gnmi-mcp-server

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Go MCP server for gNMI network device management — built on gnmic's Go API.

gnmi-mcp-server exposes gNMI device operations to AI assistants (Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode) via the Model Context Protocol. It is a single statically linked binary with no runtime dependencies.

Tested devices: validated against Arista EOS (gNMI; OpenConfig + eos_native) and Nokia SR OS (state tree). Other gNMI / OpenConfig platforms should work but are untested — paths and behavior vary by vendor; use gnmi_capabilities to confirm what a device supports.

Install

One-line install (macOS / Linux) — downloads the right binary into /usr/local/bin:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Howthemeaning/gnmi-mcp-server/main/install.sh | sh

Install without sudo: INSTALL_DIR="$HOME/.local/bin" curl -fsSL .../install.sh | sh (make sure that directory is on your PATH).

Manual: grab your platform's archive from the Releases page, extract it, and put gnmi-mcp-server on your PATH:

macOS Gatekeeper: a binary downloaded through the browser from the Releases page is quarantined and may be blocked on first run ("cannot verify the developer"). Clear it once before use: xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ./gnmi-mcp-server. (The curl … | sh installer is not affected — curl does not set the quarantine flag.)

From source (needs Go 1.25+):

go install github.com/Howthemeaning/gnmi-mcp-server@latest

Docker:

docker build -t gnmi-mcp-server .
docker run -i --rm \
  -v $HOME/.gnmi-mcp-server/config.yaml:/root/.gnmi-mcp-server/config.yaml:ro \
  gnmi-mcp-server

MCP uses stdin/stdout for stdio transport, so -i (interactive) is required. Mount your config at the default path or pass --config <path>.

For AI agents (one-shot)

An agent can install, seed a config, and register the server in one block (macOS / Linux):

# 1. install the binary onto your PATH
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Howthemeaning/gnmi-mcp-server/main/install.sh | sh
# 2. seed a config, then edit devices + credentials
mkdir -p ~/.gnmi-mcp-server
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Howthemeaning/gnmi-mcp-server/main/gnmi-mcp.example.yaml \
  -o ~/.gnmi-mcp-server/config.yaml
# 3. auto-register with every detected client (Claude Code / Codex / OpenCode)
gnmi-mcp-server install

gnmi-mcp-server install detects each client and wires it up — Claude Code and Codex via their mcp add CLIs, OpenCode by merging opencode.json (idempotent; skips clients it can't find). Pass --config /abs/path.yaml to bake a specific config path into the registration.

Related MCP server: NetBrain MCP

Updating

gnmi-mcp-server update

Downloads the latest release, verifies its SHA256 checksum, and atomically replaces the binary in place — then restart your MCP client. (Re-running curl … install.sh | sh or go install …@latest also updates.) On startup the server checks at most once per day and logs a note to its log file when a newer version is available; it never updates silently.

If the binary lives in a root-owned directory (e.g. /usr/local/bin), run sudo gnmi-mcp-server update. Installing to ~/.local/bin avoids sudo.

Configuration

Copy the template and edit it for your devices:

cp gnmi-mcp.example.yaml ~/.gnmi-mcp-server/config.yaml
chmod 600 ~/.gnmi-mcp-server/config.yaml   # if you keep credentials inline

gnmi-mcp.example.yaml (in this repo) documents every field. A minimal config looks like this. Passwords may be literals or ${ENV_VAR} / ${ENV_VAR:-default} references — the server interpolates them at startup so credentials never appear in the MCP tool arguments.

devices:
  core-switch:
    address: 192.168.1.1:57400
    username: admin
    password: ${GNMI_PASS_CORE_SWITCH}   # env-var interpolation
    skip-verify: true                    # skip TLS cert verification

  leaf-01:
    address: 10.0.0.1:57400
    username: operator
    password: ${GNMI_PASS_LEAF_01}
    timeout: 30s                         # default: 30s

# Optional global settings
read-only: false          # set true to disable gnmi_set
# allow-arbitrary: false  # set true to allow ad-hoc host:port targets
# yang-dir: ~/yang        # enables gnmi_path tool
# data-dir: ~/.gnmi-mcp-server/data
# log-level: info         # debug / info / warn / error

Where to put the config

The server looks for its config in this order (first match wins):

1. --config <path> flag

2. GNMI_CONFIG=<path> environment variable

3. ./gnmi-mcp.yaml in the current working directory

4. ~/.gnmi-mcp-server/config.yaml (home default)

Two recommended setups:

• Zero-arg (simplest): put your config at ~/.gnmi-mcp-server/config.yaml, then launch with just gnmi-mcp-server — no --config needed.

• Explicit (portable): put the config anywhere and pass --config /abs/path/gnmi-mcp.yaml.

When the server is launched by an MCP client (opencode / Claude Code), the working directory is unpredictable — do not rely on ./gnmi-mcp.yaml. Use the home default or an absolute --config path.

Start the server manually to test:

gnmi-mcp-server --config /path/to/gnmi-mcp.yaml
# or, with ~/.gnmi-mcp-server/config.yaml in place:
gnmi-mcp-server

TLS

To use mutual TLS, add tls-ca, tls-cert, and tls-key under a device. Set tls-dir at the top level to restrict certificate paths to a safe directory:

tls-dir: /etc/gnmi-certs
devices:
  secure-router:
    address: 10.1.0.1:57400
    username: admin
    password: ${ROUTER_PASS}
    tls-ca: ca.pem        # relative to tls-dir
    tls-cert: client.pem
    tls-key: client.key

Troubleshooting: "environment variable referenced in config is not set"

This error usually means you launched the server from a macOS GUI app (Reasonix desktop, Claude Code.app, etc.). macOS GUI apps inherit their environment from launchd, not from ~/.zshrc or ~/.bash_profile — they never see shell-exported variables.

Three fixes, in order of simplicity:

Option A — set env in your MCP client config:

• Reasonix (reasonix.toml):

  [[plugins]]
  name    = "gnmi"
  command = "gnmi-mcp-server"
  env     = { GNMI_TELEMETRY_USER = "...", GNMI_TELEMETRY_PASS = "..." }

• Claude Code (claude.json):

  { "mcpServers": { "gnmi": { "command": "gnmi-mcp-server", "env": { "GNMI_TELEMETRY_USER": "...", "GNMI_TELEMETRY_PASS": "..." } } } }

• Codex (config.toml):

  [mcp_servers.gnmi]
  command = "gnmi-mcp-server"
  env = { GNMI_TELEMETRY_USER = "...", GNMI_TELEMETRY_PASS = "..." }

Option B — replace ${VAR} with plaintext in config.yaml.

Option C — add export lines to ~/.reasonix/.env (Reasonix only, for CLI mode).

MCP Client Setup

It's a standard stdio MCP server, so any MCP client works. With the binary on your PATH and a config at ~/.gnmi-mcp-server/config.yaml, the launch command is just gnmi-mcp-server — no args. Add --config /abs/path.yaml only if the config lives elsewhere.

Auto-wire everything: gnmi-mcp-server install registers the server with every detected client. Or configure one manually:

Claude Code

claude mcp add gnmi -s user -- gnmi-mcp-server

Or edit ~/.claude.json:

{ "mcpServers": { "gnmi": { "command": "gnmi-mcp-server" } } }

Codex

codex mcp add gnmi -- gnmi-mcp-server

Or edit ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.gnmi]
command = "gnmi-mcp-server"
# args = ["--config", "/abs/path/gnmi-mcp.yaml"]

OpenCode (opencode.json)

{ "mcp": { "gnmi": { "type": "local", "command": ["gnmi-mcp-server"], "enabled": true } } }

Reasonix

Reasonix supports standard MCP client configuration. Choose one of two methods:

.mcp.json (recommended, shared with Claude Code): create .mcp.json at the project root:

{ "mcpServers": { "gnmi": { "command": "gnmi-mcp-server" } } }

reasonix.toml:

[[plugins]]
name    = "gnmi"
command = "gnmi-mcp-server"
# args = ["--config", "/abs/path/gnmi-mcp.yaml"]   # optional

Tools

All tools accept target (a device name from the config) or, when allow-arbitrary is enabled, a raw address (host:port).

Prompts

Guided templates (MCP prompts) that expand into ready-to-run requests; each takes a target:

• device_health — uptime + interface errors + BGP state summary

• interface_errors — interfaces with non-zero errors/discards

• bgp_status — BGP neighbors and session state

Example Interaction

> What YANG models does core-switch support?
AI calls gnmi_capabilities(target="core-switch")

> Read the system uptime from core-switch
AI calls gnmi_get(target="core-switch", path="/state/system/uptime")

> Rename core-switch hostname to dc1-core
AI calls gnmi_set(target="core-switch", operations=[{"op":"update","path":"/system/name","value":"\"dc1-core\""}])
→ returns dry-run preview + confirm_token
AI calls gnmi_set(target="core-switch", operations=[...], confirm="<token>")
→ applied

> Stream interface counters from core-switch, sampled every 10s
AI calls gnmi_subscribe(target="core-switch", path="/interfaces/interface/state/counters",
                        mode="STREAM", stream_mode="SAMPLE", sample_interval="10s",
                        session_name="counters-stream")

> Show latest telemetry
AI calls gnmi_session_tail(session_name="counters-stream")

License

MIT License — use, modify, and distribute freely.

Built with gnmic · MCP Go SDK