Docker MCP Server

Docker MCP Server — Docker tools for AI agents

A Docker MCP server that lets AI agents operate Compose stacks with structured, Docker-native tools — instead of brittle shell commands and terminal-shaped output.

Inspect containers, read logs, check health, query databases, take dumps, and bring stacks up or down — on your laptop or on a server across the world by naming its profile.

It speaks Docker the way you do: your compose files, project names, and service names. Answers come back as named fields with enough context for an agent to act on them, rather than parse an ASCII table and guess.

Works with Claude Code, Codex CLI, Cursor, opencode, Gemini CLI, Qwen Code and other MCP clients.

Install · Tools · Setup · Security · Docs · Changelog

Install in 30 seconds

No global installation required. npx downloads the package on first use:

npx -y @hypnosis/docker-mcp-server

Add it to your MCP client — Claude Code, for example — for every project:

claude mcp add docker -s user -- npx -y @hypnosis/docker-mcp-server

That is the whole setup for the Docker on this machine. No profiles file, no environment variables: the server uses the local Docker socket, and the compose project of your working directory is the project it answers about.

For a Docker host on another machine, add one file with the servers you reach over SSH:

claude mcp add docker -s user \
  -e DOCKER_MCP_PROFILES_FILE="$HOME/.claude/docker-profiles.json" \
  -- npx -y @hypnosis/docker-mcp-server

{
  "default": "local",
  "profiles": {
    "local": { "mode": "local" },
    "production": {
      "host": "prod.example.com",
      "username": "deployer",
      "privateKeyPath": "~/.ssh/id_ed25519"
    }
  }
}

Now every tool takes a profile, and docker_health({ action: "profiles" }) lists what the server was given.

Codex, Cursor, opencode and other clients are covered in Set up the Docker MCP server.

Install as a plugin

Some clients — Claude Code, for example — can take the whole thing as a plugin instead:

/plugin marketplace add hypnosis/docker-mcp-server
/plugin install docker-mcp-server@docker-mcp-server

The plugin brings the server up against the Docker on this machine, with no configuration at all. Point it at other hosts the same way as above, with DOCKERMCPPROFILES_FILE.

Requirements

Shortened. The full README is on GitHub.