What is MCP K8S Go

MCP K8S Go is a Golang-based server that implements the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to interact with Kubernetes clusters. It allows users to communicate with Kubernetes resources efficiently through a command-line interface, enabling easier management of Kubernetes contexts, namespaces, and various resources.

Use cases

MCP K8S Go can be used for various Kubernetes management tasks including listing and retrieving information about Kubernetes contexts, namespaces, nodes, pods, and events. It can also fetch pod logs and allow users to execute commands within Kubernetes pods, streamlining operations and facilitating the monitoring of Kubernetes clusters.

How to use

Users can set up MCP K8S Go in several ways: using Smithery or mcp-get for automatic installation, installing prebuilt binaries from npm or GitHub releases, building from source with Golang, or using Docker. Once installed, configuration settings must be added to the ‘claude_desktop_config.json’ file to enable compatibility with clients like Claude Desktop.

Key features

Key features include the ability to list Kubernetes contexts, namespaces, nodes, and pods, retrieve specific resources and events, fetch logs directly from pods, and execute commands within a pod. It supports custom mappings for various Kubernetes resources, making it a versatile tool for developers and operators.

Where to use

MCP K8S Go is ideal for developers and IT professionals who work with Kubernetes clusters and need an efficient way to interact with them. It is particularly useful when integrated with clients like Claude Desktop or the Model Context Protocol Inspector, making it suitable for environments that leverage conversational AI and model context management.

Golang-based MCP server connecting to Kubernetes

MCP K8S Go

Features ⚙ Browse With Inspector ⚙ Use With Claude ⚙ Contributing ↗ ⚙ About MCP ↗

Features

MCP 💬 prompt 🗂️ resource 🤖 tool

• 🗂️🤖 List Kubernetes contexts
• 💬🤖 List Kubernetes namespaces
• 🤖 List and get any Kubernetes resources
  • includes custom mappings for resources like pods, services, deployments, but any resource can be listed and retrieved
• 🤖 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

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:

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.
• --help: Display help information
• --version: Display version information