tapo-mcp

MCP server that exposes Tapo smart-home devices as AI-callable tools and resources via the Model Context Protocol.

Built on the tapo crate and the rmcp SDK. Runs as an HTTP server (Streamable HTTP transport).

Example Prompts

"List all my Tapo devices" "Turn off the office light" "Turn on smart plug 4 on the power strip" "Is the office light on?" "Set the bedroom light to 50% brightness" "Change the living room light to Coral" "Take a snapshot from the baby monitor" "What's the temperature in the kitchen?" "Show me the last 24 hours of temperature from the living room temperature and humidity sensor" "List the 5 most recent events on the smart button"

Tools

Resources

Capabilities

Devices and child devices expose separate lists of set and get capabilities they support.

Set Capabilities

Get Capabilities

Configuration

All configuration is via environment variables prefixed with TAPO_MCP_:

[^camera]: Set on each camera in the Tapo app under Camera Settings > Advanced Settings > Camera Account. Distinct from your TP-Link cloud account.

Authentication

When TAPO_MCP_API_KEY is set, the server requires all HTTP requests to include an Authorization: Bearer <key> header. Requests with a missing or invalid token receive a 401 Unauthorized response.

When the variable is unset (or empty/whitespace-only), the server runs without authentication.

Network exposure

The server enforces the MCP Streamable HTTP DNS-rebinding protection. By default only loopback Host headers (localhost, 127.0.0.1, ::1) are accepted, which prevents a malicious web page from reaching a locally running server via DNS rebinding. Requests with any other Host receive a 403 Forbidden response.

To reach the server over the LAN or from another host, set TAPO_MCP_ALLOWED_HOSTS to the exact hostname(s) or host:port authorities clients connect to, for example TAPO_MCP_ALLOWED_HOSTS="tapo-mcp.lan:3000,192.168.1.50:3000". This replaces the loopback default, so include loopback entries as well if you still need them.

To avoid shipping unauthenticated smart-home control, the server refuses to start when it binds to a non-loopback address (for example 0.0.0.0:3000) without TAPO_MCP_API_KEY set. Set an API key, or bind to a loopback address.

Deployment

Docker

docker run --rm \
  --network host \
  -e TAPO_MCP_USERNAME="you@example.com" \
  -e TAPO_MCP_PASSWORD="<YOUR_TAPO_PASSWORD>" \
  -e TAPO_MCP_CAMERA_USERNAME="<YOUR_CAMERA_ACCOUNT_USERNAME>" \
  -e TAPO_MCP_CAMERA_PASSWORD="<YOUR_CAMERA_ACCOUNT_PASSWORD>" \
  -e TAPO_MCP_DISCOVERY_TARGET="192.168.1.255" \
  -e TAPO_MCP_API_KEY="<YOUR_TAPO_MCP_API_KEY>" \
  ghcr.io/mihai-dinculescu/tapo-mcp:latest

Note: The image binds to 0.0.0.0:3000, so TAPO_MCP_API_KEY is required — the server refuses to start on a non-loopback address without it (see Network exposure). To reach the server by hostname or LAN IP rather than loopback, also set TAPO_MCP_ALLOWED_HOSTS.

Note: --network host is required so the container can reach Tapo devices on your local network via UDP broadcast for discovery. On macOS and Windows, --network host is not supported — you can use -p 3000:3000 instead, but device discovery won't work as Docker Desktop runs containers inside a VM without LAN access.

Kubernetes

Create the Secret and ConfigMap first:

kubectl create secret generic tapo-mcp-secrets \
  --from-literal=TAPO_MCP_USERNAME="you@example.com" \
  --from-literal=TAPO_MCP_PASSWORD="<YOUR_TAPO_PASSWORD>" \
  --from-literal=TAPO_MCP_CAMERA_USERNAME="<YOUR_CAMERA_ACCOUNT_USERNAME>" \
  --from-literal=TAPO_MCP_CAMERA_PASSWORD="<YOUR_CAMERA_ACCOUNT_PASSWORD>" \
  --from-literal=TAPO_MCP_API_KEY="<YOUR_TAPO_MCP_API_KEY>"

kubectl create configmap tapo-mcp-config \
  --from-literal=TAPO_MCP_DISCOVERY_TARGET="192.168.1.255"

Then apply the Deployment:

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: tapo-mcp
spec:
  replicas: 1
  strategy:
    type: Recreate
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: tapo-mcp
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: tapo-mcp
    spec:
      hostNetwork: true
      containers:
        - name: tapo-mcp
          image: ghcr.io/mihai-dinculescu/tapo-mcp:latest
          env:
            - name: TAPO_MCP_USERNAME
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  name: tapo-mcp-secrets
                  key: TAPO_MCP_USERNAME
            - name: TAPO_MCP_PASSWORD
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  name: tapo-mcp-secrets
                  key: TAPO_MCP_PASSWORD
            - name: TAPO_MCP_CAMERA_USERNAME
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  name: tapo-mcp-secrets
                  key: TAPO_MCP_CAMERA_USERNAME
            - name: TAPO_MCP_CAMERA_PASSWORD
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  name: tapo-mcp-secrets
                  key: TAPO_MCP_CAMERA_PASSWORD
            - name: TAPO_MCP_API_KEY
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  name: tapo-mcp-secrets
                  key: TAPO_MCP_API_KEY
            - name: TAPO_MCP_DISCOVERY_TARGET
              valueFrom:
                configMapKeyRef: