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:

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:

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.

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.

Proxmox® is a registered trademark of Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH.