MCP K8S Go

What is MCP K8S Go about?

Provides a Golang‑based MCP server that interfaces with Kubernetes, allowing AI clients and tooling to query and interact with cluster resources such as contexts, namespaces, pods, services, deployments, nodes, events, and logs.

How to use MCP K8S Go?

You can run the server directly with npx:

npx @strowk/mcp-k8s

Other installation options include pre‑built binaries via npm (npm install -g @strowk/mcp-k8s), downloading from GitHub releases, building from source with Go, or pulling the Docker image mcpk8s/server:latest. The server accepts optional flags:

• --allowed-contexts=<ctx1,ctx2,...> – restricts accessible contexts
• --readonly – disables any write operations
• --help and --version Set KUBECONFIG environment variable if the config file is not located at ~/.kube/config.

Key Features

• List Kubernetes contexts and namespaces
• List, get, create, and modify any Kubernetes resource (including custom mappings for pods, services, deployments)
• List nodes and pods
• Retrieve events and pod logs
• Execute arbitrary commands inside a pod
• Read‑only mode and context whitelisting for security
• Multiple deployment options: npm binary, Docker image, source build

Use Cases

• Integrate with Claude Desktop or other AI assistants to let users query cluster state or debug issues via conversational prompts
• Automate CI/CD pipelines that need read‑only visibility of cluster resources
• Provide a secure, configurable gateway for external tools to fetch logs or run diagnostics on pods
• Enable multi‑tenant environments where only selected contexts are exposed to end‑users

FAQ

Q: How do I limit which Kubernetes contexts are available? A: Use the --allowed-contexts flag with a comma‑separated list, e.g., --allowed-contexts=dev,prod.

Q: Can I prevent the server from making changes to the cluster? A: Yes, launch the server with --readonly to disable all write‑capable tools.

Q: Where should my kubeconfig be placed? A: By default the server reads ~/.kube/config. Override with the KUBECONFIG environment variable or mount the file into the Docker container.

Q: Which command should I use in Claude Desktop configuration? A: Set command to npx and args to ["@strowk/mcp-k8s"] (or include any desired flags).

Q: Is a Docker image available? A: Yes, mcpk8s/server:latest supports linux/amd64 and linux/arm64. Mount your kubeconfig and run:

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

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.