Octopus Deploy Official MCP Server

Octopus makes it easy to deliver software to Kubernetes, multi-cloud, on-prem infrastructure, and anywhere else. Automate the release, deployment, and operations of your software and AI workloads with a tool that can handle CD at scale in ways no other tool can.

Model Context Protocol (MCP) allows the AI assistants you use in your day to day work, like Claude Code, or ChatGPT, to connect to the systems and services you own in a standardized fashion, allowing them to pull information from those systems and services to answer questions and perform tasks.

The Octopus MCP Server provides your AI assistant with powerful tools that allow it to inspect, query, and diagnose problems within your Octopus instance, transforming it into your ultimate DevOps wingmate. For a list of supported use-cases and sample prompts, see our documentation.

Octopus Server Compatibility

Most tools exposed by the MCP Server use stable APIs that have been available from at least version 2021.1 of Octopus Server. Tools that are newer will specify the minimum supported version in the documentation. Alternatively, you can use the command line argument --list-tools-by-version to check how specific tools relate to versions of Octopus.

🚀 Installation

Install via Docker

Credentials must be supplied via environment variables to avoid exposing them in the host process list (ps aux / /proc/<pid>/cmdline). The Octopus server URL can still be supplied via the --server-url flag.

docker run -i --rm -e OCTOPUS_API_KEY=your-key -e OCTOPUS_SERVER_URL=https://your-octopus.com octopusdeploy/mcp-server

Full example configuration (for Claude Desktop, Claude Code, and Cursor):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "octopus-deploy": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-i",
        "--rm",
        "-e",
        "OCTOPUS_SERVER_URL",
        "-e",
        "OCTOPUS_API_KEY",
        "octopusdeploy/mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "OCTOPUS_SERVER_URL": "https://your-octopus.com",
        "OCTOPUS_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    },
  }
}

For Apple Mac users, you might need to add the following arguments in the configuration to force Docker to use the Linux platform:

"--platform",
"linux/amd64",

We are planning to release a native ARM build shortly so that those arguments will not be required anymore.

Install via Node

Requirements

• Node.js >= v20.0.0

• Octopus Deploy instance that can be accessed by the MCP server via HTTPS

• Octopus Deploy API Key or Access Token (see Authentication below)

Configuration

Full example configuration (for Claude Desktop, Claude Code, and Cursor):

Write tools enabled (default):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "octopusdeploy": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@octopusdeploy/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "OCTOPUS_SERVER_URL": "https://your-octopus.com",
        "OCTOPUS_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Read-only mode (recommended for production):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "octopusdeploy": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@octopusdeploy/mcp-server", "--read-only"],
      "env": {
        "OCTOPUS_SERVER_URL": "https://your-octopus.com",
        "OCTOPUS_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

The Octopus MCP Server is typically configured within your AI Client of choice.

It is packaged as an npm package and executed via Node's npx command. Credentials (API key or access token) must be supplied via environment variables — they are not accepted as command-line arguments to avoid exposing secrets in the process list. The Octopus server URL may be supplied via either the OCTOPUS_SERVER_URL environment variable or the --server-url flag.

OCTOPUS_API_KEY=API-KEY \
OCTOPUS_SERVER_URL=https://your-octopus.com \
npx -y @octopusdeploy/mcp-server

Or with the server URL on the command line:

OCTOPUS_API_KEY=API-KEY \
npx -y @octopusdeploy/mcp-server --server-url https://your-octopus.com

Authentication

The MCP server supports two authentication methods. Both are supplied via environment variables — credentials are not accepted on the command line because flags are visible in the host process list to any local user.

API Key (recommended for interactive use)

API keys are the standard authentication method for Octopus Deploy. You can generate one from your Octopus Deploy user profile.

OCTOPUS_API_KEY=API-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX \
OCTOPUS_SERVER_URL=https://your-octopus.com \
npx -y @octopusdeploy/mcp-server

Access Token / Bearer Token (automated scenarios only)

The server also supports short-lived access tokens (Bearer tokens) as an alternative to API keys. This authentication method is intended only for automated scenarios where an external system issues a short-lived token to the MCP server (e.g., CI/CD pipelines, automated orchestration, or machine-to-machine workflows). Do not use long-lived Bearer tokens — use API keys instead for interactive or long-running sessions.

OCTOPUS_ACCESS_TOKEN=your-short-lived-token \
OCTOPUS_SERVER_URL=https://your-octopus.com \
npx -y @octopusdeploy/mcp-server

Full example configuration with an access token:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "octopusdeploy": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@octopusdeploy/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "OCTOPUS_SERVER_URL": "https://your-octopus.com",
        "OCTOPUS_ACCESS_TOKEN": "YOUR_TOKEN"
      }
    }
  }
}

If both an API key and an access token are provided, the access token takes precedence. The active authentication method is recorded in the log file (configurable with --log-file) so operators can confirm which credential is in use.

Configuration Options

The Octopus MCP Server supports several command-line options to customize which tools are available.

If you are not sure which tools you require, we recommend running without any additional command-line options and using the provided defaults.

Toolsets

Use the --toolsets parameter to enable specific groups of tools:

# Enable all toolsets (default)
npx -y @octopusdeploy/mcp-server

# Enable only specific toolsets
npx -y @octopusdeploy/mcp-server --toolsets projects,deployments

# Enable all toolsets explicitly
npx -y @octopusdeploy/mcp-server --toolsets all

Available toolsets:

• core - Basic operations (always enabled)

• projects - Project operations

• deployments - Deployment operations

• releases - Release management

• runbooks - Runbook discovery and execution

• tasks - Task operations

• tenants - Multi-tenancy operations

• kubernetes - Kubernetes operations

• machines - Deployment target operations

• certificates - Certificate operations

• accounts - Account operations

• interruptions - Manual intervention and approval operations

• featureToggles - Inspect and adjust customer feature toggles

• context - Authenticated user and project context (current user, Git branches)

Read-Only Mode

The server runs with write tools enabled by default. Pass --read-only to disable all write tools and block POST/PUT/PATCH/DELETE through the execute backstop. Most curated tools are already read-only; only a small set perform writes.

Write-enabled tools (always-write):

• create_release - Create new releases

• deploy_release - Deploy releases to environments and tenants

• run_runbook - Run a runbook against one or more environments (and optional tenants)

• update_feature_toggle - Adjust per-environment state and rollout percentages on an existing feature toggle

Conditionally-writing tool: execute is a structured REST backstop whose tier (read / write / delete) is determined by the HTTP method passed to it. See the API Catalog & Backstop section for details.

Write tools are gated by an MCP elicitation prompt: clients that support elicitation will be asked to confirm before the call proceeds. Clients without elicitation support must pass confirm: true in the tool arguments — otherwise the tool aborts with an error. Set OCTOPUS_SKIP_ELICITATION=true to bypass the gate entirely (intended for unattended automation).

The server uses a three-tier read/write/delete classification, enforced server-side based on the HTTP method (the agent cannot bypass this by lying about intent):

• read — always allowed. GET requests through execute, plus all find_* / get_* / list_* tools.

• write — POST/PUT/PATCH through execute and the always-write tools above. Blocked when --read-only is set.

• delete — DELETE through execute. Requires --allow-deletes and is blocked when --read-only is set. A small set of catastrophic-delete paths (e.g. DELETE /api/spaces/{id}, DELETE /api/users/{id}) and API-key endpoints are on a hard sensitive denylist that ignores both flags.

# Default - write tools enabled (POST/PUT/PATCH)
npx -y @octopusdeploy/mcp-server

# Additionally permit DELETE requests through the execute tool
npx -y @octopusdeploy/mcp-server --allow-deletes

# Read-only mode - write/delete tools disabled
npx -y @octopusdeploy/mcp-server --read-only

Security Note: Use an API key with appropriate, least-privilege permissions — write operations can create releases and trigger deployments in your Octopus instance. For production, consider passing --read-only unless you have a specific, controlled use case for writes. --allow-deletes is off by default; only enable it when the agent must issue DELETE requests through execute. If you pass --allow-deletes together with --read-only, the server prints a startup warning to stderr — DELETE requests remain blocked by the read-only gate.

