dockhand-mcp
Click on "Install Server".
Wait a few minutes for the server to deploy. Once ready, it will show a "Started" state.
In the chat, type
@followed by the MCP server name and your instructions, e.g., "@dockhand-mcpList all containers in the production environment."
That's it! The server will respond to your query, and you can continue using it as needed.
Here is a step-by-step guide with screenshots.
dockhand-mcp
MCP (Model Context Protocol) sidecar server for Dockhand (GitHub). Exposes Dockhand's container, image, volume, network, and stack management as MCP tools over Streamable HTTP, so MCP clients (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, etc.) can manage Docker resources through Dockhand.
This is a standalone service — it does not modify Dockhand itself, and calls Dockhand's existing REST API using a Dockhand API token.
Configuration
Var | Required | Description |
| yes | Base URL of the Dockhand instance, e.g. |
| one of these two | Dockhand API token (create one in Dockhand under Profile → API tokens) |
| one of these two | Path to a file/Docker secret containing the token |
| yes | Shared secret required by MCP clients calling this sidecar |
| no | Comma-separated list of exact hostnames to allow via DNS-rebinding host-header validation. Unset by default — no host filtering is applied, and MCP_AUTH_TOKEN remains the primary access-control gate. |
| no (default | Set |
| no (default | Set |
| no (default | Set |
| no (default | Set |
| no (default | Set |
| no (default | Set |
| no (default | Set |
| no (default | Port the MCP endpoint listens on |
Related MCP server: rancher-mcp
Running
docker build -t dockhand-mcp .
docker run -p 8787:8787 \
-e DOCKHAND_URL=http://dockhand:3000 \
-e DOCKHAND_API_TOKEN=dh_... \
-e MCP_AUTH_TOKEN=... \
dockhand-mcpSee docker-compose.example.yaml for running alongside Dockhand itself.
On startup, the sidecar checks connectivity to DOCKHAND_URL by calling GET /api/environments and logs the result, along with the minimum supported Dockhand version. A failed check is logged as an error but does not prevent the server from starting — Dockhand may simply not be ready yet — so tool calls will fail individually with clear errors until Dockhand is reachable. Dockhand does not expose its own app version through a REST endpoint, so the minimum-version notice is informational rather than actively enforced.
MCP endpoint
POST /mcp — Streamable HTTP MCP endpoint. Requires Authorization: Bearer <MCP_AUTH_TOKEN>.
GET /health — unauthenticated liveness check.
Client configuration
Example .mcp.json for Claude Code (or ~/.claude.json for a user-scoped config), pointing at a deployed sidecar:
{
"mcpServers": {
"dockhand-mcp": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://dockhand-mcp.example.com/mcp",
"headers": {
"Authorization": "Bearer ${MCP_AUTH_TOKEN}"
}
}
}
}Equivalent CLI command:
claude mcp add dockhand-mcp --transport http https://dockhand-mcp.example.com/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer ${MCP_AUTH_TOKEN}"${MCP_AUTH_TOKEN} expands from the environment Claude Code runs in — set it to the same value configured on the sidecar, rather than hardcoding the token in the config file.
Tools
Every tool except list_environments, list_users, get_user, list_roles, list_registries, and list_schedules requires an environmentId (or an id scoped to a specific stored resource) — call list_environments first to discover valid environment IDs.
Mutating tools are also disabled whenever DOCKHAND_MCP_READONLY=true, regardless of the domain toggle below.
Core (always registered — no toggle required)
Tool | Type | Description |
| Read-only | List all Dockhand environments (Docker hosts). Call this first to discover valid |
| Read-only | List containers in a Dockhand environment. |
| Read-only | Get full inspect details for a single container. |
| Read-only | Get recent logs for a container. |
| Read-only | List images in a Dockhand environment. |
| Read-only | List volumes in a Dockhand environment. |
| Read-only | List networks in a Dockhand environment. |
| Read-only | List Compose stacks in a Dockhand environment. |
| Mutating | Start a stopped container. |
| Mutating | Stop a running container. |
| Mutating | Restart a container. |
| Mutating | Remove (delete) a container. |
| Mutating | Pull an image from a registry. Blocks until the pull completes or fails. |
| Mutating | Remove (delete) an image. |
| Mutating | Remove (delete) a volume. |
| Mutating | Deploy (up) a Compose stack. Blocks until the deploy completes or fails. |
| Mutating | Stop (down) a Compose stack. Blocks until it completes or fails. |
Extended (each domain off by default — set its toggle to true to enable)
Domain | Toggle | Status | Tool | Type | Description |
Backups |
| disabled by default |
| Read-only | List configured backups (stack or volume backup jobs) in Dockhand. |
Backups |
| disabled by default |
| Read-only | List backup snapshots, optionally scoped to a single backup config. |
Backups |
| disabled by default |
| Mutating | Manually trigger a backup config to run now. Blocks until the backup completes or fails. |
Users/Roles |
| disabled by default |
| Read-only | List all Dockhand users. |
Users/Roles |
| disabled by default |
| Read-only | Get details for a single Dockhand user. |
Users/Roles |
| disabled by default |
| Read-only | List all Dockhand roles. Requires an Enterprise license (returns an error on free-tier instances with auth enabled). |
Registries |
| disabled by default |
| Read-only | List configured container registries in Dockhand. Credentials are never included — only a |
Vulnerabilities |
| disabled by default |
| Read-only | List aggregated vulnerability findings for an environment, with optional filtering and pagination. |
Vulnerabilities |
| disabled by default |
| Mutating | Scan every image in an environment for vulnerabilities. Blocks until the batch scan completes. |
Git deploy |
| disabled by default |
| Read-only | List git-backed Compose stacks in Dockhand. |
Git deploy |
| disabled by default |
| Mutating | Pull the latest commit for a git-backed stack from its remote, without redeploying. |
Git deploy |
| disabled by default |
| Mutating | Sync and redeploy a git-backed stack. Blocks until the deploy completes or fails. Check the |
Schedules |
| disabled by default |
| Read-only | List all active Dockhand schedules (container auto-updates, git stack syncs, backups, and system jobs). |
Schedules |
| disabled by default |
| Mutating | Manually trigger a schedule to run now. |
Schedules |
| disabled by default |
| Mutating | Enable or disable a schedule. Flips its current enabled state — check the returned |
To enable a domain, set its toggle to true in the sidecar's environment (see Configuration), e.g.:
docker run -p 8787:8787 \
-e DOCKHAND_URL=http://dockhand:3000 \
-e DOCKHAND_API_TOKEN=dh_... \
-e MCP_AUTH_TOKEN=... \
-e DOCKHAND_MCP_ENABLE_BACKUPS=true \
-e DOCKHAND_MCP_ENABLE_GIT=true \
dockhand-mcpThese six domains intentionally wrap only a minimal slice of Dockhand's REST surface for each area (no user/role/registry/git-credential CRUD) — full CRUD for these domains is out of scope, consistent with the project's minimal, LLM-friendly tool surface.
Development
npm install
npm run dev # watch mode
npm test # run tests
npm run build # compile to dist/This server cannot be installed
Maintenance
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