANGO_USERNAME":"app","ARANGO_PASSWORD":"75Sab@MYa3Dj8Fc"}}'

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": {
        "arango-mcp": {
            "type": "stdio",
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "arango-server"
            ],
            "env": {
                "ARANGO_URL": "http://localhost:8529",
                "ARANGO_DB": "v20",
                "ARANGO_USERNAME": "app",
                "ARANGO_PASSWORD": "75Sab@MYa3Dj8Fc"
            }
        }
    }
}

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": {
        "arango-mcp": {
            "type": "stdio",
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "arango-server"
            ],
            "env": {
                "ARANGO_URL": "http://localhost:8529",
                "ARANGO_DB": "v20",
                "ARANGO_USERNAME": "app",
                "ARANGO_PASSWORD": "75Sab@MYa3Dj8Fc"
            }
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect