What is Vault Mcp

vault-mcp is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server implementation designed for secure secret management using HashiCorp Vault. It provides an interface for LLMs and other MCP clients to interact with Vault’s features for managing secrets and policies.

Use cases

Use cases for vault-mcp include automating secret retrieval in applications, managing access policies for different services, and enabling LLMs to securely interact with stored secrets and configurations.

How to use

To use vault-mcp, you can set it up via Docker by adding it to your Cursor MCP configuration or running it manually. For Cursor, include the provided JSON configuration. For manual setup, use the Docker run command with the appropriate environment variables for VAULT_ADDR and VAULT_TOKEN.

Key features

Key features of vault-mcp include secure secret management through a structured API, policy creation and management, resource discovery and listing, and automated policy generation.

Where to use

vault-mcp can be used in environments that require secure secret management, such as cloud applications, enterprise software, and any system that integrates with HashiCorp Vault for managing sensitive data.

HashiCorp Vault MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server implementation that provides a secure interface to HashiCorp Vault which enables LLMs and other MCP clients to interact with Vault’s secret and policy management features.

Overview

This allows you to prompt an LLM to:

• Secure secret management through structured API
• Policy creation and management
• Resource discovery and listing
• Automated policy generation

Installation

There are multiple ways to use this server depending on your setup.

Cursor (recommended)

Add this to your Cursor MCP configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Vault MCP": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-i",
        "--rm",
        "-e",
        "VAULT_ADDR=https://your-vault-server:8200",
        "-e",
        "VAULT_TOKEN=hvs.your-vault-token",
        "ashgw/vault-mcp:latest"
      ]
    }
  }
}

If you prefer pinning to a specific docker image build (e.g. 20250413-165732), use that tag instead of latest. Browse available versions on Docker Hub.

Once added, you can use prompts like:

“Read the secret at path apps/myapp/config from Vault”

Cursor will route that request through the MCP server automatically.

Check if it works, it should be green

Docker (manual)

You can run Vault MCP manually via Docker:

docker run -d \
  --name vault-mcp \
  -e VAULT_ADDR=https://your-vault-server:8200 \
  -e VAULT_TOKEN=hvs.your-vault-token \
  -p 3000:3000 \
  ashgw/vault-mcp

This uses the pre-built image published at ashgw/vault-mcp.

Repo

Clone the repository and cd into it, then build with

docker build -t vault-mcp .

Then run with

docker run --rm -e VAULT_ADDR=localhost:8200 -e VAULT_TOKEN=hsv.yourtoken vault-mcp

Environment Variables

These are required to run the MCP Vault server:

• VAULT_ADDR: Your HashiCorp Vault server address
• VAULT_TOKEN: A valid Vault token with read/write permissions
• MCP_PORT: Optional. Defaults to 3000. Not required for Cursor.

Features in Detail

Secret Management Tools

secret_create

Creates or updates a secret at specified path.

await tool("secret_create", {
  path: "apps/myapp/config",
  data: {
    apiKey: "secret-key-123",
    environment: "production",
  },
});

secret_read

Retrieves a secret from specified path.

await tool("secret_read", {
  path: "apps/myapp/config",
});

secret_delete

Soft-deletes a secret (versioned delete in KV v2).

await tool("secret_delete", {
  path: "apps/myapp/config",
});

Policy Management

policy_create

Creates a new Vault policy with specified permissions.

await tool("policy_create", {
  name: "app-readonly",
  policy: `
    path "secret/data/apps/myapp/*" {
      capabilities = ["read", "list"]
    }
  `,
});

Resources

vault://secrets

Lists all available secret paths in the KV store.

{
  "keys": [
    "apps/",
    "databases/",
    "certificates/"
  ]
}

vault://policies

Lists all available Vault policies.

{
  "policies": [
    "default",
    "app-readonly",
    "admin"
  ]
}

Prompts

generate_policy

Generates a Vault policy from path and capabilities.

await prompt("generate_policy", {
  path: "secret/data/apps/*",
  capabilities: "read,list",
});

Returns:

{
  "path": {
    "secret/data/apps/*": {
      "capabilities": [
        "read",
        "list"
      ]
    }
  }
}

License

MIT