🔌 Itential - MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides comprehensive tools for connecting LLMs to Itential Platform. Enable AI assistants to manage network automations, orchestrate workflows, monitor platform health, and perform advanced network operations.

🎯 Who This Is For

Platform Engineers

Manage infrastructure, monitor system health, configure devices, and orchestrate network operations through AI-powered automation.

Developers

Build automation workflows, integrate with external systems, manage application lifecycles, and extend platform capabilities.

📒 Key Features

Core Capabilities

• 56+ Automation Tools: Comprehensive toolkit across 10 tag categories for all network automation needs
• Advanced Tool Selection: Filter and control available tools using flexible tagging system
• Multiple Transport Methods: stdio, SSE, and HTTP transports with optional TLS encryption
• Dynamic Tool Discovery: Automatically discovers and registers tools without code modifications
• Flexible Authentication: Supports basic auth, OAuth 2.0, JWT, and role-based access for Itential Platform
• Comprehensive Configuration: CLI parameters, environment variables, or configuration files
• Role-Based Access: Tailored tool configurations for Platform Administrators, Network Engineers, and Developers

Network Automation & Device Management

• Device Configuration: Apply configurations, backup device settings, and retrieve current configurations
• Command Execution: Run single commands or command templates across multiple devices with rule validation
• Device Groups: Create and manage logical device collections for streamlined operations
• Compliance Management: Automated compliance plan execution and detailed reporting
• Golden Configuration: Hierarchical template-based configuration management with version control

Workflow & Orchestration

• Workflow Execution: Start workflows via API endpoints and monitor execution status
• Job Management: Track workflow jobs with comprehensive status, metrics, and task details
• Workflow Exposure: Convert workflows into REST API endpoints for external consumption
• Template Management: Create, update, and execute Jinja2 and TextFSM templates
• Performance Metrics: Detailed job and task execution metrics for workflow optimization

Platform Operations & Monitoring

• Health Monitoring: Real-time platform health including system resources, applications, and adapters
• Component Lifecycle: Start, stop, and restart applications and adapters with status monitoring
• Integration Management: Create and manage OpenAPI-based integration models
• Gateway Services: Execute external services (Ansible, Python scripts, OpenTofu) through Gateway Manager

Lifecycle & Resource Management

• Resource Models: Define JSON Schema-based resource structures with lifecycle workflows
• Instance Management: Full CRUD operations on resource instances with state tracking
• Action Execution: Run lifecycle actions with comprehensive execution history
• Data Validation: Schema-based validation for resource data and action parameters

🔍 Requirements

• Python 3.10 or higher
• Access to an Itential Platform Instance
• For development - uv and make

Tested Python Versions

This project is automatically tested against the following Python versions:

• Python 3.10
• Python 3.11
• Python 3.12
• Python 3.13

🔧 Installation

The itential-mcp application can be installed using either PyPI or it can be run directly from source.

PyPI Installation

To install it from PyPI, simply use pip:

pip install itential-mcp

Local Development

The repository can also be clone the repository to your local environment to work with the MCP server. The project uses uv and make so both tools would need to be installed and available in your environment.

The following commands can be used to get started.

git clone https://github.com/itential/itential-mcp
cd itential-mcp
make build

For development, you can run the server directly using uv:

# Run with stdio transport (default)
uv run itential-mcp run

# Run with SSE transport
uv run itential-mcp run --transport sse --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000

# Run with specific configuration
uv run itential-mcp run --include-tags "system,devices" --exclude-tags "experimental"

Container Usage

Pull from GitHub Container Registry

Pull and run the latest release:

# Pull the latest image
docker pull ghcr.io/itential/itential-mcp:latest

# Run with SSE transport
docker run -p 8000:8000 \
  --env ITENTIAL_MCP_SERVER_TRANSPORT=sse \
  --env ITENTIAL_MCP_SERVER_HOST=0.0.0.0 \
  --env ITENTIAL_MCP_SERVER_PORT=8000 \
  --env ITENTIAL_MCP_PLATFORM_HOST=your-platform.example.com \
  --env ITENTIAL_MCP_PLATFORM_USER=your-username \
  --env ITENTIAL_MCP_PLATFORM_PASSWORD=your-password \
  ghcr.io/itential/itential-mcp:latest

# Or with OAuth authentication
docker run -p 8000:8000 \
  --env ITENTIAL_MCP_SERVER_TRANSPORT=sse \
  --env ITENTIAL_MCP_SERVER_HOST=0.0.0.0 \
  --env ITENTIAL_MCP_SERVER_PORT=8000 \
  --env ITENTIAL_MCP_PLATFORM_HOST=your-platform.example.com \
  --env ITENTIAL_MCP_PLATFORM_CLIENT_ID=CLIENT_ID \
  --env ITENTIAL_MCP_PLATFORM_CLIENT_SECRET=CLIENT_SECRET \
  ghcr.io/itential/itential-mcp:latest

# Run with stdio transport (for MCP clients)
docker run -i \
  --env ITENTIAL_MCP_PLATFORM_HOST=your-platform.example.com \
  --env ITENTIAL_MCP_PLATFORM_USER=your-username \
  --env ITENTIAL_MCP_PLATFORM_PASSWORD=your-password \
  ghcr.io/itential/itential-mcp:latest

Build Container Image Locally

Build and run from source:

# Build the container image
make container

# Run the locally built container
docker run -p 8000:8000 \
  --env ITENTIAL_MCP_SERVER_TRANSPORT=sse \
  --env ITENTIAL_MCP_SERVER_HOST=0.0.0.0 \
  --env ITENTIAL_MCP_SERVER_PORT=8000 \
  --env ITENTIAL_MCP_PLATFORM_HOST=your-platform.example.com \
  --env ITENTIAL_MCP_PLATFORM_USER=your-username \
  --env ITENTIAL_MCP_PLATFORM_PASSWORD=your-password \
  itential-mcp:devel

🚀 Quick Start

1. Install the Server

pip install itential-mcp

2. Configure Platform Connection

Set your Itential Platform credentials:

export ITENTIAL_MCP_PLATFORM_HOST="your-platform.example.com"
export ITENTIAL_MCP_PLATFORM_USER="your-username"
export ITENTIAL_MCP_PLATFORM_PASSWORD="your-password"

3. Start the Server

# Basic stdio transport (default)
itential-mcp run

# Or with SSE transport for web clients
itential-mcp run --transport sse --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000

4. Configure Your MCP Client

Follow the integration guide to connect Claude, Continue.dev, or other MCP clients.

📝 Basic Usage

Start the MCP server with default settings (stdio transport):

itential-mcp run

Start with SSE transport:

itential-mcp run --transport sse --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000

General Options

Option	Description	Default
--config	Path to the config file	none

Server Options

Option	Description	Default
--transport	Transport protocol (stdio, sse, http)	stdio
--host	Host address to listen on	127.0.0.1
--port	Port to listen on	8000
--path	The HTTP path to use	/mcp
--log-level	Log level (DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR, CRITICAL, NONE)	NONE
--include-tags	Tags to include registered tools	none
--exclude-tags	Tags to exclude registered tools	experimental,beta

Platform Configuration

Option	Description	Default
--platform-host	Itential Platform hostname	localhost
--platform-port	Platform port (0 = auto-detect)	0
--platform-disable-tls	Disable TLS for platform connection	false
--platform-disable-verify	Disable certificate verification	false
--platform-timeout	Connection timeout	30
--platform-user	Username for authentication	admin
--platform-password	Password for authentication	admin
--platform-client-id	OAuth client ID	none
--platform-client-secret	OAuth client secret	none

Environment Variables

All command line options can also be set using environment variables prefixed with ITENTIAL_MCP_SERVER_. For example:

export ITENTIAL_MCP_SERVER_TRANSPORT=sse
export ITENTIAL_MCP_PLATFORM_HOST=platform.example.com
itential-mcp run  # Will use the environment variables

Configuration file

The server configuration can also be specified using a configuration file. The configuration file can be used to pass in all the configuration parameters. To use a configuration file, simply pass in the --config <path> command line argument where <path> points to the configuration file to load.

