MCP K8S Go

What is MCP K8S Go about?

Enables Model Context Protocol clients to query and manage Kubernetes resources through a command‑line server written in Go. It translates natural‑language prompts into Kubernetes API calls, supporting both read‑only and write operations.

How to use MCP K8S Go?

1. Run the server (quickest via npm):

   npx @strowk/mcp-k8s
   

2. Configure your MCP client (e.g., Claude Desktop) to point to the server. Example JSON snippet:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "mcp_k8s": {
         "command": "npx",
         "args": ["@strowk/mcp-k8s"]
       }
     }
   }
   

3. Optionally restrict contexts or set read‑only mode using command‑line flags:

   npx @strowk/mcp-k8s --allowed-contexts=dev,prod --readonly
   

4. Ensure KUBECONFIG points to your kubeconfig file (defaults to ~/.kube/config).

Key features of MCP K8S Go

• List available Kubernetes contexts and namespaces
• Enumerate, retrieve, create, update, and delete any Kubernetes resource, including custom mappings for pods, services, deployments
• List nodes and pods, fetch events and pod logs
• Execute arbitrary commands inside a pod
• Command‑line options for context whitelisting and read‑only mode
• Docker image (mcpk8s/server) for containerized deployment
• Integration guides for Claude Desktop and other MCP clients

Use cases of MCP K8S Go

• Chat‑driven cluster inspection: Ask an AI assistant to show resources, logs, or events without writing code.
• Secure multi‑tenant access: Restrict users to specific contexts and enforce read‑only access via flags.
• Automation workflows: Embed the server in CI/CD pipelines to query cluster state or apply manifests programmatically.
• Developer tooling: Use alongside IDE extensions or local tooling to quickly prototype Kubernetes queries.

FAQ from the MCP K8S Go

• Do I need Node.js? Only when invoking the pre‑built npm binary (npx @strowk/mcp-k8s). The server itself is a native Go binary.
• Can I run it in Docker? Yes, pull mcpk8s/server:latest and mount your kubeconfig:

  docker run -i -v ~/.kube/config:/home/nonroot/.kube/config --rm mcpk8s/server:latest
  

• How do I enable write operations? Omit the --readonly flag. Be aware that this permits create, update, and delete actions.
• What environments are supported? Linux (amd64 & arm64) via Docker, macOS/Linux via binary, and Windows via Docker or the pre‑built binary.
• Where do I find releases? GitHub releases page: https://github.com/strowk/mcp-k8s-go/releases

Features

MCP 💬 prompt 🗂️ resource 🤖 tool

• 🗂️🤖 List Kubernetes contexts
• 💬🤖 List Kubernetes namespaces
• 🤖 List, get, create and modify any Kubernetes resources
  • includes custom mappings for resources like pods, services, deployments
• 🤖 List Kubernetes nodes
• 💬 List Kubernetes pods
• 🤖 Get Kubernetes events
• 🤖 Get Kubernetes pod logs
• 🤖 Run command in Kubernetes pod

Browse With Inspector

To use latest published version with Inspector you can run this:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector npx @strowk/mcp-k8s

Use With Claude

Following chat with Claude Desktop demonstrates how it looks when selected particular context as a resource and then asked to check pod logs for errors in kube-system namespace:

To use this MCP server with Claude Desktop (or any other client) you might need to choose which way of installation to use.

You have multiple options:

	Smithery	mcp-get	Pre-built NPM	Pre-built in Github	From sources	Using Docker
Claude Setup	Auto	Auto	Manual	Manual	Manual	Manual
Prerequisite	Node.js	Node.js	Node.js	None	Golang	Docker

Using Smithery

To install MCP K8S Go for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install @strowk/mcp-k8s --client claude

Using mcp-get

To install MCP K8S Go for Claude Desktop automatically via mcp-get:

npx @michaellatman/mcp-get@latest install @strowk/mcp-k8s

Manually with prebuilt binaries

Prebuilt from npm

Use this if you have npm installed and want to use pre-built binaries:

npm install -g @strowk/mcp-k8s

Then check version by running mcp-k8s --version and if this printed installed version, you can proceed to add configuration to claude_desktop_config.json file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp_k8s": {
      "command": "mcp-k8s",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

, or using npx with any client:

npx @strowk/mcp-k8s

For example for Claude:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp_k8s": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "@strowk/mcp-k8s"
      ]
    }
  }
}

From GitHub releases

Head to GitHub releases and download the latest release for your platform.

Unpack the archive, which would contain binary named mcp-k8s-go, put that binary somewhere in your PATH and then add the following configuration to the claude_desktop_config.json file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp_k8s": {
      "command": "mcp-k8s-go",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

Building from source

You would need Golang installed to build this project:

go get github.com/strowk/mcp-k8s-go
go install github.com/strowk/mcp-k8s-go

, and then add the following configuration to the claude_desktop_config.json file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp_k8s_go": {
      "command": "mcp-k8s-go",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

Using Docker

This server is built and published to Docker Hub since 0.3.1-beta.2 release with multi-arch images available for linux/amd64 and linux/arm64 architectures.

You can use latest tag f.e like this:

docker run -i -v ~/.kube/config:/home/nonroot/.kube/config --rm mcpk8s/server:latest

Windows users might need to replace ~/.kube/config with //c/Users/<username>/.kube/config at least in Git Bash.

For Claude:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp_k8s_go": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-i",
        "-v",
        "~/.kube/config:/home/nonroot/.kube/config",
        "--rm",
        "mcpk8s/server:latest"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Environment Variables and Command-line Options

The following environment variables are used by the MCP server:

• KUBECONFIG: Path to your Kubernetes configuration file (optional, defaults to ~/.kube/config)

The following command-line options are supported:

• --allowed-contexts=<ctx1,ctx2,...>: Comma-separated list of allowed Kubernetes contexts that users can access. If not specified, all contexts are allowed.
• --readonly: Disables any tool which can write changes to the cluster
• --help: Display help information
• --version: Display version information

For example if you are configuring Claude Desktop, you can add the following configuration to claude_desktop_config.json file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "mcp_k8s": {
            "command": "mcp-k8s",
            "args": [
                "--allowed-contexts=dev,prod",
                "--readonly"
            ]
        }
    }
}

, which would allow only dev and prod contexts to be used and would disable any tool which can write changes to the cluster.