NetBox MCP

NetBox MCP Server

Give AI agents structured access to NetBox, your network source of truth

Installation · Tools · Configuration · Security

NetBox MCP Server is a Python-based Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that gives AI assistants structured access to NetBox - the source of truth for network infrastructure (DCIM and IPAM). A small set of generic tools covers all 139 core object types of NetBox 4.7 (and plugin types, if enabled), plus specialised tools for search, change logs, GraphQL, free IP/prefix/VLAN allocation, prefix utilization, free rack space, cable tracing and connecting, config rendering, custom scripts and (optionally) netbox-branching. Writes can be hidden entirely (read-only mode) or simulated (dry-run mode).

✨ Features

Core Features

• Query any NetBox object type with filtering, ordering and pagination through one tool
• Keep responses small with fields, omit and brief - the tools steer the model to use them
• Search many object types at once, with explicit reporting of failed and truncated types
• Read the change log (who changed what, when) and NetBox status/version/plugins
• Run read-only GraphQL queries for nested data in one round trip
• List free IPs, prefixes, VLANs and ASNs; trace cable paths; render device configs
• Compute prefix utilization (as the NetBox UI shows it) and find racks with room for a device

Management Operations

• Create, update and delete any object type, singly or in bulk (NetBox runs a bulk write as one transaction)
• Allocate the next free IP, prefix, VLAN or ASN atomically
• Connect ports with a cable, naming them by device and port name
• Run NetBox custom scripts (changes rolled back unless commit is set)
• Optionally stage changes in a netbox-branching branch instead of main
• Describe an object type's writable fields and choices before writing

Advanced Capabilities

• Read-only mode hides every write tool; dry-run mode turns every write into a preview
• NetBox v2 (Bearer nbt_...) and legacy v1 (Token ...) API tokens
• Plugin object type discovery (e.g. netbox_dns.zone)
• Filter validation that rejects filters NetBox would silently ignore (__in, multi-hop lookups)
• Retries on 429/5xx without ever replaying a create after a server error
• Tag-based tool filtering, optional tool-search transform, rate limiting and response size limit
• Bearer token authentication for HTTP transport
• Multiple transport options (STDIO, SSE, HTTP)
• Optional Sentry integration for error tracking

🚀 Installation

Prerequisites

• Python 3.11 to 3.15
• A NetBox instance, version 4.2 or newer. Features added later (omit, v2 tokens, /api/authentication-check/) are used when the server detects them
• A NetBox API token with the permissions you want the assistant to have. The token is the real security boundary: a read-only token cannot write, whatever this server's settings are

Quick Install from PyPI

The easiest way to get started is to install from PyPI:

# Using UV (recommended)

uvx netbox-mcp

Or using pip

pip install netbox-mcp

Remember to configure the environment variables for your NetBox instance before running the server:

# Create environment configuration

export NETBOX_URL=https://netbox.example.com export NETBOX_TOKEN=nbt_your-key.your-token

Install from Source

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/mhajder/netbox-mcp.git

cd netbox-mcp

1. Install dependencies:

# Using UV (recommended)

uv sync

Or using pip

pip install -e .

1. Configure environment variables:

cp .env.example .env

Edit .env with your NetBox URL and API token

1. Run the server:

# Using UV (recommended)

uv run netbox-mcp

Or using the installed command directly

netbox-mcp

Using Docker

A Docker image is available on GitHub Packages for easy deployment.

docker pull ghcr.io/mhajder/netbox-mcp:latest

Development Setup

For development with additional tools:

# Clone and install with development dependencies

git clone https://github.com/mhajder/netbox-mcp.git cd netbox-mcp uv sync --group dev

Run tests

uv run pytest

Run with coverage

uv run pytest --cov=src/

Run linting and formatting

uv run ruff check . uv run ruff format .

Run type checking

uv run ty check .

