Readme: Metabase MCP Server

A comprehensive Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Metabase integration, providing AI assistants with full access to Metabase's analytics platform.

🚀 Quick Start

# Install and run with npx
export METABASE_URL=https://your-metabase-instance.com
export METABASE_API_KEY=your_metabase_api_key
npx @cognitionai/metabase-mcp-server

✨ Features

🎯 81+ Tools Available - Complete Metabase API Coverage

• 📊 Dashboard Management (23 tools) - Full CRUD operations, card management, public sharing, embedding
• 📈 Card/Question Management (21 tools) - Query execution, parameter handling, pivot queries, public links
• 🗄️ Database Management (13 tools) - Connection management, schema sync, query execution
• 📋 Table Management (16 tools) - Metadata operations, field management, data operations
• 🔍 Additional Tools (9 tools) - Collections, search, users, activity tracking, playground links

📦 Installation

💡 Recommended: Node.js 20.19.0+ and npm 8.0.0+ for optimal compatibility

Method 1: NPX (Recommended)

npx @cognitionai/metabase-mcp-server

Method 2: Global Installation

npm install -g @cognitionai/metabase-mcp-server
metabase-mcp-server

Method 3: Docker

docker run -it --rm \
  -e METABASE_URL=https://your-metabase-instance.com \
  -e METABASE_API_KEY=your_metabase_api_key \
  ghcr.io/CognitionAI/metabase-mcp-server

⚙️ Configuration

Environment Variables

API Key Authentication (Preferred):

export METABASE_URL=https://your-metabase-instance.com
export METABASE_API_KEY=your_metabase_api_key

Username/Password Authentication (Fallback):

export METABASE_URL=https://your-metabase-instance.com
export METABASE_USERNAME=your_username
export METABASE_PASSWORD=your_password

Optional Arguments

The server supports command-line arguments to customize tool loading:

• --essential (default): Load only essential tools
• --all: Load all 80+ available tools
• --write: Load only write/modification tools
• --read: Load only read-only tools

# Using published package (recommended)
# Default behavior (essential tools only)
npx @cognitionai/metabase-mcp-server

# Load all tools
npx @cognitionai/metabase-mcp-server --all

# Load only write tools
npx @cognitionai/metabase-mcp-server --write

# Load only read-only tools
npx @cognitionai/metabase-mcp-server --read

# Using local development build
npm run build
node dist/server.js                    # Default (essential tools)
node dist/server.js --all             # All tools
node dist/server.js --write           # Write tools only
node dist/server.js --read            # Read-only tools only

🔌 Integration Examples

Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop config (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS):

Using published package:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "metabase": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@cognitionai/metabase-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "METABASE_URL": "https://your-metabase-instance.com",
        "METABASE_API_KEY": "your_metabase_api_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Using local development build:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "metabase": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/metabase-mcp-server/dist/server.js"],
      "env": {
        "METABASE_URL": "https://your-metabase-instance.com",
        "METABASE_API_KEY": "your_metabase_api_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

With custom flags:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "metabase-all": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@cognitionai/metabase-mcp-server", "--all"],
      "env": {
        "METABASE_URL": "https://your-metabase-instance.com",
        "METABASE_API_KEY": "your_metabase_api_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Windsurf IDE

Add to your Windsurf MCP config (~/.windsurf/mcp_config.json):

Using published package:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "metabase": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@cognitionai/metabase-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "METABASE_URL": "https://your-metabase-instance.com",
        "METABASE_API_KEY": "your_metabase_api_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Using local development build:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "metabase": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/metabase-mcp-server/dist/server.js"],
      "env": {
        "METABASE_URL": "https://your-metabase-instance.com",
        "METABASE_API_KEY": "your_metabase_api_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

With custom flags:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "metabase-read": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@cognitionai/metabase-mcp-server", "--read"],
      "env": {
        "METABASE_URL": "https://your-metabase-instance.com",
        "METABASE_API_KEY": "your_metabase_api_key"
      }
    },
    "metabase-write": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@cognitionai/metabase-mcp-server", "--write"],
      "env": {
        "METABASE_URL": "https://your-metabase-instance.com",
        "METABASE_API_KEY": "your_metabase_api_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

🛠️ Available Tools

Core Operations

• list_dashboards - List all dashboards
• get_dashboard - Get dashboard by ID
• create_dashboard - Create new dashboard
• update_dashboard - Update existing dashboard
• delete_dashboard - Delete dashboard
• copy_dashboard - Copy dashboard

Card Management

• get_dashboard_cards - Get all cards in dashboard
• add_card_to_dashboard - Add card to dashboard
• remove_card_from_dashboard - Remove card from dashboard
• update_dashboard_card - Update card position/settings
• execute_dashboard_card - Execute specific dashboard card

