LXD MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for managing LXD containers and virtual machines.

Features

This MCP server provides the following tools:

Instance Management

• list_instances - List all LXD instances (containers and VMs)
• get_instance - Get detailed information about a specific instance
• get_instance_state - Get current state and resource usage of an instance
• create_instance - Create a new LXD instance (container or VM)
• delete_instance - Delete an instance
• rename_instance - Rename an instance
• update_instance - Update instance configuration (e.g., CPU, memory limits)

Instance Lifecycle

• start_instance - Start a stopped instance
• stop_instance - Stop a running instance (supports force stop)
• restart_instance - Restart a running instance
• freeze_instance - Freeze (pause) a running instance
• unfreeze_instance - Unfreeze (resume) a frozen instance

Instance Operations

• exec_instance - Execute commands in an instance

Image Management

• list_images - List available images

Prerequisites

• LXD installed and running on the system
• Go 1.25.4 or higher
• Access to LXD Unix socket (typically requires user to be in lxd group)

Installation

1. Build the server:

make build

1. Make sure the binary is in your PATH or note its full path for configuration.

Usage

With GitHub Copilot CLI

The easiest way to use this MCP server is with GitHub Copilot CLI:

1. Run the following command to add the server:

/mcp add lxd-mcp-server

1. When prompted, provide the full path to the lxd-mcp-server binary (e.g., /home/user/git/lxd-mcp/lxd-mcp-server)

2. The server will be automatically configured and you can start using LXD tools in your Copilot CLI session

3. To verify the server is running, you can ask Copilot to list your LXD instances or perform other LXD operations

Direct Usage

The MCP server can also communicate directly via JSON-RPC 2.0 over stdin/stdout:

./lxd-mcp-server

Example Tool Calls

List all instances

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "list_instances",
    "arguments": {}
  }
}

Create an instance

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 2,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "create_instance",
    "arguments": {
      "name": "my-container",
      "image": "ubuntu:24.04",
      "type": "container",
      "start": true
    }
  }
}

Get instance details

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 3,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "get_instance",
    "arguments": {
      "name": "my-container"
    }
  }
}

Update instance configuration

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 4,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "update_instance",
    "arguments": {
      "name": "my-container",
      "config": {
        "limits.cpu": "2",
        "limits.memory": "2GiB"
      }
    }
  }
}

Start an instance

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 5,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "start_instance",
    "arguments": {
      "name": "my-container"
    }
  }
}

Execute a command

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 6,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "exec_instance",
    "arguments": {
      "name": "my-container",
      "command": ["ls", "-la", "/"]
    }
  }
}

Delete an instance

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 7,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "delete_instance",
    "arguments": {
      "name": "my-container",
      "force": true
    }
  }
}

Architecture

The server uses the LXD Go client library (github.com/canonical/lxd/client) to interact with LXD via the Unix socket at /var/snap/lxd/common/lxd/unix.socket (or /var/lib/lxd/unix.socket for non-snap installations).

Project Structure

lxd-mcp/
├── main.go                          # Application entry point
├── internal/
│   ├── lxd/                         # LXD tools package
│   │   ├── client.go                # Tools struct and LXD connection
│   │   ├── types.go                 # Argument type definitions
│   │   ├── instances.go             # Instance CRUD operations
│   │   ├── lifecycle.go             # Start/stop/restart operations
│   │   ├── exec.go                  # Command execution
│   │   └── images.go                # Image management
│   └── server/                      # MCP server setup
│       └── server.go                # Tool registration and server initialization
└── doc/                             # Documentation assets

Future Enhancements

Potential additions:

• Snapshot management
• File push/pull operations
• Network configuration
• Storage pool management
• Profile management
• Log access
• Image import/export
• Metadata API integration
• Documentation endpoint integration (snap)

Security Considerations

• The server requires LXD access permissions (user must be in lxd group)
• Command execution in containers has security implications
• Consider implementing authentication for production use
• Validate all input parameters