Complete Examples

All examples below assume OCTOPUS_API_KEY is set in the environment. The --server-url flag is shown for clarity but can also be provided via OCTOPUS_SERVER_URL.

# Development setup with only core and project tools
npx -y @octopusdeploy/mcp-server --toolsets core,projects --server-url https://your-octopus.com

# Production setup with all tools and read-only enforcement
npx -y @octopusdeploy/mcp-server --toolsets all --read-only --server-url https://your-octopus.com

# Default invocation - all tools and writes enabled
npx -y @octopusdeploy/mcp-server --server-url https://your-octopus.com

Other command line arguments

• --read-only - Enable read-only mode: disable all curated write tools and block POST/PUT/PATCH/DELETE through execute. Writes are enabled by default; this flag turns them off. See Read-Only Mode.

• --allow-deletes - Permit DELETE requests through the execute tool. Ignored (with a startup warning) when --read-only is set. Default false.

• --log-level <level> - Minimum log level (info, error)

• --log-file <path> - Log file path or filename. If not specified, logs are written to console only

• -q, --quiet - Disable file logging, only log errors to console

• --list-tools-by-version - List all registered tools by their supported Octopus Server version and exit

Related MCP server: Azure DevOps MCP Server

🔨 Tools

URL-Based Tools

Quick start: Paste Octopus URLs directly to investigate issues without manual ID extraction.

• get_deployment_from_url: Get deployment details from deployment URL (returns taskId for follow-up)

• get_task_from_url: Get task details and logs from task URL

Deployment investigation workflow:

1. get_deployment_from_url with deployment URL
   → Returns deployment context + taskResourceUri + grepTaskLogHint

2a. Fetch the structured activity tree via resources/read (or read_resource)
    octopus://spaces/{spaceName}/tasks/{taskId}/details

2b. Or call grep_task_log with the taskId to search the raw log without
    fetching the full body:
       grep_task_log({ spaceName, taskId, pattern: "error|fail", caseInsensitive: true })

Task investigation (direct task URL):

get_task_from_url with task URL
→ Returns task details and logs immediately

These tools eliminate manual ID extraction by:

• Parsing URLs automatically

• Resolving space IDs to space names

• Validating ID formats

• Providing clear error messages

Example URLs:

• Deployment: https://your-octopus.com/app#/Spaces-1/projects/my-app/deployments/Deployments-123

• Task: https://your-octopus.com/app#/Spaces-1/tasks/ServerTasks-456

See Working with URLs for detailed workflows, examples, and best practices.

Core Tools

• list_spaces: List all spaces in the Octopus Deploy instance

• list_environments: List all environments in a given space

API Catalog & Backstop

These tools and resources let the agent reach Octopus REST endpoints that don't have a dedicated curated tool, with hard server-side gating between read, write, and delete operations.

• grep_llms_txt: Search the Octopus API catalog (octopus://api/llms.txt) with grep-style semantics (minimum supported Octopus version: 2026.2.3916). The catalog body is large (typically 300+ KB) — call this rather than reading the resource body directly. Parameters mirror GNU grep (pattern, caseInsensitive, invertMatch, fixedString, beforeContext, afterContext, maxCount). Useful for discovering endpoints (POST /releases), enumerating delete endpoints (DELETE ), or finding the body type for a write operation (Body: Create.*Command).

• execute: Structured REST backstop. Reaches any Octopus REST endpoint under /api. The HTTP method is the authoritative read/write/delete classifier — never an isWrite flag the LLM can set. Method gating is hard-coded server-side:

  • GET is always allowed (subject to the path shape check + sensitive denylist).

  • POST/PUT/PATCH are blocked when --read-only is set; otherwise they require user confirmation via elicitation.

  • DELETE requires --allow-deletes (and is blocked when --read-only is set) plus a stronger "IRREVERSIBLE" elicitation message.

  • The sensitive denylist (API-key endpoints, DELETE /api/spaces/{id}, DELETE /api/users/{id}) is enforced even with both flags on.

