Runpod MCP server
The official Runpod Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. It lets MCP clients such as Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, and VS Code manage your Runpod Pods, Serverless endpoints, templates, network volumes, and more.
We host it for you at https://mcp.getrunpod.io/ — point your client at that URL and sign in with Runpod. Nothing to install, no API key on disk. Or run it locally from npm as @runpod/mcp-server.
Quick start
The guided installer detects the clients you have installed, asks which to configure, and writes the config for you:
npx @runpod/mcp-server@latest add
It offers two connection modes:
- Hosted (recommended) — points the client at the hosted server and authenticates with "Sign in with Runpod" (OAuth). No API key is stored on disk.
- Local — runs the server through
npx and stores a RUNPOD_API_KEY in the client's config.
To undo later:
npx @runpod/mcp-server@latest remove
Or install the whole Runpod plugin
For the full agent setup, the official plugin marketplace bundles this server with a router skill plus five more — runpod-mcp, runpodctl, flash, runpod-usage, and companion-clis:
npx skills add runpod/runpod-plugins-official
That works in Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Copilot, Windsurf, Cline, Gemini, opencode, and 17+ other agents, and installs the skills — pair it with npx @runpod/mcp-server@latest add above for the control-plane tools.
In Claude Code, the native plugin route also wires up the hosted MCP server for you (OAuth included), so no separate setup is needed:
/plugin marketplace add runpod/runpod-plugins-official
/plugin install runpod@runpod
Requirements
- Node.js 20 or higher.
- A Runpod account and API key.
Connect to the hosted server
To configure a client by hand, point it at the hosted server over HTTP (no local process, no API key stored).
Claude Code:
claude mcp add --transport http runpod -s user https://mcp.getrunpod.io/
Other clients (Cursor, VS Code, Claude Desktop connectors, …) — use a URL-based MCP entry:
{
"mcpServers": {
"runpod": {
"url": "https://mcp.getrunpod.io/"
}
}
}
An OAuth-capable client starts the "Sign in with Runpod" flow automatically on first connect: it opens a browser, you log in to the Runpod console and approve, and the server obtains a Runpod API key scoped to your session. Nothing is stored on disk.
Which account does OAuth pick? The key is minted for whichever account or team profile your browser's console session has selected when you approve. If you belong to multiple teams, switch to the right profile in the console first (or check afterwards — the resources the tools return are that profile's). To change it later, switch profiles in the console and re-authenticate from your MCP client.
Prefer your own API key over OAuth? Append --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" to the claude mcp add command (or add a headers block in the JSON). The server forwards that key to the Runpod API directly.
Usage analytics
The hosted server records one anonymous event per tool call (tool name, status, duration, transport — never your API key, arguments, or any resource data; your identity is an irreversible salted hash). To opt out, send the header X-Runpod-Analytics: off — e.g. append --header "X-Runpod-Analytics: off" to the claude mcp add command. Running locally, nothing is ever sent.
Run locally with npx
Run the server as a local stdio process with your own API key:
RUNPOD_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY npx -y @runpod/mcp-server@latest
Local client setup
Local clients launch the stdio server and set RUNPOD_API_KEY in the environment.
Claude Code:
claude mcp add runpod -s user \
-e RUNPOD_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY \
-- npx -y @runpod/mcp-server@latest
Use -s project for a project-local server. Verify with claude mcp list; in a session, /mcp reconnects.
Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, and other clients — use the same command in the client's MCP config:
{
"mcpServers": {
"runpod": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@runpod/mcp-server@latest"],
"env": {
"RUNPOD_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY"
}
}
}
}
Claude Desktop's config lives at ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows); restart the app after saving. For a broader list of clients, see the MCP clients directory.
Usage examples
Ask your MCP client in natural language:
List all my Runpod Pods.
Create a Runpod Pod named test-pod with image
runpod/pytorch:2.1.0-py3.10-cuda11.8.0-devel-ubuntu22.04,
GPU type NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090, 1 GPU.
Create a Serverless endpoint named my-endpoint with image
runpod/test-output:0.0.1, GPU pool AMPERE_80, 0 min workers, 3 max workers.
Endpoints are image-based — pass an image and a GPU pool (a pool value from list-gpu-types), not a template.
See docs/configuration.md for host overrides, private image pull (registry credentials vs ECR delegation), and large-output handling.
Hosted and local serve the same surface, with one deliberate exception: 68
tools (51 generated from the v2 OpenAPI spec + 17 curated) on both, plus the
four hosted-only ALP tools — report_feedback, save_to_journal,
ask_question, and read_journal, which returns the calling account's own
journal and nobody else's — for 72 hosted. Those four need storage credentials the
npm package cannot hold, so local stdio never registers them and they are
simply absent from tools/list (see
docs/agent-learning-protocol.md). Both
transports also serve the ten Runpod task playbooks as MCP resources under
runpod://skills/. New API endpoints become
tools by regeneration, not by hand-writing code. Start with
specgen/DESIGN.md for a progressive walkthrough, and
specgen/README.md for the regeneration workflow and
drift gates.
Upgrading from 3.x: eight tools follow their spec operationIds (e.g.
create-container-registry-auth → create-registry, get-billing →
list-billing) and start-pod/stop-pod/restart-pod fold into
pod-action with an action argument. The full old→new map is
specgen/old-mcp-tools.yaml. The server is
v2-only; RUNPOD_REST_VERSION and the v1 fallback are retired.
Security
This server acts with the full permissions of the supplied API key.
- Never share your API key.
- Be deliberate with destructive tools.
- Each request authenticates with its own caller-supplied token, which is forwarded to the Runpod API and never persisted server-side. The server never holds a credential of its own and never shares one across users.
Local development
git clone https://github.com/runpod/runpod-mcp.git
cd runpod-mcp
pnpm install
pnpm build
Run the local build directly:
RUNPOD_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY node dist/stdio.mjs
After changes:
pnpm type-check
pnpm lint
pnpm test # offline unit suite — no network or API key required
pnpm build
This project uses changesets for versioning and npm publishing; every PR with user-facing changes needs a changeset. See CLAUDE.md and docs/context.md for full contributor guidance, architecture, and the test suite.
License
Apache-2.0
JavaScript API migration
This major release removes the @runpod/mcp-server/tools package export and
its registerTools API. The legacy registration API is not compatible with
the new generated surface. Applications should connect to the server through
MCP using the runpod-mcp CLI, or use handleMcpRequest from
@runpod/mcp-server/http when embedding the HTTP handler. The HTTP entry point
also no longer re-exports the legacy registerTools or ToolContext.