Public Sharing & Embedding

• create_public_link - Create public dashboard link
• delete_public_link - Delete public dashboard link
• list_public_dashboards - List public dashboards
• list_embeddable_dashboards - List embeddable dashboards

Parameters & Queries

• get_dashboard_param_values - Get parameter values
• search_dashboard_param_values - Search parameter values
• get_dashboard_param_remapping - Get parameter remapping
• execute_dashboard_query - Execute dashboard queries

Advanced Features

• get_dashboard_related - Get related content
• get_dashboard_query_metadata - Get query metadata
• update_dashboard_cards - Bulk update cards
• save_dashboard - Save dashboard changes
• get_dashboard_items - Get dashboard items

Core Operations

• list_cards - List all cards/questions
• get_card - Get card by ID
• create_card - Create new card
• update_card - Update existing card
• delete_card - Delete card
• copy_card - Copy card

Query Execution

• execute_card - Execute card query
• execute_card_query_with_format - Execute with specific format
• execute_pivot_card_query - Execute pivot query
• get_card_query_metadata - Get query metadata

Card Management

• move_cards - Move cards between collections
• move_cards_to_collection - Bulk move to collection
• get_card_dashboards - Get dashboards containing card
• get_card_series - Get card series data

Parameters & Values

• get_card_param_values - Get parameter values
• search_card_param_values - Search parameter values
• get_card_param_remapping - Get parameter remapping

Public Sharing

• create_card_public_link - Create public card link
• delete_card_public_link - Delete public card link
• get_public_cards - List public cards
• get_embeddable_cards - List embeddable cards

Core Operations

• list_databases - List all databases
• get_database - Get database details
• create_database - Create database connection
• update_database - Update database settings
• delete_database - Delete database connection

Schema & Metadata

• get_database_schema_tables - Get database tables
• get_database_schemas - Get database schemas
• get_database_metadata - Get complete metadata
• sync_database_schema - Sync schema metadata

Query Operations

• execute_query - Execute SQL queries
• execute_query_export - Execute and export results

Maintenance

• get_database_usage_info - Get usage statistics
• rescan_database_field_values - Rescan field values

Core Operations

• list_tables - List tables with filtering
• get_table - Get table details
• update_table - Update table configuration
• update_tables - Bulk update tables

Data Operations

• get_table_data - Retrieve table data
• append_csv_to_table - Append CSV data
• replace_table_csv - Replace with CSV data

Schema & Relationships

• get_table_query_metadata - Get query metadata
• get_table_fks - Get foreign key relationships
• get_table_related - Get related tables
• sync_table_schema - Sync table schema

Field Management

• reorder_table_fields - Reorder field display
• rescan_table_field_values - Rescan field values
• discard_table_field_values - Discard cached values

Card Integration

• get_card_table_fks - Get card table foreign keys
• get_card_table_query_metadata - Get card table metadata

Collections

• list_collections - List all collections
• create_collection - Create new collection
• update_collection - Update collection
• delete_collection - Delete collection
• get_collection_items - Get collection items

Search & Discovery

• search_content - Search across all content

Activity & Analytics

• get_recent_views - Get recent activity
• get_popular_items - Get popular content

Playground Links

• get_metabase_playground_link - Generate interactive playground links

🧪 Development

Setup

git clone https://github.com/CognitionAI/metabase-mcp-server.git
cd metabase-mcp-server
npm install

Build

npm run build

Development Mode

npm run watch

Debugging

Use the MCP Inspector for debugging:

npm run inspector

🔍 Testing Authentication

API Key Authentication

1. Set METABASE_URL and METABASE_API_KEY
2. Start server and verify "Using Metabase API Key" in logs
3. Test with list_dashboards tool

Username/Password Authentication

1. Unset METABASE_API_KEY
2. Set METABASE_URL, METABASE_USERNAME, METABASE_PASSWORD
3. Start server and verify "Using username/password" in logs
4. Test with list_dashboards tool

🐛 Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Authentication Errors:

• Verify your Metabase URL is accessible
• Check API key validity in Metabase admin settings
• Ensure username/password credentials are correct

Connection Issues:

• Confirm Metabase instance is running
• Check network connectivity
• Verify SSL certificates if using HTTPS

Tool Execution Errors:

• Check Metabase permissions for your user/API key
• Verify the requested resource exists
• Review server logs for detailed error messages

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please visit our GitHub repository to:

• 🐛 Report bugs
• 💡 Request features
• 🔧 Submit pull requests
• 📖 Improve documentation

Development Guidelines

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes with tests
4. Ensure all tests pass
5. Submit a pull request

🆘 Support

• 📚 Documentation
• 🐛 Issue Tracker

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