| name | assistant-mcp |
| license | Apache-2.0 |
| description | Connect AI coding agents (Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, OpenAI Codex) to Grafana Cloud via the `mcp-grafana` Model Context Protocol server. Installs the server with `go install`, generates a Grafana service-account token, wires `~/.claude/settings.json` or `~/.cursor/mcp.json` with the `command` + `env` block, runs `--disable-write` for safer read-only sessions, switches to SSE transport for team-shared / VS Code setups, and verifies with `/mcp` + a `list_datasources` round-trip. Use when connecting Claude Code to Grafana, setting up MCP for Grafana, configuring the Grafana MCP server, using Grafana tools in Cursor/VS Code, querying Grafana from an AI agent, sharing the MCP server across a team — even when the user says "give my agent Grafana access", "let Claude see my metrics", or "Cursor + Grafana" without saying "MCP". |
Grafana Cloud MCP Server Setup
The Grafana MCP server exposes Grafana Cloud capabilities as tools that AI agents can call via the Model Context Protocol. Agents can then query metrics, search dashboards, manage alerts, investigate incidents, and interact with Fleet Management without leaving the coding environment.
Transports: stdio (agent spawns the server as a subprocess, simplest), or SSE (server runs independently, agents connect via HTTP — see references/sse-transport.md).
Common Workflows
Connecting Claude Code to Grafana (stdio)
go install github.com/grafana/mcp-grafana/cmd/mcp-grafana@latest
mcp-grafana --version
-
Get a service-account token: Grafana Cloud → Administration → Service Accounts → create with Viewer role (add Editor only if you need writes) → generate token. Note the Grafana URL (e.g. https://myorg.grafana.net).
-
Wire ~/.claude/settings.json (or project-local .claude/settings.json):
{
"mcpServers": {
"grafana": {
"command": "mcp-grafana",
"args": ["--disable-write"],
"env": {
"GRAFANA_URL": "https://myorg.grafana.net",
"GRAFANA_API_KEY": "glsa_xxxx"
}
}
}
}
--disable-write is the safer default — drop it once you've verified the read path works.
-
Restart Claude Code, then verify:
/mcp
The grafana server should appear with its tool list. Then ask:
What data sources are configured in my Grafana instance?
A clean response = working. If the tool call fails:
- Check
GRAFANA_URL has no trailing slash
- Confirm the API key hasn't expired
- Re-run with
mcp-grafana --debug to see raw request/response
Connecting Cursor
Same Grafana token. Settings → Features → MCP Servers (or edit ~/.cursor/mcp.json):
{
"mcpServers": {
"grafana": {
"command": "mcp-grafana",
"args": ["--disable-write"],
"env": {
"GRAFANA_URL": "https://myorg.grafana.net",
"GRAFANA_API_KEY": "glsa_xxxx"
}
}
}
}
Verify the same way — Cursor surfaces MCP servers in its agent panel; run a query like "list dashboards tagged kubernetes".
Sharing the server across a team (SSE)
Switch from stdio to SSE so the server runs once and many agents connect to it. Full setup with VS Code config in references/sse-transport.md.
Security considerations
- API keys belong in env vars or a secrets manager — never in committed files.
- Use
--disable-write for shared environments and CI; only lift it on the specific machine where the agent should be allowed to mutate Grafana.
- Scope service-account permissions to the minimum:
Viewer is enough for queries and dashboard reads. Only grant Editor when the agent needs to create dashboards or annotations.
- Rotate tokens periodically via Administration → Service Accounts.
References
references/tools.md — full list of MCP tools exposed (query / dashboard / alerting / Fleet Management / annotations) and how to discover the live setreferences/sse-transport.md — SSE setup for team sharing and VS Code, with stdio-vs-SSE decision matrix + common failure modesreferences/a2a.md — Agent-to-Agent (A2A) protocol for delegating reasoning to the Grafana Assistant (vs direct tool calls via MCP)
External resources
