Proxmox MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for interacting with Proxmox Virtual Environment API. This server provides comprehensive tools for managing VMs, containers, storage, and cluster resources through the MCP interface.

Built with Python and uv for fast, reliable dependency management.

Features

Agent-to-Agent (A2A) Protocol Support

This server implements the A2A protocol for seamless agent-to-agent communication. The included agent-card.json file provides:

• Structured agent capabilities - Detailed skill definitions for AI-to-AI discovery
• Authentication specifications - Clear auth requirements for automated integration
• Tool catalog - Complete inventory of available operations organized by category
• MCP protocol support - Native Model Context Protocol implementation

Use Cases:

• Multi-agent orchestration systems
• Automated infrastructure workflows
• Agent discovery and composition
• Cross-system AI collaboration

See the A2A Protocol Documentation section below for integration details.

Virtual Machine Management

• List all VMs (node-specific or cluster-wide)
• Get VM configuration and status
• Start, stop, shutdown, and reboot VMs
• Create, list, and delete VM snapshots

Container Management

• List LXC containers
• Get container status
• Start and stop containers

Node & Cluster Management

• List all cluster nodes
• Get node status and resource usage
• Get overall cluster status

Storage Management

• List storage devices
• Get storage status and usage

Task Management

• List running and recent tasks
• Get task status and progress

Quick Start

# 1. Install uv (if not already installed)
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

# 2. Run setup script
chmod +x setup.sh
./setup.sh

# 3. Set environment variables
export PROXMOX_HOST="192.168.1.100"
export PROXMOX_USER="root@pam"
export PROXMOX_TOKEN_NAME="automation"
export PROXMOX_TOKEN_VALUE="your-token-here"

# 4. Test connection
./test-connection.sh

# 5. Configure Claude Desktop and restart

See QUICKSTART.md for detailed instructions.

Installation

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10 or higher
• uv package manager
• Proxmox VE 6.0 or later

Setup

# Install uv
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

# Clone or download this repository
cd proxmox-mcp-server

# Run setup script (creates structure and installs dependencies)
./setup.sh

# Or manually:
mkdir -p src/proxmox_mcp_server
# Place server.py and __init__.py in src/proxmox_mcp_server/
uv sync

Configuration

The server is configured via environment variables:

Required Variables

• PROXMOX_HOST: Proxmox server hostname or IP address
• PROXMOX_USER: Username (e.g., root@pam, admin@pve)

Authentication (choose one method)

Option 1: API Token (Recommended)

• PROXMOX_TOKEN_NAME: API token name
• PROXMOX_TOKEN_VALUE: API token value

Option 2: Password

• PROXMOX_PASSWORD: User password

Optional Variables

• PROXMOX_PORT: API port (default: 8006)
• PROXMOX_VERIFY_SSL: Verify SSL certificates (default: false)

Setting Up Proxmox Authentication

Creating an API Token (Recommended)

1. Log into your Proxmox web interface
2. Navigate to Datacenter → Permissions → API Tokens
3. Click Add and create a token for your user
4. Uncheck "Privilege Separation" to inherit user permissions
5. Copy the Token ID and Secret (you won't see it again!)

Example token format:

PROXMOX_TOKEN_NAME=automation
PROXMOX_TOKEN_VALUE=xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx

The full token identifier will be: root@pam!automation

Using Password Authentication

Simply set your user password:

export PROXMOX_PASSWORD=yourpassword

MCP Configuration

Add to your Claude Desktop configuration file:

MacOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

With API Token (Recommended)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "proxmox": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "--directory",
        "/absolute/path/to/proxmox-mcp-server",
        "run",
        "proxmox-mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "PROXMOX_HOST": "192.168.1.100",
        "PROXMOX_USER": "root@pam",
        "PROXMOX_TOKEN_NAME": "automation",
        "PROXMOX_TOKEN_VALUE": "your-token-value-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

With Password

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "proxmox": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "--directory",
        "/absolute/path/to/proxmox-mcp-server",
        "run",
        "proxmox-mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "PROXMOX_HOST": "192.168.1.100",
        "PROXMOX_USER": "root@pam",
        "PROXMOX_PASSWORD": "your-password-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Important: Use the absolute path to your project directory!

Available Tools

Node Management

• list_nodes: List all nodes in the cluster
• get_node_status: Get status and resource usage for a specific node

Virtual Machine Tools

• list_vms: List all VMs (optionally filtered by node)
• get_vm_config: Get VM configuration
• get_vm_status: Get current VM status
• start_vm: Start a VM
• stop_vm: Force stop a VM
• shutdown_vm: Gracefully shutdown a VM
• reboot_vm: Reboot a VM
• create_vm_snapshot: Create a VM snapshot
• list_vm_snapshots: List all VM snapshots
• delete_vm_snapshot: Delete a VM snapshot

Container Tools

• list_containers: List all LXC containers on a node
• get_container_status: Get container status
• start_container: Start a container
• stop_container: Stop a container

Storage Tools

• list_storage: List all storage devices
• get_storage_status: Get storage status and usage

Task Tools

• list_tasks: List running and recent tasks
• get_task_status: Get status of a specific task

Cluster Tools

• get_cluster_status: Get overall cluster status and resources

Example Usage

Once configured, you can ask Claude to interact with your Proxmox environment:

"Can you list all VMs in my Proxmox cluster?"

"What's the status of VM 100 on node pve1?"

"Start VM 105 on node pve1"

"Create a snapshot called 'backup-2025' for VM 100 on pve1"

"Show me the storage usage on all nodes"

"List all running tasks in the cluster"

Development

# Install dependencies
uv sync

# Run the server directly
uv run proxmox-mcp-server

# Run with custom environment
PROXMOX_HOST=192.168.1.100 \
PROXMOX_USER=root@pam \
PROXMOX_TOKEN_NAME=automation \
PROXMOX_TOKEN_VALUE=your-token \
uv run proxmox-mcp-server

# Install development dependencies
uv sync --all-extras

# Run tests (if implemented)
uv run pytest

Project Structure

proxmox-mcp-server/
├── src/
│   └── proxmox_mcp_server/
│       ├── __init__.py       # Package initialization
│       └── server.py         # Main server implementation
├── pyproject.toml            # Project configuration
├── uv.lock                   # Locked dependencies (generated)
├── .env.example              # Environment variable template
├── .gitignore                # Git ignore patterns
├── setup.sh                  # Automated setup script
├── test-connection.sh        # Connection test script
├── README.md                 # This file
├── QUICKSTART.md            # 5-minute setup guide
├── SETUP.md                  # Detailed setup guide
└── USAGE.md                  # Usage examples

Security Considerations

• API Tokens are more secure than password authentication as they can be revoked independently
• Set PROXMOX_VERIFY_SSL=true in production environments with valid SSL certificates
• Grant minimal required permissions to API tokens
• Store credentials securely and never commit them to version control
• Consider network restrictions (firewall rules) for API access

Troubleshooting

Authentication Errors

• Verify your credentials are correct
• Check that the user has appropriate permissions
• For API tokens, ensure the token hasn't expired or been revoked
• Ensure "Privilege Separation" was unchecked when creating the token

Connection Errors

• Verify PROXMOX_HOST and PROXMOX_PORT are correct
• Check network connectivity to the Proxmox host
• If using SSL verification, ensure certificates are valid
• Test with: curl -k https://YOUR_HOST:8006/api2/json/version

Permission Errors

• The user/token needs appropriate privileges for the operations
• Common required privileges: VM.Monitor, VM.Audit, Datastore.Audit, Sys.Audit, VM.PowerMgmt, VM.Snapshot

Debug Mode

To see detailed logs, check stderr output when running the server. The server logs authentication method and connection status to stderr (visible in Claude Desktop logs).

Tools Not Showing in Claude

• Verify the path in Claude config is absolute, not relative
• Check that the config file is valid JSON
• Ensure you completely quit and restarted Claude Desktop (not just closed the window)
• Check Claude Desktop logs for errors

Testing Connection

Before configuring Claude, test your Proxmox connection:

# Set environment variables
export PROXMOX_HOST="192.168.1.100"
export PROXMOX_USER="root@pam"
export PROXMOX_TOKEN_NAME="automation"
export PROXMOX_TOKEN_VALUE="your-token-here"

# Run test script
./test-connection.sh

The script will verify:

1. Connection to Proxmox
2. API availability
3. Authentication
4. Permission to list nodes
5. Access to cluster resources

A2A Protocol

Overview

This Proxmox MCP server implements the Agent-to-Agent (A2A) protocol, enabling AI agents to discover, communicate with, and orchestrate infrastructure management tasks autonomously.

Agent Card

The agent-card.json file serves as the agent's identity and capability manifest. It provides:

Location: /agent-card.json (repository root)

Contents:

• Agent name, version, and description
• MCP protocol version and capabilities
• Authentication methods and requirements
• Skill catalog organized by functional category
• Required permissions and dependencies
• Endpoint configuration

Available Skills

The agent provides 20 tools organized into 6 skill categories:

1. Node Management

• list_nodes - List all cluster nodes
• get_node_status - Get node resource usage and status

2. Virtual Machine Management

• list_vms - List VMs (node-specific or cluster-wide)
• get_vm_config - Get VM configuration
• get_vm_status - Get VM status and metrics
• start_vm - Start a VM
• stop_vm - Force stop a VM
• shutdown_vm - Gracefully shutdown a VM
• reboot_vm - Reboot a VM
• create_vm_snapshot - Create VM snapshot
• list_vm_snapshots - List VM snapshots
• delete_vm_snapshot - Delete VM snapshot

3. Container Management

• list_containers - List LXC containers
• get_container_status - Get container status
• start_container - Start container
• stop_container - Stop container

4. Storage Management

• list_storage - List storage devices
• get_storage_status - Get storage usage and capacity

5. Task Management

• list_tasks - List running and recent tasks
• get_task_status - Get task progress and status

6. Cluster Management

• get_cluster_status - Get overall cluster status and resources

Agent-to-Agent Integration

Discovery

Other agents can discover this agent's capabilities by reading the agent card:

import json

# Load agent card
with open('agent-card.json') as f:
    agent_card = json.load(f)

# Discover capabilities
print(f"Agent: {agent_card['name']}")
print(f"Version: {agent_card['version']}")
print(f"Skills: {len(agent_card['skills'])} categories")

# List available skills
for skill in agent_card['skills']:
    print(f"\n{skill['category']}:")
    for capability in skill['capabilities']:
        print(f"  - {capability['name']}: {capability['description']}")

Authentication Setup

Agents can programmatically configure authentication:

# API Token (recommended)
env_config = {
    "PROXMOX_HOST": "192.168.1.100",
    "PROXMOX_USER": "root@pam",
    "PROXMOX_TOKEN_NAME": "automation",
    "PROXMOX_TOKEN_VALUE": "your-token-value"
}

# Or Password-based
env_config = {
    "PROXMOX_HOST": "192.168.1.100",
    "PROXMOX_USER": "root@pam",
    "PROXMOX_PASSWORD": "your-password"
}

Tool Invocation

Agents communicate via MCP protocol:

from mcp import ClientSession, StdioServerParameters
from mcp.client.stdio import stdio_client

# Connect to the agent
server_params = StdioServerParameters(
    command="uv",
    args=["--directory", "/path/to/proxmox-mcp-server", "run", "proxmox-mcp-server"],
    env=env_config
)

async with stdio_client(server_params) as (read, write):
    async with ClientSession(read, write) as session:
        # Initialize session
        await session.initialize()

        # List available tools
        tools = await session.list_tools()

        # Call a tool
        result = await session.call_tool("list_vms", arguments={})
        print(result.content)

Multi-Agent Orchestration Example

Example workflow with multiple agents:

# Agent orchestration: VM backup workflow
async def backup_workflow():
    # 1. Proxmox agent: List VMs
    vms = await proxmox_agent.call_tool("list_vms", {})

    # 2. Proxmox agent: Create snapshots for each VM
    for vm in vms['data']:
        snapshot_name = f"backup-{datetime.now().strftime('%Y%m%d-%H%M%S')}"
        await proxmox_agent.call_tool("create_vm_snapshot", {
            "node": vm['node'],
            "vmid": vm['vmid'],
            "snapname": snapshot_name
        })

    # 3. Storage agent: Verify backup storage capacity
    storage_status = await storage_agent.call_tool("check_capacity", {})

