What can you do with this server?

The Rancher MCP Server is a Model Context Protocol server that provides AI assistants with tools to manage Rancher ecosystem components including Harvester HCI, Kubernetes clusters, Helm releases, and Fleet GitOps deployments. Harvester Management * List, get, create, update, and delete VMs; perform actions like start/stop/restart * Manage VM snapshots, backups, and images (create from URLs) * List and create PersistentVolumeClaims (Longhorn-backed volumes) * Manage VM networks (NetworkAttachmentDefinition), KubeOVN VPCs and subnets * List hosts/nodes and manage maintenance mode * List/get cluster settings (e.g. backup-target) and addons (enable/disable) Rancher Management * List clusters and projects with detailed info (health, version, node count) * Get an overview of cluster and project counts Kubernetes Operations * List, get, describe, create, patch, and delete resources by apiVersion/kind * Get pod logs, list namespace events, and view node capacity/allocatable resources Helm Management * List, get, and view history of Helm releases * Install, upgrade, rollback, and uninstall Helm charts * List configured chart repositories Fleet GitOps Control * List, get, create, delete, and clone Fleet GitRepos * Perform actions on GitRepos (pause, unpause, force update, toggle polling) * List Fleet Bundles and clusters; detect drift in BundleDeployments Security & Configuration * Defaults to read-only mode; write and destructive operations must be explicitly enabled * Sensitive data masking * Configurable via CLI flags, environment variables, or YAML/TOML config files * Supports stdio and Streamable HTTP transports * Cross-platform (macOS, Linux, Windows); single Rancher token enables multi-cluster access

Which integrations are available for this server?

Allows managing Helm releases, including listing, installing, upgrading, rolling back, and uninstalling charts, as well as managing Helm repositories across clusters. Provides tools to list, get, create, patch, and delete Kubernetes resources, view resource descriptions and events, and monitor cluster capacity. Enables multi-cluster management through Rancher, providing capabilities to list clusters and projects, retrieve cluster details, and access management API overviews.

Rancher MCP Server

by mrostamii

Overview Schema Related Servers Score Discussions

Remote

rancher-mcp-server

GitHub License npm GitHub release (latest SemVer) Build

rancher-mcp-server banner

Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for the Rancher ecosystem: multi-cluster Kubernetes, Harvester HCI (VMs, storage, networks), and Fleet GitOps.

Demo

A walkthrough of how this MCP server works (example in Cursor).

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/7d8fb814-e504-47b4-956d-28f43aeea3b8

Features

Harvester toolset: List/get VMs, images, volumes, networks, hosts; VM actions; addon list/switch (enable/disable)
Rancher toolset: Clusters and projects via Steve (management proxy); Norman management API (/v3) for schemas, users, tokens, auth configs, global role bindings, cluster registration tokens, node drivers, cloud credentials, catalogs, cluster repos, feature flags, settings, audit (when exposed); support bundle and generic actions when writes are enabled
Kubernetes toolset: List/get/create/patch/delete resources by apiVersion/kind; describe (resource + events), events, capacity
Helm toolset: List/get/history of releases; install, upgrade, rollback, uninstall; repo list
Fleet toolset: GitRepo list/get/create; Bundle list; Fleet cluster list; drift detection
Rancher APIs: Same Bearer token for Steve (/k8s/clusters/...) and Norman (/v3/...); no CLI wrappers
Security: Read-only default, disable-destructive, sensitive data masking (Norman token/credential fields redacted unless --show-sensitive-data)
Config: Flags, env (RANCHER_MCP_*), or file (YAML/TOML)

Quick start

Install

npm install -g rancher-mcp-server

Cursor

Add to .cursor/mcp.json (project-level) or ~/.cursor/mcp.json (global):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rancher": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y", "rancher-mcp-server",
        "--rancher-server-url", "https://rancher.example.com",
        "--rancher-token", "token-xxxxx:yyyy",
        "--toolsets", "harvester,rancher,kubernetes,fleet"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Restart Cursor after saving. Check Settings → Tools & MCP that rancher is listed and enabled.

Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop config (claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rancher": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y", "rancher-mcp-server",
        "--rancher-server-url", "https://rancher.example.com",
        "--rancher-token", "token-xxxxx:yyyy",
        "--toolsets", "harvester,rancher,kubernetes,fleet"
      ]
    }
  }
}

With env vars instead of args

If you prefer to keep the token out of the JSON config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rancher": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "rancher-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "RANCHER_MCP_RANCHER_SERVER_URL": "https://rancher.example.com",
        "RANCHER_MCP_RANCHER_TOKEN": "token-xxxxx:yyyy",
        "RANCHER_MCP_TOOLSETS": "harvester,rancher,kubernetes"
      }
    }
  }
}

Enable write operations

For VM create, snapshots, backups, image/volume create, addon switch, host maintenance mode, VPC create/update/delete, Kubernetes create/patch/delete, Helm install/upgrade/rollback, Fleet gitrepo create/delete, and Norman writes (tokens, users, auth configs, role bindings, cluster registration tokens, cloud credentials, catalog refresh, feature flags, settings, rancher_norman_action, support bundle), add --read-only=false. Delete operations (Norman tokens/bindings/registration tokens/cloud credentials, plus existing toolset deletes) also require --disable-destructive=false (default).

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rancher": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y", "rancher-mcp-server",
        "--rancher-server-url", "https://rancher.example.com",
        "--rancher-token", "token-xxxxx:yyyy",
        "--toolsets", "harvester,rancher,kubernetes,helm,fleet",
        "--read-only=false"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Streamable HTTP transport

For web clients or remote access (e.g. Claude Code claude mcp add -t http), add --transport and --port:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rancher": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y", "rancher-mcp-server",
        "--rancher-server-url", "https://rancher.example.com",
        "--rancher-token", "token-xxxxx:yyyy",
        "--transport", "http",
        "--port", "8080"
      ]
    }
  }
}

The server uses the MCP Streamable HTTP transport. The default MCP path is /mcp; connect to http://localhost:8080/mcp (or your server base URL + /mcp). Best supported with Claude Code; Cursor support may vary.

Build from source

If you prefer to build the Go binary yourself:

go build -o rancher-mcp-server ./cmd/rancher-mcp-server

Then reference the binary directly in your MCP config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rancher": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/rancher-mcp-server",
      "args": [
        "--rancher-server-url", "https://rancher.example.com",
        "--rancher-token", "token-xxxxx:yyyy",
        "--toolsets", "harvester,rancher,kubernetes,fleet"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Configuration

Option	Env	Default	Description
`--rancher-server-url`	`RANCHER_MCP_RANCHER_SERVER_URL`	—	Rancher server URL (required)
`--rancher-token`	`RANCHER_MCP_RANCHER_TOKEN`	—	Bearer token (required)
`--tls-insecure`	`RANCHER_MCP_TLS_INSECURE`	false	Skip TLS verification
`--read-only`	`RANCHER_MCP_READ_ONLY`	true	Disable write operations
`--disable-destructive`	`RANCHER_MCP_DISABLE_DESTRUCTIVE`	false	Disable delete operations
`--show-sensitive-data`	`RANCHER_MCP_SHOW_SENSITIVE_DATA`	false	Show Norman token/credential fields without redaction (use with care)
`--toolsets`	`RANCHER_MCP_TOOLSETS`	harvester	Toolsets to enable: harvester, rancher, kubernetes, helm, fleet
`--transport`	`RANCHER_MCP_TRANSPORT`	stdio	Transport: stdio or http (Streamable HTTP; default path `/mcp`)
`--port`	`RANCHER_MCP_PORT`	0	Port for HTTP (0 = stdio only)

Harvester tools

Tool	Description
`harvester_vm_list`	List VMs with status, namespace, spec/status
`harvester_vm_get`	Get one VM (full spec and status)
`harvester_vm_action`	start, stop, restart, pause, unpause, migrate
`harvester_vm_create`	Create VM (when not read-only). Supports network, interface_type (managedtap/bridge/masquerade), subnet for KubeOVN VPC.
`harvester_vm_snapshot`	Create/list/restore/delete VM snapshots
`harvester_vm_backup`	Create/list/restore VM backups (Backup Target)
`harvester_image_list`	List VM images (VirtualMachineImage)
`harvester_image_create`	Create VM image from URL (when not read-only)
`harvester_volume_list`	List PVCs (Longhorn-backed volumes)
`harvester_volume_create`	Create volume/PVC (optionally from image)
`harvester_network_list`	List VM networks (NetworkAttachmentDefinition)
`harvester_network_create`	Create VM network - KubeOVN overlay or VLAN (when not read-only)
`harvester_network_update`	Update VM network config (when not read-only)
`harvester_network_delete`	Delete VM network (when destructive allowed)
`harvester_subnet_list`	List KubeOVN Subnets (requires kubeovn-operator)
`harvester_subnet_create`	Create Subnet in VPC for VM network (when not read-only)
`harvester_subnet_update`	Update Subnet namespaces/NAT (when not read-only)
`harvester_subnet_delete`	Delete Subnet (when destructive allowed)
`harvester_host_list`	List nodes (Harvester hosts)
`harvester_host_action`	Enable/disable maintenance mode on a host (cordon/uncordon)
`harvester_settings`	List or get Harvester cluster settings (backup-target, etc.)
`harvester_addon_list`	List Harvester addons (enabled/disabled state)
`harvester_addon_switch`	Enable or disable an addon (when not read-only)
`harvester_vpc_list`	List KubeOVN VPCs (requires kubeovn-operator addon)
`harvester_vpc_create`	Create a KubeOVN VPC (when not read-only)
`harvester_vpc_update`	Update a KubeOVN VPC namespaces (when not read-only)
`harvester_vpc_delete`	Delete a KubeOVN VPC (when destructive allowed)

