Visual Sentinel MCP Server

Model Context Protocol server for Visual Sentinel. Visual Sentinel catches pages that look broken even when the site is up. It monitors six layers: uptime, performance, SSL, DNS, visual regression, and content change.

Connect Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Cline, Continue, or any MCP-compatible client so an AI assistant can run DNS, SSL and speed checks on any site with no account. With a Visual Sentinel account and an API key (every paid plan, including the 10-day free trial) it can also list and create monitors, fetch incident history, and acknowledge alerts on your behalf.

• Homepage and docs: https://visualsentinel.com/mcp

• npm: @visualsentinel/mcp-server

• OpenAPI spec: https://github.com/VisualSentinel/openapi

• API key (every paid plan, including the 10-day free trial): https://visualsentinel.com/settings/api-keys

• Hosted API reference: https://visualsentinel.com/docs

What you get

17 tools spanning the public Visual Sentinel API:

Public tools (no API key required)

Authenticated tools (require VS_API_KEY)

Related MCP server: Sentinel Monitoring MCP Server

Prompts and resources

Besides the 17 tools, the server offers four ready-made prompts and three read-only resources. None of them need an API key except the last prompt.

Without an API key the server still starts and lists everything. The five public tools work; each account tool returns a clear message that it needs an API key (every paid plan, including the 10-day free trial) instead of failing.

Installation

Claude Desktop

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "visualsentinel": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@visualsentinel/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "VS_API_KEY": "vs_live_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. The 17 tools appear under the tools menu.

Claude Code (CLI)

claude mcp add visualsentinel \
  -- npx -y @visualsentinel/mcp-server

Then export VS_API_KEY in the shell where Claude Code runs.

Cursor and Grok Bot

This repository is also an installable plugin: .cursor-plugin/plugin.json and mcp.json for the Cursor Marketplace, and .claude-plugin/plugin.json and .mcp.json for Grok and Claude Code (grok plugin install VisualSentinel/mcp-server). Or add the server by hand to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "visualsentinel": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@visualsentinel/mcp-server"]
    }
  }
}

Docker

docker build -t visualsentinel-mcp-server .
docker run -i --rm -e VS_API_KEY visualsentinel-mcp-server

The server also ships as a Gemini CLI extension (gemini-extension.json).

Cline (VS Code extension)

In Cline's MCP settings, add:

{
  "visualsentinel": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["-y", "@visualsentinel/mcp-server"],
    "env": { "VS_API_KEY": "vs_live_..." }
  }
}

Continue

In ~/.continue/config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": [
    {
      "name": "visualsentinel",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@visualsentinel/mcp-server"],
      "env": { "VS_API_KEY": "vs_live_..." }
    }
  ]
}

Generic MCP client (stdio)

VS_API_KEY=vs_live_xxx npx -y @visualsentinel/mcp-server

The server speaks JSON-RPC over stdio per the MCP specification (2025-06-18).

Configuration

Two environment variables, both optional except in the noted cases:

If a tool that needs auth is called without VS_API_KEY, the server returns a clear error rather than silently failing.

VISUALSENTINEL_API_KEY is accepted as an alias for VS_API_KEY for clients that prefer the longer name.

Usage examples

After installation, ask the AI assistant things like:

• "What's the SSL certificate situation on visualsentinel.com? When does it expire?"

• "List my Visual Sentinel monitors that are currently down."

• "Add a new HTTPS monitor for https://shop.example.com checking every minute."

• "Show me incidents from the last 24 hours and acknowledge the ones for monitor-id clm123."

• "What's the uptime percentage for my landing page over the last 30 days?"

• "Run a speed test on https://example.com/checkout."

The assistant chooses the appropriate tool, fills in arguments from the conversation, and shows the JSON response.

Security notes

• Your API key never leaves the machine running this MCP server. Requests go directly to https://visualsentinel.com over HTTPS.

• Public tools (vs_health, vs_dns_check, vs_ssl_check, vs_speed_test, vs_website_check) work without an API key, but their results are visible to anyone who can read your conversation logs. Treat them like any other shell-out.

• Revoke a leaked API key immediately at https://visualsentinel.com/settings/api-keys. Revocation takes effect within seconds.

• Tools that mutate state (vs_monitors_create, vs_monitors_check_now, vs_alerts_acknowledge) inherit your API key's role-based permissions. A read-only key cannot create monitors.

Development

git clone https://github.com/VisualSentinel/mcp-server.git
cd mcp-server
npm install
npm run build      # tsup, output to dist/
npm run lint       # tsc --noEmit
npm run dev        # tsup --watch

To smoke-test locally against the production API:

VS_API_KEY=vs_live_... node dist/index.js

The server speaks JSON-RPC on stdin / stdout. Pipe in a tools/list request to see the registered tools.

Versioning

Semantic versioning. Breaking changes to tool names or required arguments get a major bump. Adding new tools or new optional arguments is a minor or patch.

The server's tool surface tracks the public Visual Sentinel API spec at https://github.com/VisualSentinel/openapi. When the upstream API gains a useful endpoint, this repository typically catches up within a release.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.

The Visual Sentinel API service itself is governed by https://visualsentinel.com/terms.