  • The path is required to be /api or start with /api/ — absolute URLs, SDK-relative ~/api/... paths, and host-relative paths outside /api (e.g. /octopus/portal/...) are rejected up front, so execute stays bounded to the Octopus REST API surface.

  • Per-toolset path allowlist applies only when --toolsets has been narrowed. With every toolset enabled (the default, or explicit --toolsets all) the allowlist is bypassed and any path under /api is reachable subject to the gates above. When --toolsets is narrowed the allowlist becomes the kill-switch: paths only resolve if their owning toolset is enabled, so disabling a toolset (e.g. certificates) makes its paths unreachable through execute even on GET.

Catalog data is also exposed as MCP Resources:

• octopus://api/llms.txt — markdown catalog of every Octopus REST endpoint (HTTP method, path, query params, request/response types). Requires Octopus Server 2026.2.3916 or later. 5-minute in-memory cache keyed on the configured server URL. Prefer grep_llms_txt to reading the body directly.

• octopus://api/capabilities — JSON describing the running session: server version, enabled toolsets, available tools (with their minimumOctopusVersion), and whether --read-only / --allow-deletes is on. Useful for the agent to discover what's reachable in this session.

Projects

• list_projects: List all projects in a given space

Deployments

• deploy_release: Deploy a release to environments (supports both tenanted and untenanted deployments)

• list_deployments: List deployments in a space with optional filtering

Releases

• create_release: Create a new release for a project

• find_releases: Find releases in a space (can get a specific release by ID, or list/filter releases by project)

Release detail is also available as an MCP Resource at octopus://spaces/{spaceName}/releases/{releaseId} — fetch via resources/read (or the read_resource backstop tool) to get the full release body, including release notes and selected packages.

Runbooks

• find_runbooks: Find runbooks in a project (can get a specific runbook by ID, or list/filter runbooks by partial name). Each summary includes the published snapshot ID, multi-tenancy mode, and environment scope so callers can pick valid targets before running.

• run_runbook: Run a runbook against one or more environments. Supports tenanted runs (by tenant name or tenant tag), prompted variables, guided failure mode, scheduled run windows, and step or machine inclusion/exclusion. Defaults to the runbook's published snapshot if runbookSnapshotId is omitted.

The full runbook body (including runtime policy fields) is available as an MCP Resource at octopus://spaces/{spaceName}/runbooks/{runbookId}.

Tasks

Task data is primarily exposed as MCP Resources. Use resources/read (or the read_resource backstop tool) with one of:

• octopus://spaces/{spaceName}/tasks/{taskId} — lightweight metadata (state, timing, completion flags)

• octopus://spaces/{spaceName}/tasks/{taskId}/details — full ServerTaskDetails (Progress, ActivityLogs tree, etc.)

For log search, use the grep_task_log tool rather than a /log resource:

• grep_task_log: Search a task's activity log without fetching the full body. Parameters mirror GNU grep (pattern, caseInsensitive, invertMatch, fixedString, beforeContext, afterContext, maxCount). Returns matching lines with 1-indexed lineNumber, optional before/after context arrays, and a totalMatches count across the whole log.

There is intentionally no /log resource: activity logs can be multi-megabyte, and an addressable resource would tempt callers to fetch the entire body when grep is almost always the right primitive.

Tenants

• find_tenants: Find tenants in a space (can get a specific tenant by ID or list/search tenants with filters)

• get_tenant_variables: Get tenant variables by type (all, common, or project)

• get_missing_tenant_variables: Get tenant variables that are missing values

Kubernetes

• get_kubernetes_live_status: Get live status of Kubernetes resources for a project and environment (minimum supported version: 2025.3)

Machines (Deployment Targets)

• find_deployment_targets: Find deployment targets in a space (can get a specific target by ID or list/search targets with filters)

Certificates

• find_certificates: Find certificates in a space (can get a specific certificate by ID or list/search certificates with filters)

Accounts

• find_accounts: Find accounts in a space (can get a specific account by ID or list/search accounts with filters)

Interruptions

• find_interruptions: Find pending or historical interruptions (manual interventions, approvals, guided-failure prompts