List tools accept cluster (required), namespace, format (json|table), limit (default 100), continue (pagination token for next page). Write tools require read_only: false.

Creating a VM on KubeOVN VPC with external internet

Use harvester_vm_create with:

network: Name of the overlay network (NAD) linked to a KubeOVN subnet. Create via harvester_network_create (type=kubeovn) then harvester_subnet_create with provider={network}.{namespace}.ovn, vpc=<vpc-name>, and nat_outgoing=true.
interface_type: managedtap (recommended for KubeOVN) or bridge. Uses Multus as primary network.
subnet: Optional KubeOVN subnet name for ovn.kubernetes.io/logical_switch annotation.

Example: VM on network vswitch1 in namespace default, managedTap interface, subnet vswitch1-subnet:

harvester_vm_create cluster=<cluster-id> namespace=default name=testvm image=<image> network=vswitch1 interface_type=managedtap subnet=vswitch1-subnet

Rancher tools

Rancher tools use the management cluster (local). There is no cluster parameter on these tools.

Steve API (management resources)

Tool	Description
`rancher_cluster_list`	List Rancher clusters (management)
`rancher_cluster_get`	Get one cluster (health, version, node count)
`rancher_project_list`	List Rancher projects
`rancher_overview`	Overview: cluster count and project count

Norman API (`https://<rancher>/v3/...`)

Norman tools call Rancher’s JSON management API. Discover types and collection URLs for your server with rancher_norman_schema_list / rancher_norman_schema_get (schema ids such as user, token, cluster).

Read-only (always registered with the rancher toolset)

Tool	Description
`rancher_norman_schema_list`	List API schemas (`/v3/schemas`)
`rancher_norman_schema_get`	Get one schema by id
`rancher_user_list` / `rancher_user_get`	Users
`rancher_auth_config_list` / `rancher_auth_config_get`	Auth providers (local, OIDC, etc.)
`rancher_token_list` / `rancher_token_get`	API tokens (values redacted unless `--show-sensitive-data`)
`rancher_global_role_binding_list` / `rancher_global_role_binding_get`	Global role bindings
`rancher_cluster_registration_token_list` / `rancher_cluster_registration_token_get`	Cluster registration tokens
`rancher_node_driver_list`	Node drivers
`rancher_cloud_credential_list` / `rancher_cloud_credential_get`	Cloud credentials (secrets redacted unless `--show-sensitive-data`)
`rancher_catalog_list` / `rancher_catalog_get`	Legacy Norman catalogs (`/v3/catalogs`)
`rancher_cluster_repo_list` / `rancher_cluster_repo_get`	App catalog cluster repos (see note below)
`rancher_feature_flag_list` / `rancher_feature_flag_get`	Feature flags (`/v3/features`)
`rancher_setting_list` / `rancher_setting_get`	Global settings (`/v3/settings`)
`rancher_audit_log_list`	`GET /v3/auditlogs` when supported (often 404/405; see note below)

When --read-only=false

Tool	Description
`rancher_norman_action`	`POST` a Norman `?action=` on a resource path under `/v3`
`rancher_token_create`	Create API token
`rancher_auth_config_update`	Replace an auth config (`PUT`)
`rancher_user_create`	Create user
`rancher_user_disable` / `rancher_user_enable`	User enable/disable actions
`rancher_global_role_binding_create`	Create global role binding
`rancher_cluster_registration_token_create`	Create registration token
`rancher_cloud_credential_create`	Create cloud credential
`rancher_catalog_refresh`	Refresh legacy catalog (`?action=refresh`)
`rancher_feature_flag_set`	Update feature flag (`PUT`)
`rancher_setting_update`	Update setting (`PUT`)
`rancher_supportbundle_generate`	Request support bundle (`generateSupportBundle` on a cluster)

When --read-only=false and --disable-destructive=false

Tool	Description
`rancher_token_delete`	Delete API token
`rancher_global_role_binding_delete`	Delete global role binding
`rancher_cluster_registration_token_delete`	Delete registration token
`rancher_cloud_credential_delete`	Delete cloud credential

Norman responses: catalog, cluster repos, audit

rancher_cluster_repo_list / rancher_cluster_repo_get: Tries Norman /v3/clusterrepos first. If that returns 404 (common), falls back to catalog.cattle.io/v1 ClusterRepo on the local cluster via Steve/Kubernetes, trying namespaces cattle-global-data, fleet-default, fleet-local, cattle-fleet-system. Success JSON includes "_source":"kubernetes_api_fallback". If nothing works, the tool still returns 200-style JSON with "_source":"unavailable" and per-attempt errors—not a hard MCP error—so automation can continue.
rancher_catalog_list / rancher_catalog_get: If Norman /v3/catalogs is not registered (404), returns JSON with "_source":"unavailable" instead of failing.
rancher_audit_log_list: If the server returns 404 or 405 (GET not supported), returns JSON with "_source":"unavailable" and _http_status; audit may be disabled or exposed outside Norman.

For catalog data when ClusterRepo is unavailable everywhere, use kubernetes_list on cluster local with api_version catalog.cattle.io/v1 and kind ClusterRepo, or Helm / Fleet tools as appropriate.

Helm tools

Tool	Description
`helm_list`	List Helm releases (optionally by namespace, deployed/failed/pending)
`helm_get`	Get release details (manifest, values, notes)
`helm_history`	Get revision history for a release
`helm_repo_list`	List configured Helm chart repositories (from local config)
`helm_install`	Install a Helm chart (when not read-only)
`helm_upgrade`	Upgrade a Helm release (when not read-only)
`helm_rollback`	Rollback a release to a previous revision (when not read-only)
`helm_uninstall`	Uninstall a release (when destructive allowed)

All tools take cluster (Rancher cluster ID). Install/upgrade require chart, release; optional repo_url, version, values (JSON).

Fleet tools

Tool	Description
`fleet_gitrepo_list`	List Fleet GitRepos (GitOps sources)
`fleet_gitrepo_get`	Get one GitRepo (spec, status)
`fleet_gitrepo_create`	Create a GitRepo (when not read-only)
`fleet_gitrepo_delete`	Delete a GitRepo (when destructive allowed)
`fleet_gitrepo_action`	Pause, unpause, disablePolling, enablePolling, forceUpdate
`fleet_gitrepo_clone`	Clone a GitRepo to a new name (copy spec)
`fleet_bundle_list`	List Fleet Bundles (deployment units from GitRepos)
`fleet_cluster_list`	List Fleet clusters (downstream clusters registered with Fleet)
`fleet_drift_detect`	Report BundleDeployments with Modified state (drift)

All tools use the Rancher management cluster (local). Optional namespace (default: fleet-default). List tools support format, limit, continue (pagination). fleet_gitrepo_create requires name, repo; optional branch, paths. fleet_gitrepo_action supports: pause, unpause, disablePolling, enablePolling, forceUpdate. fleet_gitrepo_clone copies spec from an existing GitRepo to a new name.

Kubernetes tools

Tool	Description
`kubernetes_list`	List resources by apiVersion/kind (e.g. v1 Pod, apps/v1 Deployment)
`kubernetes_get`	Get one resource by apiVersion, kind, namespace, name
`kubernetes_describe`	Get resource + recent events
`kubernetes_logs`	Get recent pod logs (tail only; container, tailLines, sinceSeconds)
`kubernetes_events`	List events in a namespace (optional involvedObject filter)
`kubernetes_capacity`	Node capacity/allocatable summary per node
`kubernetes_create`	Create resource from JSON (when not read-only)
`kubernetes_patch`	Patch resource with JSON (when not read-only)
`kubernetes_delete`	Delete resource (when destructive allowed)

All tools take cluster (Rancher cluster ID). List/get support namespace, format (json|table), limit, continue (pagination). Create/patch/delete are gated by read_only and disable_destructive. kubernetes_logs does not support follow (streaming); use tail_lines and since_seconds to limit output. In some Rancher/proxy setups pod logs can return 503 or stream errors; see Troubleshooting.