Setup prek hooks

uv run prek install

🔧 Configuration

Environment Variables

# NetBox MCP Server Environment Configuration

NetBox Connection Details

NETBOX_URL=https://netbox.example.com

API Token - v2 tokens (nbt_ . , NetBox 4.5+) are sent as "Bearer",

legacy v1 tokens as "Token"

NETBOX_TOKEN=nbt_your-key.your-token

SSL Configuration

NETBOX_VERIFY_SSL=true

Total time allowed for one NetBox request, retries included (seconds)

NETBOX_TIMEOUT=30

Branching (requires the netbox-branching plugin)

Set NETBOX_BRANCHING_ENABLED true to add the branch tools and the 'branch'

argument to every tool. Off by default - leave it off on a NetBox without the plugin

NETBOX_BRANCHING_ENABLED=false

Default branch (name or schema ID) used by every call; empty = main.

Requires NETBOX_BRANCHING_ENABLED=true

NETBOX_BRANCH=

Plugin Discovery

Set NETBOX_PLUGIN_DISCOVERY true to expose plugin models (e.g. netbox_dns.zone)

NETBOX_PLUGIN_DISCOVERY=false

Read-Only Mode

Set READ_ONLY_MODE true to hide all write tools (create, update, delete)

READ_ONLY_MODE=false

Dry-Run Mode

Set DRY_RUN_MODE true to make every write tool only simulate the change:

it returns the request it would send and never modifies NetBox

DRY_RUN_MODE=false

Disabled Tags

Comma-separated list of tags to disable tools for (empty by default)

Example: DISABLED_TAGS=delete,graphql,branching

DISABLED_TAGS=

Logging Configuration

LOG_LEVEL=INFO

Response Size Limit

Maximum tool response size in bytes; larger responses are truncated (empty = unlimited)

RESPONSE_MAX_SIZE=

Rate Limiting

Set RATE_LIMIT_ENABLED true to enable rate limiting

RATE_LIMIT_ENABLED=false RATE_LIMIT_MAX_REQUESTS=60 RATE_LIMIT_WINDOW_MINUTES=1

Tool Search Transform (Optional)

Set TOOL_SEARCH_ENABLED true to replace full tool listings with search_tools + call_tool

TOOL_SEARCH_ENABLED=false

Search strategy: bm25 (natural language) or regex (pattern match)

TOOL_SEARCH_STRATEGY=bm25

Maximum number of tools returned by search_tools

TOOL_SEARCH_MAX_RESULTS=5

Sentry Error Tracking (Optional)

Set SENTRY_DSN to enable error tracking and performance monitoring

SENTRY_DSN=https://your-key@o12345.ingest.us.sentry.io/6789

Optional Sentry configuration

SENTRY_TRACES_SAMPLE_RATE=1.0

SENTRY_SEND_DEFAULT_PII=false

SENTRY_ENVIRONMENT=production

SENTRY_RELEASE=1.2.3

SENTRY_PROFILE_SESSION_SAMPLE_RATE=1.0

SENTRY_PROFILE_LIFECYCLE=trace

SENTRY_ENABLE_LOGS=true

MCP Transport Configuration

Transport type: 'stdio' (default), 'sse' (Server-Sent Events), or 'http' (HTTP Streamable)

'streamable-http' is accepted as an alias for 'http'. Any other value stops

the server at startup.

MCP_TRANSPORT=stdio

HTTP Transport Settings (used when MCP_TRANSPORT=sse or MCP_TRANSPORT=http)

Host to bind the HTTP server (default: 127.0.0.1)

MCP_HTTP_HOST=127.0.0.1

Port to bind the HTTP server (default: 8000)

MCP_HTTP_PORT=8000

Optional bearer token for authentication (leave empty for no auth)

MCP_HTTP_BEARER_TOKEN=

Set NETBOX_TOKEN_PASSTHROUGH true to make every client authenticate with its own

NetBox API token (Authorization: Bearer ); NetBox then applies that user's

permissions. NETBOX_TOKEN is ignored. Cannot be combined with MCP_HTTP_BEARER_TOKEN

NETBOX_TOKEN_PASSTHROUGH=false

🧰 Available Tools

Object types are named app.model, as NetBox itself names them (dcim.device, ipam.prefix, virtualization.virtualmachine). API paths such as dcim/devices are accepted too. With branching enabled, every tool that reads or writes objects also takes an optional branch argument.

Objects (read)

Specialised (read)

Write

Tool Tags

Every tool is tagged netbox plus a group tag, which `DI