    # 4. Notification agent: Send completion report
    await notification_agent.call_tool("send_alert", {
        "message": f"Backup completed: {len(vms['data'])} VMs"
    })

A2A Protocol Benefits

For AI Agents:

• Self-documenting - Agent card provides complete capability discovery
• Type-safe - Structured skill definitions with input/output schemas
• Composable - Skills can be combined for complex workflows
• Secure - Clear authentication requirements and permissions

For Orchestration Systems:

• Dynamic discovery - Find and integrate agents at runtime
• Capability matching - Match tasks to agent skills automatically
• Parallel execution - Coordinate multiple agents simultaneously
• Error handling - Standardized error responses and retry logic

Integration Examples

Example 1: Infrastructure Monitoring Agent

# Monitoring agent that uses Proxmox agent skills
async def monitor_infrastructure():
    # Get cluster status
    cluster = await proxmox_agent.call_tool("get_cluster_status", {})

    # Get all nodes
    nodes = await proxmox_agent.call_tool("list_nodes", {})

    # Check each node's status
    for node in nodes['data']:
        status = await proxmox_agent.call_tool("get_node_status", {
            "node": node['node']
        })

        # Alert if resource usage is high
        if status['data']['cpu'] > 0.9:
            await alert_agent.send_alert(f"High CPU on {node['node']}")

Example 2: Auto-scaling Agent

# Auto-scaling agent that manages VM capacity
async def autoscale_vms():
    # Get current VM statuses
    vms = await proxmox_agent.call_tool("list_vms", {})

    # Analyze load across VMs
    for vm in vms['data']:
        status = await proxmox_agent.call_tool("get_vm_status", {
            "node": vm['node'],
            "vmid": vm['vmid']
        })

        # Scale based on metrics
        if needs_scaling(status):
            await proxmox_agent.call_tool("start_vm", {
                "node": "pve2",
                "vmid": get_next_vm_id()
            })

Example 3: Disaster Recovery Agent

# DR agent that coordinates backup and recovery
async def disaster_recovery():
    # Take snapshots of all critical VMs
    critical_vms = [100, 101, 102]

    for vmid in critical_vms:
        # Find which node hosts the VM
        vms = await proxmox_agent.call_tool("list_vms", {})
        vm = next(v for v in vms['data'] if v['vmid'] == vmid)

        # Create snapshot
        await proxmox_agent.call_tool("create_vm_snapshot", {
            "node": vm['node'],
            "vmid": vmid,
            "snapname": f"dr-{datetime.now().isoformat()}"
        })

        # Verify snapshot
        snapshots = await proxmox_agent.call_tool("list_vm_snapshots", {
            "node": vm['node'],
            "vmid": vmid
        })

API Documentation

For more information about the Proxmox VE API:

• Proxmox VE API Documentation
• API Viewer
• Proxmox VE Administration Guide

Dependencies

• mcp (>=1.0.0): Model Context Protocol SDK
• httpx (>=0.27.0): Modern HTTP client for Python

Roadmap

Future enhancements may include:

• VM creation and deletion
• Container creation and deletion
• Backup management
• Network configuration
• User and permission management
• Resource pool management
• HA (High Availability) management
• Firewall rule management
• Certificate management
• Real-time monitoring and alerts

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues or pull requests.

Areas for improvement:

• Additional tools/features
• Better error handling
• Performance optimizations
• Documentation improvements
• Test coverage
• Bug fixes

License

MIT

Related Projects

• Model Context Protocol
• Proxmox VE
• uv - Python Package Manager
• MCP Servers Collection

Support

If you encounter issues:

1. Check the documentation files:

   • QUICKSTART.md - Quick setup
   • SETUP.md - Detailed setup with security
   • USAGE.md - Usage examples

2. Test your connection with ./test-connection.sh

3. Check Claude Desktop logs for errors

4. Verify Proxmox server logs: /var/log/pve/

5. Review Proxmox API documentation

Acknowledgments

This project uses:

• The Model Context Protocol by Anthropic
• Proxmox VE API
• Python httpx for HTTP requests
• uv for fast Python package management

---

Ready to get started? → See QUICKSTART.md

Need detailed setup? → See SETUP.md

Want examples? → Check USAGE.md