What is Terraform Docs Mcp

terraform-docs-mcp is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server designed for generating Terraform documentation and configurations. It assists AI assistants in retrieving Terraform provider documentation and creating Terraform configurations efficiently.

Use cases

Use cases include generating Terraform configurations for cloud resources, retrieving documentation for specific Terraform providers, and assisting developers in understanding Terraform resource schemas.

How to use

To use terraform-docs-mcp, install the package via npm, build it, and then run it as a CLI tool or integrate it with AI assistants that support the Model Context Protocol. Configuration involves specifying the MCP server in the assistant’s settings.

Key features

Key features include retrieving documentation for Terraform providers and resources, generating Terraform configurations based on specifications, and obtaining schema information for Terraform resources.

Where to use

terraform-docs-mcp can be used in cloud infrastructure management, DevOps practices, and any environment where Terraform is utilized for infrastructure as code.

Terraform Docs MCP

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Terraform documentation and configuration generation. This service helps AI assistants fetch Terraform provider documentation and generate Terraform configurations.

Features

• Retrieve documentation for Terraform providers and resources
• Generate Terraform configurations based on provider and resource specifications
• Get schema information for Terraform resources

Installation

npm install
npm run build

Usage

This package can be used as an MCP server for any AI assistant that supports the Model Context Protocol.

As a CLI Tool

npx terraform-docs-mcp

Integration with AI Assistants

To configure this MCP server with AI assistants that support the Model Context Protocol:

1. Install and build the package
2. Configure the AI assistant to use this MCP server according to the assistant’s documentation
3. With Claude Desktop, add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "terraform-docs": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "path/to/terraform-docs-mcp/dist/index.js"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Docker Usage

Build and run with Docker:

# Build the Docker image
docker build -t terraform-docs-mcp .

# Test the MCP server
echo '{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "method": "tools/list"}' | docker run --rm -i terraform-docs-mcp

Integration with Claude Desktop (Docker)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "terraform-docs": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "--rm",
        "-i",
        "terraform-docs-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

🛠️ Available Tools

The MCP server provides the following tools:

1. terraform_provider_docs

Retrieves documentation for a Terraform provider and its resources from multiple sources.

Parameters:

• provider (required) - Provider name (e.g., aws, azure, gcp)
• resource (optional) - Specific resource name (e.g., instance, bucket, vpc)
• useGithub (optional) - Whether to fetch additional examples from GitHub

Example:

{
  "provider": "aws",
  "resource": "instance",
  "useGithub": true
}

2. terraform_generate_config

Generates complete Terraform configurations with best practices and intelligent defaults.

Parameters:

• provider (required) - Provider name (e.g., aws, azure, gcp)
• resource (required) - Resource type (e.g., instance, bucket, vpc)
• attributes (optional) - Custom resource attributes
• useGithub (optional) - Whether to use GitHub schema information

Example:

{
  "provider": "aws",
  "resource": "s3_bucket",
  "attributes": {
    "bucket": "my-app-bucket",
    "versioning": {
      "enabled": true
    },
    "tags": {
      "Environment": "production"
    }
  }
}

3. terraform_resource_schema

Gets detailed schema information for Terraform resources from provider repositories.

Parameters:

• provider (required) - Provider name (e.g., aws, azure, gcp)
• resource (required) - Resource type (e.g., instance, bucket, vpc)
• useGithub (optional) - Whether to extract schema from GitHub

Example:

{
  "provider": "aws",
  "resource": "s3_bucket",
  "useGithub": true
}

4. terraform_github_info

Gets GitHub repository information for Terraform providers.

Parameters:

• provider (required) - Provider name (e.g., aws, azure, gcp)

Example:

{
  "provider": "aws"
}

🧪 Testing

Direct Docker Commands

# List available tools
echo '{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "method": "tools/list"}' | docker run --rm -i terraform-docs-mcp

# Generate AWS EC2 configuration
echo '{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 2, "method": "tools/call", "params": {"name": "terraform_generate_config", "arguments": {"provider": "aws", "resource": "instance", "attributes": {"instance_type": "t3.micro", "tags": {"Environment": "dev"}}}}}' | docker run --rm -i terraform-docs-mcp

# Get AWS S3 bucket schema
echo '{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 3, "method": "tools/call", "params": {"name": "terraform_resource_schema", "arguments": {"provider": "aws", "resource": "s3_bucket", "useGithub": true}}}' | docker run --rm -i terraform-docs-mcp

