VMWare MCP

An MCP server that gives AI agents direct access to your VMware vSphere infrastructure. Built on top of govc, it exposes 55 typed tools covering VM lifecycle, snapshots, datastores, networking, and more — with additional tools being added over time.

Tool output is formatted in TOON for token-efficient LLM consumption, with automatic JSON fallback.

Available Tools

Category	Tools
Navigation	about, ls, find, tree, events, tasks, logs, logs.ls
VM Lifecycle	vm.create, vm.clone, vm.instantclone, vm.destroy, vm.register, vm.unregister, vm.upgrade
VM Configuration	vm.change, vm.customize, vm.info, vm.ip, vm.power, vm.migrate, vm.vnc, vm.question
VM Disks	vm.disk.create, vm.disk.attach, vm.disk.change, vm.disk.promote
VM Networking	vm.network.add, vm.network.change
VM Options & Policies	vm.option.info, vm.option.ls, vm.policy.ls, vm.target.info, vm.target.cap.ls, vm.guest.tools
Snapshots	snapshot.create, snapshot.remove, snapshot.export, snapshot.tree
Datastore	datastore.info, datastore.ls, datastore.cp, datastore.mv, datastore.tail, datastore.disk.info, datastore.cluster.info, datastore.cluster.change, datastore.maintenance.enter, datastore.maintenance.exit
Session	session.login, session.logout, session.ls, session.rm
vSAN	vsan.info
Task	task.cancel

Plus 3 meta tools: govc_search (fuzzy search across all commands), govc_help (get help for any command), and govc_run (escape hatch for any govc command).

First, copy and fill in your credentials:

cp .env.docker.example .env.docker   # edit with your vCenter URL, username & password

Quick Start — Ephemeral

A fresh container per connection, removed when done.

# Docker
docker run --rm -i --env-file .env.docker ghcr.io/2501-ai/vmware-mcp

# Claude Code
claude mcp add vmware-mcp -- docker run --rm -i --env-file .env.docker ghcr.io/2501-ai/vmware-mcp

Quick Start — Persistent

The container runs as a long-lived service. Clients connect via docker exec.

# Docker (once)
docker run -d --name vmware-mcp --restart unless-stopped \
  --env-file .env.docker -e MCP_KEEP_ALIVE=true ghcr.io/2501-ai/vmware-mcp

# Claude Code
claude mcp add vmware-mcp -- docker exec -i vmware-mcp vmware-mcp

Restart Claude Code after running claude mcp add. Tools appear as mcp__vmware-mcp__*. Check status with /mcp.

Quick Start — From Source

git clone https://github.com/2501-ai/vmware-mcp.git
cd vmware-mcp
bun install
cp .env.example .env  # fill in your credentials
bun run start          # run the MCP server over stdio

To explore and test tools interactively, you can use the MCP Inspector instead:

bun run ui

Configuration

Variable	Required	Description
GOVC_URL	✅	vCenter / ESXi SDK URL (e.g. https://vcenter.example.com/sdk)
GOVC_USERNAME	✅	vSphere username
GOVC_PASSWORD	✅	vSphere password
GOVC_INSECURE		Set 1 to skip TLS verification
GOVC_BIN		Path to govc binary (default: govc)
GOVC_TIMEOUT_MS		Subprocess timeout in ms (default: 120000)
MCP_KEEP_ALIVE		Set true for persistent container mode (see above)

SSH Tunnel

If vCenter is only reachable through an internal network:

ssh [-J jump_user@jump_host] -L 8443:vcenter_host:443 user@internal_host -N

Then use GOVC_URL=https://localhost:8443/sdk with GOVC_INSECURE=1.

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Development

Prerequisites

• Bun ≥ 1.0
• govc in PATH

Scripts

Script	Description
bun run start	Run MCP server (stdio)
bun run dev	Run with --watch
bun run ui	Launch MCP Inspector (web UI)
bun run check	Biome + tsc (CI gate)
bun run docker:build	Build Docker image (native arch)
bun run docker:build:ci	Build Docker image (linux/amd64)

Adding a Command

1. Add entry to GOVC_COMMAND_INDEX in src/commands.ts.
2. Add GovcToolDef to GOVC_TOOL_DEFS with typed flags.
3. Generator wires it automatically.
4. bun run check.

License

MIT