The format and values for the configuration file are documented here

When configuration options are specified in multiple places the following precedence for determinting the value to be used will be honored from highest to lowest:

1. Environment variable
2. Command line option
3. Configuration file
4. Default value

🎛️ Tool Selection & Tagging

The Itential MCP server provides powerful tool filtering capabilities through a comprehensive tagging system. This allows you to customize which tools are available based on your specific needs and security requirements.

Tag-Based Filtering

Control tool availability using include and exclude tags:

# Include only health and device management tools  
itential-mcp run --include-tags "health,configuration_manager"

# Exclude experimental and beta tools (default behavior)
itential-mcp run --exclude-tags "experimental,beta,lifecycle_manager"

Available Tag Groups

Tag Group	Tool Count	Description	Use Case
health	1	Platform health and monitoring	Platform administrators
configuration_manager	15	Device, compliance, and config management	Network engineers
operations_manager	5	Workflow and job management	Automation developers
automation_studio	8	Command templates, projects, templates	Network operators
lifecycle_manager	7	Resource lifecycle and instance management	Product managers
workflow_engine	6	Workflow execution metrics	Performance analysts
adapters	4	Adapter lifecycle management	Integration specialists
applications	4	Application lifecycle management	Application owners
gateway_manager	3	External service management	System integrators
integrations	3	External system integrations	API developers

Role-Based Configurations

The following role-based configurations provide tailored tool access based on specific job functions and responsibilities:

Platform Administrator: System health monitoring, component management, platform operations

itential-mcp run --include-tags "health,adapters,applications,integrations"

Key Tools: Platform health monitoring, adapter/application lifecycle, integration management

Network Engineer: Device management, configurations, compliance, network automation

itential-mcp run --include-tags "configuration_manager,automation_studio"

Key Tools: Device configuration, compliance plans, command templates, golden config management

Automation Developer: Workflow building, performance analysis, platform extension

itential-mcp run --include-tags "operations_manager,workflow_engine,lifecycle_manager,gateway_manager"

Key Tools: Workflow execution, performance metrics, resource lifecycle, external service integration

Platform Operator: Daily operations, job monitoring, report generation

itential-mcp run --include-tags "operations_manager,configuration_manager"

Key Tools: Workflow execution, job monitoring, device operations, compliance reporting

📚 Documentation & Integration

Complete Tool Reference

The entire list of available tools can be found in the tools documentation along with detailed tag associations.

Configuration & Security

• MCP Client Integration - Configure Claude, Continue.dev, and other MCP clients
• TLS Configuration - Enable secure HTTPS connections with certificates
• JWT Authentication - JWT token authentication setup
• OAuth Authentication - OAuth 2.0 with multiple providers
• Configuration Examples - Complete configuration file reference
• Status Endpoints - Health monitoring for production deployments

Advanced Features

• Tagging System - Advanced tool filtering and selection strategies
• Workflow Execution - Execute and monitor Itential workflows
• Custom Tools Development - Create and integrate custom MCP tools

Example Prompts

• Claude Desktop Prompt - Optimized prompt for Claude integration
• GPT Integration Prompt - Optimized prompt for GPT integration

🛠️ Adding new Tools

Adding a new tool is simple:

1. Create a new Python file in the src/itential_mcp/tools/ directory or add a function to an existing file
2. Define an async function with a Context parameter annotation:

from fastmcp import Context

async def my_new_tool(ctx: Context) -> dict:
    """
    Description of what the tool does

    Args:
        ctx (Context): The FastMCP Context object

    Returns:
        dict: The response data

    Raises:
        None
    """
    # Get the platform client
    client = ctx.request_context.lifespan_context.get("client")

    # Make API requests
    res = await client.get("/your/api/path")

    # Return JSON-serializable results
    return res.json()

Tools are automatically discovered and registered when the server starts.

Running Tests

Run the test suite with:

make test

For test coverage information:

make coverage

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read our Code of Conduct before contributing.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/my-feature
3. Commit your changes: git commit -am 'Add new feature'
4. Push to the branch: git push origin feature/my-feature
5. Submit a pull request

Before submitting:

• Run make premerge to ensure tests pass and code style is correct
• Add documentation for new features
• Add tests for new functionality

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 - see the LICENSE file for details.

Copyright (c) 2025 Itential, Inc