# Get provider documentation with examples
echo '{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 4, "method": "tools/call", "params": {"name": "terraform_provider_docs", "arguments": {"provider": "aws", "resource": "instance", "useGithub": true}}}' | docker run --rm -i terraform-docs-mcp

Using Claude Desktop

Once configured, you can ask Claude:

• “What Terraform tools are available?”
• “Generate a Terraform configuration for an AWS EC2 instance”
• “Show me the schema for an AWS S3 bucket”
• “Create Terraform code for a Google Cloud compute instance”
• “Get documentation for Azure virtual machine resource”

📋 Supported Providers

The MCP server dynamically supports any Terraform provider by fetching information from official sources:

🔥 Popular Providers:

• AWS (aws) - Amazon Web Services
• Azure (azurerm, azure) - Microsoft Azure
• Google Cloud (google, gcp) - Google Cloud Platform
• Kubernetes (kubernetes) - Kubernetes resources
• Docker (docker) - Docker containers and images
• GitHub (github) - GitHub repositories and resources

🌐 Additional Providers:

• Oracle Cloud (oci) - Oracle Cloud Infrastructure
• DigitalOcean (digitalocean) - DigitalOcean resources
• DataDog (datadog) - DataDog monitoring
• Terraform Cloud (tfe) - Terraform Enterprise/Cloud
• Vault (vault) - HashiCorp Vault
• Consul (consul) - HashiCorp Consul
• Helm (helm) - Kubernetes Helm charts

🛠️ Utility Providers:

• Random (random) - Random values generation
• Time (time) - Time-based resources
• Local (local) - Local file operations
• Null (null) - Null resources for triggers
• External (external) - External data sources

Note: The server automatically discovers provider repositories and fetches live schemas, so it supports any publicly available Terraform provider.

🏗️ Architecture

🔄 Data Flow:

1. Request → MCP Server receives tool call
2. Discovery → Locates provider GitHub repository
3. Schema Extraction → Fetches resource schemas from source code
4. Documentation → Retrieves examples from Terraform Registry
5. Generation → Creates optimized Terraform configurations
6. Response → Returns comprehensive results

📁 Project Structure:

terraform-docs-mcp/
├── src/
│   ├── index.ts              # Main MCP server entry point
│   ├── generator.ts          # Terraform configuration generator
│   ├── github.ts            # GitHub integration and schema extraction
│   ├── schema-integration.ts # Schema processing and integration
│   └── global.d.ts          # TypeScript type definitions
├── docker/
│   ├── Dockerfile           # Multi-stage Docker build
│   └── .dockerignore        # Docker build exclusions
├── dist/                    # Compiled JavaScript output
├── package.json             # Node.js dependencies and scripts
├── tsconfig.json           # TypeScript configuration
└── README.md               # This file

🚀 Development

Local Development:

# Clone repository
git clone <repository-url>
cd terraform-docs-mcp

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build TypeScript
npm run build

# Start development server
npm start

Docker Development:

# Build development image
docker build -t terraform-docs-mcp-dev .

# Run with volume mount for live editing
docker run --rm -it -v $(pwd):/app -w /app node:18-alpine sh

# Rebuild and test
docker build -t terraform-docs-mcp . && echo '{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "method": "tools/list"}' | docker run --rm -i terraform-docs-mcp

Available Scripts:

npm run build          # Compile TypeScript
npm run start          # Start MCP server
npm run docker:build   # Build Docker image
npm run docker:run     # Run Docker container
npm run docker:dev     # Development shell

🎯 Key Benefits

✨ Dynamic & Live Data:

• 🔄 No Hardcoded Values - All data fetched from live sources
• 📊 Real Schemas - Extracted from official provider repositories
• 📖 Live Documentation - From Terraform Registry and GitHub
• 🎯 Up-to-date Examples - Real code from provider maintainers

🐳 Production Ready:

• 📦 Containerized - Consistent deployment across environments
• 🔒 Secure - Non-root container execution
• ⚡ Fast - Optimized Alpine Linux base image
• 🛡️ Reliable - Health checks and proper signal handling

🧠 AI-Optimized:

• 🤖 MCP Protocol - Native integration with AI assistants
• 📋 Structured Output - Clean JSON responses for AI processing
• 🎨 Best Practices - Generated code follows Terraform conventions
• 🔧 Flexible - Supports any provider and resource combination