Kubernetes MCP Server

The Kubernetes MCP Server connects Claude and other MCP-compatible agents to your Kubernetes cluster using your local kubectl configuration. List and describe pods and services, tail container logs, create deployments, and delete resources — all from a natural-language conversation. The server reads your current kubectl context from ~/.kube/config, so it targets whichever cluster you're already pointed at.

Installation & Configuration

Requires kubectl to be installed and configured with at least one cluster context. Add this block to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kubernetes": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-server-kubernetes"]
    }
  }
}

No environment variables are required. The server automatically reads ~/.kube/config and uses the current context. To switch clusters, run kubectl config use-context <context-name> before starting Claude Desktop.

Config file location:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Available Tools (7)

• list_pods
• get_pod
• describe_pod
• list_services
• create_deployment
• delete_pod
• get_logs

Use Cases

• Incident investigation — ask Claude to pull logs from a crashing pod and explain the error
• Cluster health checks — list all pods across namespaces and surface any not-running ones
• Quick deployments — describe a workload in plain English and have Claude write and apply the manifest
• Service discovery — list all services and their selectors to understand how traffic routes

Gotchas

• Context is set at startup: The server reads ~/.kube/config when it launches. If you switch contexts with kubectl config use-context after Claude Desktop is running, you need to restart it for the change to take effect.
• Namespace scoping: Most tools default to the default namespace. Specify the namespace explicitly in your prompt (e.g. "list pods in namespace kube-system") or set a default namespace in your context.
• Node.js version: The package requires Node.js 18+. Older Node versions will silently fail to run the server — check node --version if you see MCP connection errors.
• Cluster access from the MCP host machine: The kubeconfig must be reachable from the machine running Claude Desktop. If your kubeconfig uses exec-based auth (e.g., aws eks, gke-gcloud-auth-plugin), that binary must also be on the PATH.

Security Note

Source & Documentation