YugabyteDB MCP Server

An MCP server for YugabyteDB and PostgreSQL — lets LLMs (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.) summarize schemas, run read-only queries, and execute write statements behind a configurable guardrail layer.

Features

• summarize_database — list tables with columns and row counts for a schema (read-only)

• run_read_only_query — execute a SELECT under BEGIN READ ONLY; results returned as JSON (read-only)

• run_write_query — INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE/MERGE/TRUNCATE/DDL gated by a guardrail blocklist (destructive)

Defense in depth: the write tool is annotated destructiveHint: true, so Claude Desktop surfaces a confirmation prompt before every call even when the guardrails would let the statement through.

Optional OAuth (AWS Cognito) and Origin-header validation for self-hosted remote deployments.

Related MCP server: YDB MCP

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10+

• uv (recommended) or pip

• A reachable YugabyteDB or PostgreSQL database

• An MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.)

Installation

Three install options, in roughly the order of how end users will reach for them:

# uvx — no install at all; fetches and runs on demand. Handy for one-off use
# and also the form the MCPB Desktop extension uses internally.
uvx yugabytedb-mcp-server --help

# pipx — installs to an isolated venv, puts the script on $PATH.
pipx install yugabytedb-mcp-server

# uv tool — same idea, uv-managed.
uv tool install yugabytedb-mcp-server

# pip — system-level or current-venv install.
pip install yugabytedb-mcp-server

After any of the persistent installs (pipx / uv tool / pip), verify with:

yugabytedb-mcp --help
# or, equivalently:
yugabytedb-mcp-server --help

Both console scripts are registered and point at the same entry point — yugabytedb-mcp is the short form, yugabytedb-mcp-server matches the package name and is what uvx resolves to by default.

Pre-release note: while v2 is in release-candidate (e.g. 2.0.0rc2), default installs won't pick it up. For now, install with an explicit version (pipx install yugabytedb-mcp-server==2.0.0rc2) or with --pip-args='--pre'. This goes away once 2.0.0 stable is published.

For development from source, see Development below.

Configuration

Cognito-specific env vars (only required when MCP_AUTH_PROVIDER=cognito):

A starter template is in .env.example.

Quickstart — Claude Desktop

Two ways to wire it up. The first uses uvx and requires no install at all — uv only. The second assumes you've already run pipx install (or equivalent) and have the yugabytedb-mcp script on $PATH.

Option 1 — via uvx (no install):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "yugabytedb": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["yugabytedb-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "YUGABYTEDB_URL": "host=… port=5433 dbname=… user=… password=…"
      }
    }
  }
}

Option 2 — via an installed script:

After pipx install yugabytedb-mcp-server (or uv tool install …):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "yugabytedb": {
      "command": "yugabytedb-mcp",
      "env": {
        "YUGABYTEDB_URL": "host=… port=5433 dbname=… user=… password=…"
      }
    }
  }
}

Locations of claude_desktop_config.json:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Restart Claude Desktop. The three tools will appear with titles and hint badges (read-only icons on the read tools, a confirmation prompt before each run_write_query call).

While 2.0.0rc2 is the only published version, the uvx snippet needs ["yugabytedb-mcp-server@2.0.0rc2"] in the args (or ["--pre", "yugabytedb-mcp-server"]). Drop the explicit version once 2.0.0 stable is out.

Other MCP Clients

The same approach works with Cursor (Settings → MCP → Add a new global MCP server) and Windsurf (Settings → Cascade → MCP Servers → Add custom server) — use either the uvx form or the installed-script form from above.

For MCP Inspector against an HTTP-mode server:

YUGABYTEDB_URL="…" yugabytedb-mcp --transport http
# in another shell:
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector
# In the GUI: URL http://localhost:8000/mcp, transport Streamable-HTTP

Tools

Guardrails for run_write_query

The following statement classes are rejected before execution:

• DROP DATABASE/SCHEMA, ALTER DATABASE, CREATE DATABASE

• Role/privilege ops: GRANT, REVOKE, CREATE/ALTER/DROP ROLE, CREATE/ALTER/DROP USER

• Filesystem / code execution: COPY TO/FROM, LOAD, anonymous DO $$ … $$, CREATE EXTENSION

• Server config: ALTER SYSTEM, RESET ALL

• Dangerous built-ins: pg_sleep, pg_read_file, pg_write_file, lo_import, lo_export, dblink

• Schema isolation: SET search_path, CREATE SCHEMA

• Multi-statement queries (anything with a separator semicolon)

• psql meta-commands (\c, \d, \!)

• INSERT … VALUES over YB_MCP_MAX_INSERT_ROWS

• Optionally UPDATE / DELETE without a WHERE clause

This list is best-effort, not exhaustive. destructiveHint: true is the second line of defense.

Self-hosted remote mode

For multi-user or shared deployments, run the server as Streamable HTTP behind a reverse proxy with TLS, with Cognito OAuth gating access:

export MCP_AUTH_PROVIDER=cognito
export MCP_BASE_URL=https://mcp.example.com
export COGNITO_USER_POOL_ID=us-west-2_XXXXXXXX
export COGNITO_AWS_REGION=us-west-2
export COGNITO_CLIENT_ID=…
export COGNITO_CLIENT_SECRET=…
export YUGABYTEDB_URL=…
export MCP_ALLOWED_ORIGINS=https://mcp.example.com,https://claude.ai

yugabytedb-mcp --transport http --stateless-http

Behavior:

• Requests to /mcp without a valid Bearer token return 401.

• Requests with a disallowed Origin header return 403 (DNS-rebinding defense).

• /ping is unauthenticated and is suitable for liveness probes.

• /auth/login exposes a Cognito email+password → token shortcut (see below).

• --stateless-http is required for multi-replica deployments — without it, MCP session state lives in process memory and round-robin load balancing breaks sessions.

Getting a token without a browser

The browser-based OAuth flow is what Claude Desktop / mcp-remote / claude.ai use, but for curl-based smoke tests, CI, or any scripted client, the HTTP transport also exposes a direct password endpoint when MCP_AUTH_PROVIDER=cognito:

curl -X POST http://localhost:8000/auth/login \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"email":"user@example.com","password":"…"}'
# →
# {"access_token":"…","id_token":"…","refresh_token":"…","expires_in":86400,"token_type":"Bearer"}

Then:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $ACCESS_TOKEN" \
     -H "Accept: application/json,text/event-stream" \
     -X POST http://localhost:8000/mcp \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"initialize","params":{"protocolVersion":"2025-06-18","capabilities":{},"clientInfo":{"name":"curl","version":"1"}}}'

The endpoint uses Cognito's USER_PASSWORD_AUTH flow under the hood — the Cognito app client must have ALLOW_USER_PASSWORD_AUTH enabled (Cognito Console → User pools → App integration → App client settings). MFA, password-reset, and other challenge flows are not handled by this endpoint — they require the browser flow.

OIDC (MCP_AUTH_PROVIDER=oidc) wiring exists but is untested; please share findings if you exercise it.

AWS Secrets Manager for TLS certificates

If your database TLS root certificate is stored in AWS Secrets Manager, the server can fetch and use it automatically. Plaintext PEM is supported; JSON-keyed bundles too (set YB_AWS_SSL_ROOT_CERT_KEY to pick one).

yugabytedb-mcp \
  --yugabytedb-url "host=… port=5433 dbname=… user=… password=… sslmode=verify-full" \
  --yb-aws-ssl-root-cert-secret-arn arn:aws:secretsmanager:us-east-1:…:secret:my-cert \
  --yb-aws-ssl-root-cert-secret-region us-east-1

Docker

docker build -t mcp/yugabytedb .
docker run -p 8000:8000 -e YUGABYTEDB_URL="…" mcp/yugabytedb yugabytedb-mcp --transport http

Security

• All SQL is run through parameterized queries; user input is never interpolated into statement strings.

• The write tool's guardrail list (above) blocks the highest-risk statement classes.

• destructiveHint: true ensures Claude Desktop surfaces a per-call confirmation for write operations.

• HTTP transport requires a valid Bearer token when MCP_AUTH_PROVIDER is configured.

• HTTP transport validates the Origin header against MCP_ALLOWED_ORIGINS (defaults to MCP_BASE_URL).

• HTTPS is the operator's responsibility — terminate TLS at a reverse proxy (nginx, ALB, etc.) in front of the server.

• Run with a least-privilege database role (read-only role for run_read_only_query-only deployments; otherwise a role scoped to the target schemas, no superuser).

Report security issues privately to support@yugabyte.com — please do not open public GitHub issues for vulnerabilities.

Privacy Policy

Yugabyte's privacy policy applies: https://www.yugabyte.com/privacy-policy/

This MCP server does not transmit telemetry. All database access stays between Claude (your MCP client) and your YugabyteDB instance via the connection string you provide. The server logs locally to stderr (controlled by YB_LOG_LEVEL) — no remote log aggregation is built in.

Development

git clone git@github.com:yugabyte/yugabytedb-mcp-server.git
cd yugabytedb-mcp-server
uv sync
uv run yugabytedb-mcp --help

Note: there is no longer a src/server.py you can run directly. The package layout was reorganized for PyPI distribution (entry point + namespace) so the modules now live under src/yugabytedb_mcp_server/. Always invoke via the yugabytedb-mcp console script (registered by uv sync / pip install) — running the module file with python would skip the package import machinery and break the relative imports.

Equivalent commands:

uv run yugabytedb-mcp                 # uses the console script
uv run python -m yugabytedb_mcp_server # uses the __main__.py shim

Testing the connector locally in Claude Desktop

Two paths, depending on how close to the production install experience you want to get:

Fastest — no MCPB build, just point Claude Desktop at the local entry point. After uv sync, the yugabytedb-mcp script is on your $PATH (via the active venv). Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "yugabytedb-dev": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/repo/.venv/bin/yugabytedb-mcp",
      "env": {
        "YUGABYTEDB_URL": "host=localhost port=5433 dbname=yugabyte user=yugabyte password=yugabyte",
        "YB_LOG_LEVEL": "DEBUG"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. Use ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp-server-yugabytedb-dev.log (macOS) to inspect debug output. This skips the MCPB bundling entirely and is the right loop for iterating on tool code.

Closer to production — build a .mcpb and drag it into Claude Desktop. Requires the MCPB CLI:

npm install -g @modelcontextprotocol/mcpb-cli   # one-time
mcpb validate manifest.json                      # static check
mcpb pack .                                      # produces yugabytedb-mcp-server-<version>.mcpb

Drag the resulting .mcpb into Claude Desktop — the connector installer UI takes it from there, prompting for the user_config values defined in manifest.json. The .mcpb route is closest to what reviewers will exercise. Note: the manifest's mcp_config runs uvx yugabytedb-mcp-server, which fetches the package from PyPI on first launch. Make sure the version referenced by your .mcpb is published before sharing the bundle.

Testing

# unit tests (no DB, no network)
uv run pytest tests/test_guardrails.py tests/test_auth.py

# integration tests (require a reachable Postgres-compatible DB)
YUGABYTEDB_URL="host=… port=… …" uv run pytest tests/

See tests/README.md for the coverage table and the manual Cognito smoke recipe.

Troubleshooting

• spawn yugabytedb-mcp ENOENT from Claude Desktop → ensure the install directory is on the PATH Claude Desktop sees; pipx ensurepath or symlink the entry point into /usr/local/bin.

• Tools list is empty in the MCP client → restart the client; check YB_LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG output for connection errors during lifespan.

• "Invalid or expired transaction" / "Client Not Registered" in HTTP+OAuth mode with multiple replicas → see the self-hosted remote section; --stateless-http is mandatory for multi-replica.

License

Apache License 2.0.