Kubernetes MCP server

This MCP server allows you to run Kubernetes commands directly through Claude, providing interpretation of the commands and Kubernetes resources. It integrates with the Model Context Protocol to enable interactive kubectl operations without leaving your Claude interface.

Installation

Prerequisites

You need to have Node.js installed on your system to run this MCP server.

Setup Steps

1. Install the package dependencies:

npm install

2. Build the server:

npm run build

3. Configure Claude Desktop to use the server by adding the server configuration to the Claude desktop config file:

On MacOS:

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

On Windows:

%APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

4. Add the following configuration to the file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "k8s-interactive": {
      "command": "/path/to/k8s-interactive/build/index.js"
    }
  }
}

Make sure to replace /path/to/k8s-interactive with the actual path to the server on your system.

Usage

Basic Operation

Once installed and configured, you can invoke Kubernetes commands through Claude. The server will:

• Check if kubectl is installed
• Run kubectl commands you specify
• Provide interpretation of the results
• Support piping commands together

Example Commands

You can run standard kubectl commands through the MCP interface:

• List pods: kubectl get pods
• Describe a service: kubectl describe service my-service
• Get detailed node information: kubectl get nodes -o wide

Using Custom Kubeconfig

The server supports specifying a custom kubeconfig path:

kubectl --kubeconfig=/path/to/kubeconfig get pods

Troubleshooting

If you encounter issues, you can use the MCP Inspector for debugging:

npm run inspector

This will provide a URL to access debugging tools in your browser, allowing you to inspect the communication between Claude and the MCP server.

Advanced Usage

Command Piping

The server supports piping kubectl commands together for more complex operations:

kubectl get pods | grep my-pod-name

Output Formatting

You can specify different output formats using kubectl's built-in formatting options:

kubectl get pods -o json
kubectl get pods -o yaml
kubectl get pods -o wide

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 "k8s-interactive" '{"command":"/path/to/k8s-interactive/build/index.js"}'

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": {
        "k8s-interactive": {
            "command": "/path/to/k8s-interactive/build/index.js"
        }
    }
}

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": {
        "k8s-interactive": {
            "command": "/path/to/k8s-interactive/build/index.js"
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect