proxmox-mcp

README

Proxmox MCP Server

NOTE: This project is under active development.

Motivation

Modern infrastructure often uses tools such as Terraform/OpenTofu, Ansible, and GitOps. These tools deploy and configure Proxmox infrastructure and Kubernetes clusters.

The Proxmox MCP Server does not replace these tools. It gives AI assistants and automation agents access to information about your Proxmox clusters.

The default tools are read-only. Optional action tools can be enabled with --allow-destructive for operations such as backups and reboots.

Instead of checking many pages in the Proxmox UI or running several commands, you can ask an AI assistant to collect and analyze the required information. Your existing automation tools remain the main source for infrastructure changes.

Overview

The server connects an MCP client, such as an AI assistant, to the Proxmox VE API. It supports multiple Proxmox clusters and returns structured data.

You can use it to:

• inspect clusters, nodes, and storage
• check resource usage and node status
• review recent Proxmox task events
• find differences and possible configuration problems
• collect information before you make infrastructure changes

Keep your AI on the leash.

Proxmox core tools

The MCP server provides the following read-only tools:

Tool	Arguments	Description
proxmox_clusters_list	None	List the configured Proxmox clusters.
proxmox_clusters_describe	cluster	Show a cluster's version, nodes, node statuses, and total resources.
proxmox_containers_list	cluster	List LXC containers with their status and resource usage.
proxmox_containers_describe	cluster, vmid, node (optional)	Show an LXC container's current status and runtime network interfaces when it is running.
proxmox_events_list	cluster, limit (optional)	List recent task events across all nodes. The default limit is 10.
proxmox_nodes_list	cluster	List nodes with their status and resource usage.
proxmox_nodes_describe	cluster, node	Show a node's status, resources, uptime, version, kernel, and boot information.
proxmox_storage_list	cluster	List storage resources with their status, type, content, and capacity usage.
proxmox_storage_describe	cluster, name, node (optional)	Show storage details and, when a node is provided, content visible on that node.
proxmox_vms_list	cluster	List QEMU virtual machines with their status and resource usage.
proxmox_vms_describe	cluster, vmid, node (optional)	Show a QEMU virtual machine's current status and guest network interfaces when its QEMU guest agent is responding.

Use proxmox_clusters_list first to find the cluster names used by the other tools. MCP clients can discover the full input and output schemas. You can also list the tools from the command line:

proxmox-mcp tools --config /absolute/path/to/cluster-config.yaml

When --allow-destructive is enabled, proxmox_vms_backup and proxmox_containers_backup accept cluster, vmid, optional node, storage, mode, and compress arguments. They start an asynchronous backup and return its Proxmox task identifier; task creation does not mean that the backup has already completed successfully.

Installation

For a local installation with Homebrew, run:

brew install sergelogvinov/tap/proxmox-mcp

You do not need a local installation when you use an MCP server hosted on another machine.

Configure Proxmox clusters

Create a YAML file that contains one or more Proxmox clusters:

clusters:
  - region: homelab
    url: https://pve.example.com:8006/api2/json
    token_id: mcp@pve!reader
    token_secret_file: /absolute/path/to/token-secret
    ca_file: /absolute/path/to/proxmox-ca.crt

Each cluster supports these fields:

Field	Required	Description
region	Yes	Unique name used to select the cluster in tool calls.
url	Yes	Full Proxmox API URL, including /api2/json.
token_id	For token login	Proxmox API token ID, for example mcp@pve!reader.
token_id_file	For token login	File that contains the token ID. Use this instead of token_id.
token_secret	For token login	Proxmox API token secret.
token_secret_file	For token login	File that contains the token secret. Use this instead of token_secret.
username	For password login	Proxmox user name. Must be used with password.
password	For password login	Proxmox password. Must be used with username.
ca_file	No	Path to the CA certificate used to check the Proxmox TLS certificate.
insecure	No	Skip TLS certificate checks. Use only for local testing. Default: false.

Use either token login or password login for a cluster, not both. Files are recommended for secrets because they keep secret values out of the YAML file. The Proxmox account should have only the permissions required by the tools.

Set the configuration path with --config or CONFIG_FILE.

Configure an MCP client

Local stdio server

For clients that use a JSON MCP configuration, add an entry like this:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "proxmox": {
      "command": "proxmox-mcp",
      "args": ["mcp"],
      "env": {
        "CONFIG_FILE": "/absolute/path/to/cluster-config.yaml"
      }
    }
  }
}

Remote HTTP server

Start the streamable HTTP server with:

proxmox-mcp server \
  --config /absolute/path/to/cluster-config.yaml \
  --listen-address :8080

:8080 accepts connections on every IPv4 and IPv6 address. To listen on one address, give it with the port, for example 127.0.0.1:8080 or [::1]:8080. The MCP endpoint is http://host:8080/mcp

For a remote client, use an HTTPS URL that ends with /mcp:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "proxmox": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://proxmox-mcp.example.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer PVEAPIToken=mcp@pve!reader=TOKEN_SECRET"
      }
    }
  }
}

The server does not provide user authentication for the HTTP endpoint. It relies on Proxmox authentication and API tokens for access control. Provide the token in mcp header like:

Authorization: PVEAPIToken=mcp@pve!reader=TOKEN_SECRET

When this header is present, its token is used for the tool call instead of the credentials from the cluster configuration. The configured cluster must still include region and url.

Restart or reload the MCP client after you save its configuration.

Running

Common flags

The mcp, server, and tools commands use the following flags. Each flag can also be set with an environment variable. A command-line flag has higher priority than an environment variable.

Flag	Environment variable	Default	Description
--config <path>	CONFIG_FILE	None	Path to the required clusters YAML configuration file.
--extensions <list>	EXTENSIONS	all	Comma-separated list of extensions to enable, or all.
--allow-destructive	ALLOW_DESTRUCTIVE	false	Allow destructive tools when they are available. Current core tools are read-only.
--log-level <level>	LOG_LEVEL	info	Log level: debug, info, warn, or error.
--log-format <format>	LOG_FORMAT	text	Log output format: text or json.

The server command also accepts --listen-address or LISTEN_ADDRESS (host:port). The default is 127.0.0.1:8080, and the container image sets LISTEN_ADDRESS=:8080. The tools command accepts --output (-o) with text, json, or yaml. Its default is text.

For example, run the stdio server with JSON logs:

proxmox-mcp mcp \
  --config /absolute/path/to/cluster-config.yaml \
  --log-format json

Test the configuration

List all available tools:

export CONFIG_FILE="/absolute/path/to/cluster-config.yaml"
proxmox-mcp tools

Call a tool directly:

proxmox-mcp tools proxmox_clusters_list
proxmox-mcp tools proxmox_nodes_list cluster=homelab
proxmox-mcp tools -o json proxmox_events_list cluster=homelab limit=5

License

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.

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