nodered-mcp-full

Full-featured MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for Node-RED — gives AI agents complete, safe access to any Node-RED instance through its Admin API: read flows, nodes and settings; deploy patches and full flow sets with automatic backups; call custom HTTP endpoints; restore in one command.

Built for real-world setups:

• direct http://localhost:1880

• behind a reverse proxy (Caddy, nginx, Traefik) with private-CA or self-signed HTTPS

• with adminAuth / OAuth bearer token

• read-only deployments you do not want touched

• production-grade writes: every deploy requires an explicit confirm: true, takes an automatic pre-deploy backup (with rotation), and deploys the complete flow set — the only deploy type that is safe with config nodes

Tools

Related MCP server: node-red-contrib-mcp-server

Configuration (environment variables)

Usage

Any MCP client (stdio)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "nodered": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "nodered-mcp-full"],
      "env": { "NODE_RED_URL": "http://localhost:1880" }
    }
  }
}

See examples/ for Claude Desktop, Cursor and the mcp-proxy pattern (multiple servers behind one SSE endpoint).

Docker (standalone)

docker compose up -d   # uses docker-compose.yml example

Security notes

• The Node-RED Admin API controls everything: expose this server only on trusted networks.

• Prefer HTTPS with a real or private CA (NODE_RED_CA_FILE) and NODE_RED_TOKEN.

• For instances you do not want modified, set NODE_RED_READ_ONLY=true.

• Writes are always guarded by confirm: true + automatic backup + restore.

Development & tests

npm install
npm test        # end-to-end suite: spawns the server against a mock Node-RED Admin API

CI runs the suite on Node 18/20/22 (.github/workflows/ci.yml).

License

MIT — Simone Bonizzardi