Setup: Rancher token & Harvester cluster ID

Get a Rancher API token

Log in to your Rancher UI.
Click your profile/avatar (top right) → Account & API Keys (or API & Keys).
Click Create API Key, name it (e.g. mcp-server), then Create.
Copy the token once (format like token-abc12:xyz...). Use it as --rancher-token or RANCHER_MCP_RANCHER_TOKEN.

Find your Harvester cluster ID

Harvester tools require the cluster ID (e.g. c-tx8rn) on each call.

From Rancher UI: Go to Cluster Management → open your Harvester cluster. The URL contains the cluster ID: .../c/<cluster-id>/....
From API (Steve): curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" "https://YOUR_RANCHER_URL/k8s/clusters/local/v1/management.cattle.io.clusters" | jq '.data[] | {name: .metadata.name}'
Norman schemas: curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" "https://YOUR_RANCHER_URL/v3/schemas" | jq '.data[0:5].id'

Docker (Streamable HTTP)

For HTTP server mode, use the container image from GitHub Container Registry (ghcr.io). For Cursor/Claude with stdio, use npm (see Quick start).

Run the server and expose the port:

docker run -d -p 8080:8080 \
  -e RANCHER_MCP_RANCHER_SERVER_URL=https://rancher.example.com \
  -e RANCHER_MCP_RANCHER_TOKEN="token-xxxxx:yyyy" \
  -e RANCHER_MCP_TRANSPORT=http \
  -e RANCHER_MCP_PORT=8080 \
  ghcr.io/mrostamii/rancher-mcp-server:latest

Connect clients to the MCP endpoint: `http://localhost:8080/mcp` (Streamable HTTP; default path is `/mcp`). Example: `claude mcp add -t http rancher http://localhost:8080/mcp`

Supported platforms

macOS (Apple Silicon & Intel)
Linux (x64 & ARM64)
Windows (x64)

Troubleshooting

Issue	What to check
"rancher-server-url and rancher-token are required"	Check `--rancher-server-url` and `--rancher-token` in args, or env vars `RANCHER_MCP_RANCHER_SERVER_URL` and `RANCHER_MCP_RANCHER_TOKEN`.
401 Unauthorized	Token expired or invalid. Create a new API key in Rancher.
TLS / certificate errors	For self-signed Rancher, pass `--tls-insecure` (dev only).
"cluster not found" or empty lists	Wrong cluster ID. Get it from Rancher UI URL or API; pass it as `cluster` to Harvester/Kubernetes tools.
Cursor doesn't show tools	Restart Cursor after editing `mcp.json`; check Tools & MCP that the server is enabled.
Binary not found	Use absolute paths in `mcp.json` for `command` when building from source.
`kubernetes_logs` 503 or stream errors	Known in some Rancher/proxied setups (e.g. RKE2). Reduce `tail_lines` or try another cluster; see rancher/rancher#40711.
Norman tool returns `"_source":"unavailable"`	That collection may not exist on your Rancher version (e.g. legacy `catalogs`, `clusterrepos`, or audit via `GET`). Use `rancher_norman_schema_list` to see registered types, or `kubernetes_list` / Helm / Fleet for chart sources.
Cluster repo list shows `unavailable` or empty `data`	`catalog.cattle.io` `ClusterRepo` may not be installed or proxied for your token; try `kubernetes_list` with `catalog.cattle.io/v1` and `ClusterRepo` on cluster `local` across namespaces.

License

Apache-2.0

Install Server

security – no known vulnerabilities

license - permissive license

quality - not tested

How are these scores calculated?

Resources

GitHub Repository

Need Help?

Related Servers

Latest Blog Posts

Tool Definition Quality Score (TDQS)
By punkpeye on April 3, 2026.
mcp
The Hackers Who Tracked My Sleep Cycle
By punkpeye on March 26, 2026.
security
Open Source Has a Bot Problem
By punkpeye on March 19, 2026.
open source

MCP directory API

We provide all the information about MCP servers via our MCP API.

curl -X GET 'https://glama.ai/api/mcp/v1/servers/mrostamii/rancher-mcp-server'

If you have feedback or need assistance with the MCP directory API, please join our Discord server