MCP RIPEstat

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for the RIPEstat Data API, providing network information for IP addresses and prefixes.

[!CAUTION] This MCP server is currently under active development. It may not be stable and is subject to change. Please use with caution.

About RIPEstat

RIPEstat is a large-scale information service and the RIPE NCC's open data platform. It provides essential data on IP address space and Autonomous System Numbers (ASNs), along with related statistics for specific hostnames and countries. This service is a valuable tool for network operators, security researchers, and anyone interested in the structure and performance of the Internet, offering insights into routing, registration data, DNS, and geographical information.

For more information, visit the RIPEstat website and consult the Data API documentation.

Use Cases

Using MCP Client allows you to leverage a Large Language Model (LLM) to query RIPEStat using natural language. This means you can ask complex questions about network information, IP addresses, ASNs, and other RIPEStat data without needing to know the underlying API or query syntax. The client translates your natural language queries into appropriate API calls, making it easier and more intuitive to access and analyze RIPEStat data for research, troubleshooting, or network management tasks.

Investigation Workflows

For examples, investigation workflows, and usage patterns, see PROMPTS.

Features

This MCP server provides intelligent access to RIPEstat Data API through 7 directly accessible tools:

Consolidated Semantic Tools (6 tools that automatically detect resource types and route requests):

• 🔍 investigateResource - Primary investigation tool with auto-detection and intelligent routing
• 📊 analyzeRouting - BGP and routing analysis with timeframe support
• 📋 queryRegistry - Registry and administrative data lookup
• 🔒 validateSecurity - Security and compliance checks (RPKI, abuse contacts)
• 🌐 exploreRelationships - Network topology and relationships
• 🌍 searchByLocation - Geographic analysis by country

Utility Tool (1 tool):

• 🔧 getWhatsMyIP - Get caller's public IP address

[!NOTE] Only these 7 tools are directly callable. Individual RIPEstat endpoints (like getNetworkInfo, getASOverview, etc.) are internal implementation details and are automatically called by the consolidated tools based on resource type and requested operations.

Resource Detection: Automatically identifies IP addresses, prefixes, ASNs, and country codes without requiring explicit type specification.

Operation Routing: Maps semantic operations to the most relevant RIPEstat endpoints based on resource type and context.

See ENDPOINT_PARITY for implementation status of underlying RIPEstat endpoints.

Architectural Rationale

HTTP Transport Choice: This server implements MCP over Streamable HTTP rather than stdio transport, enabling deployment as a standalone network service that multiple MCP clients can access concurrently without process spawning overhead.

Legacy Protocol Fallback: The server maintains backwards compatibility with the deprecated transports.

Concurrent Request Management: Semaphore-based rate limiting operates per-server instance rather than per-client-connection, managing RIPE API quotas across multiple concurrent sessions.

[!WARNING] At current stage this MCP server does not provide authentication. The initial version of MCP released on 2024-11-05 did not support authorization. However, in the 2025-03-26 update, the MCP protocol introduced an OAuth 2.1-based authorization mechanism. It is still not widely adopted and might be subject to change in the future - therefore, we recommend using a firewall or other native MCP solution, such as MCPProxy, to restrict access to the server.

Installation

Prerequisites

• Go 1.26.2 or higher
• Make

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/taihen/mcp-ripestat.git
cd mcp-ripestat

# Install dependencies
make deps

# Build the application
make build

Usage

# Run the server
./bin/mcp-ripestat

# Run with custom port
./bin/mcp-ripestat --port 8081

# Enable debug logging
./bin/mcp-ripestat --debug

# Show help
./bin/mcp-ripestat --help

Health Check Endpoints

The server provides essential monitoring endpoints:

• /status - Server status with uptime, version, and health information
• /warmup - Warmup endpoint to prevent cold starts in containerized deployments

These endpoints are essential for load balancers, monitoring systems, and deployment orchestration.

MCP Protocol Support

Streamable HTTP Transport

• Endpoint: /mcp (streaming occurs over the same request/response channel) • Protocol: Stream-framed HTTP (per MCP spec 2025-06-18) • Status: Default transport for all MCP clients implementing the 2025-06-18 spec • Features: Bidirectional streaming, incremental responses, zero-copy frames

JSON-RPC 2.0 Endpoint

• Endpoint: /mcp • Protocol: JSON-RPC 2.0 • Status: Recommended production endpoint (replaces REST) • Features: Full MCP handshake, capability negotiation, tool invocation, compatible with Cursor IDE and other MCP-compliant clients

MCP Client Configuration

To use this MCP server locally, simply copy and paste the MCP client configuration into your MCP client

• Cursor: macOS/Linux: ~/.cursor/mcp.json
• Claude Code (local server): claude mcp add --transport http ripestat http://localhost:8080/mcp
• Codex CLI (local server): codex mcp add ripestat --url http://localhost:8080/mcp

Demo Server

A demo MCP server is running at https://mcp-ripestat.taihen.org/mcp. Feel free to try it out, but there are no uptime promises.

Add Demo Server from CLI

Use user scope to make the server available across projects.

Claude Code:

claude mcp add-json ripestat --scope user '{"type":"http","url":"https://mcp-ripestat.taihen.org/mcp"}'

Codex CLI:

codex mcp add ripestat --url https://mcp-ripestat.taihen.org/mcp

Verify configuration:

claude mcp list
codex mcp list

Using the Demo Server with Codex Config File

Codex reads MCP server definitions from ~/.codex/config.toml (global) or .codex/config.toml (project-local), not from mcp-demo.json.

Add this server entry:

[mcp_servers.ripestat]
url = "https://mcp-ripestat.taihen.org/mcp"

Then restart Codex and run /mcp to verify that ripestat is connected.

You can now ask prompts such as:

• Investigate 8.8.8.8 and summarize ownership, routing, and abuse contacts.
• Analyze routing for AS3333 and show key anomalies.

Testing

# Run tests
make test

# Run tests with coverage report
make test-coverage

# Run end-to-end tests
make e2e-test

# Run linters
make lint

# Format code
make fmt

# Clean build artifacts
make clean

# Install dependencies
make deps

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read contributing guidelines to see how you can participate.

Development

The development process is organized into sprints, with each sprint focused on a specific feature. A detailed ledger of all the past and feature changes, divided by sprints, is available in the sprints documentation.

[!NOTE] If a particular feature is not included, please feel free to open issue to discuss it.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the license file for details.