Kibana MCP Server

A Kibana MCP server implementation that allows any MCP-compatible client (such as Claude Desktop) to access your Kibana instance via natural language or programmatic requests.

This project is based on the official Elastic Kibana API documentation and uses the OpenAPI YAML specification from Elastic Stack 8.x. For details, see the Kibana API documentation.

This project is community-maintained and is not an official product of Elastic or MCP.

💡 Companion Project: For complete Elastic Stack integration, pair this with Elasticsearch MCP Server for direct Elasticsearch data operations.

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🚀 Installation

# Global installation (recommended)
npm install -g @tocharianou/mcp-server-kibana

# Or use directly with npx
npx @tocharianou/mcp-server-kibana

From Source

git clone https://github.com/TocharianOU/mcp-server-kibana.git
cd mcp-server-kibana
npm install && npm run build

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🎯 Quick Start

Claude Desktop Integration (Recommended)

Add to your Claude Desktop configuration file:

• MacOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kibana": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@tocharianou/mcp-server-kibana"],
      "env": {
        "KIBANA_URL": "http://your-kibana-server:5601",
        "KIBANA_API_KEY": "your-api-key",
        "KIBANA_DEFAULT_SPACE": "default"
      }
    }
  }
}

Direct CLI Usage

# Using API Key (recommended)
KIBANA_URL=http://localhost:5601 \
KIBANA_API_KEY=your-api-key \
npx @tocharianou/mcp-server-kibana

# Using Basic Auth
KIBANA_URL=http://localhost:5601 \
KIBANA_USERNAME=your-username \
KIBANA_PASSWORD=your-password \
npx @tocharianou/mcp-server-kibana

# Using Cookie Auth
KIBANA_URL=http://localhost:5601 \
KIBANA_COOKIES="sid=xxx; security-session=yyy" \
npx @tocharianou/mcp-server-kibana

HTTP Mode (Remote Access)

MCP_TRANSPORT=http \
MCP_HTTP_PORT=3000 \
KIBANA_URL=http://localhost:5601 \
KIBANA_API_KEY=your-api-key \
npx @tocharianou/mcp-server-kibana

Access at: http://localhost:3000/mcp
Health check: http://localhost:3000/health

Securing HTTP mode. Every session on /mcp acts with the Kibana credentials the server was started with, so treat the endpoint as sensitive:

• By default the server listens on localhost only and rejects requests whose Host header is not a loopback name (DNS rebinding protection).
• To accept remote clients, set MCP_BEARER_TOKEN. Clients must then send Authorization: Bearer <token> on every /mcp request. /health stays open.
• Binding to a non-loopback address (MCP_HTTP_HOST=0.0.0.0) without MCP_BEARER_TOKEN logs a warning at startup: anyone who can reach the port can use your Kibana credentials.
• Behind a reverse proxy that forwards its public Host header to a localhost-bound server, list that hostname in MCP_ALLOWED_HOSTS.

MCP_TRANSPORT=http \
MCP_HTTP_HOST=0.0.0.0 \
MCP_BEARER_TOKEN="$(openssl rand -hex 32)" \
KIBANA_URL=http://localhost:5601 \
KIBANA_API_KEY=your-api-key \
npx @tocharianou/mcp-server-kibana

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✨ Features

Core Capabilities

• Dual transport modes: Stdio (local) and HTTP (remote access)
• Multiple authentication methods: API Key, Basic Auth, Cookie-based
• Multi-space support: Enterprise-ready Kibana space management
• SSL/TLS support: Custom CA certificate configuration
• Session management: Automatic UUID generation for HTTP mode
• Dynamic API discovery: Based on official Kibana OpenAPI specification

Saved Objects Management

• Complete CRUD operations for all Kibana saved object types
• Intelligent search with pagination support
• Bulk operations for efficient mass updates
• Version control with optimistic concurrency
• Reference management for object relationships

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🔧 Configuration

Required Variables

Variable	Description	Example
KIBANA_URL	Kibana server address	http://localhost:5601

Authentication (choose one method)

Variable	Description	Priority
KIBANA_API_KEY	API Key (base64 encoded)	1st
KIBANA_USERNAME + KIBANA_PASSWORD	Basic authentication	2nd
KIBANA_COOKIES	Session cookies	3rd

Optional Variables

Variable	Description	Default
KIBANA_DEFAULT_SPACE	Default Kibana space	default
KIBANA_CA_CERT	CA certificate path	-
KIBANA_TIMEOUT	Request timeout (ms)	60000
MCP_TRANSPORT	Transport mode	stdio
MCP_HTTP_PORT	HTTP server port	3000
MCP_HTTP_HOST	HTTP server host	localhost
MCP_BEARER_TOKEN	HTTP mode: require Authorization: Bearer <token> on /mcp	-
MCP_ALLOWED_HOSTS	HTTP mode: extra hostnames accepted in the Host header (comma-separated)	-
NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED	Disable SSL validation	1

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🛠️ Available Tools

Base Tools

• get_status - Get Kibana server status
• execute_kb_api - Execute custom Kibana API requests
• search_elasticsearch - Search Elasticsearch documents and logs through Kibana's search API, within the user's Elasticsearch index privileges
• get_available_spaces - List available Kibana spaces
• search_kibana_api_paths - Search API endpoints
• list_all_kibana_api_paths - List all API endpoints
• get_kibana_api_detail - Get API endpoint details

Saved Objects Tools

• vl_search_saved_objects - Search saved objects (universal)
• vl_get_saved_object - Get single saved object
• vl_create_saved_object - Create new saved object
• vl_update_saved_object - Update single saved object
• vl_bulk_update_saved_objects - Bulk update operations
• vl_bulk_delete_saved_objects - Bulk delete operations

Supported Object Types: dashboard, visualization, index-pattern, search, config, lens, map, tag, canvas-workpad, canvas-element

Analysis Tools (v0.6.0+)

• analyze_object_dependencies - Analyze saved object dependencies
• analyze_deletion_impact - Check impact before deletion
• check_dashboard_health - Dashboard health check
• scan_all_dashboards_health - Batch health scanning

Elasticsearch Data Search

Use search_elasticsearch when you need to search documents, application logs, traces, or aggregations in Elasticsearch. It sends Query DSL through Kibana's /internal/search/es route instead of the Dev Tools Console proxy.

The tool is read-only and does not widen data access: Elasticsearch enforces the configured user's index privileges on every search, exactly as it does for Discover and dashboards. Indices the user cannot read return no results.

It exists because the Dev Tools Console proxy (/api/console/proxy) is gated by a separate Kibana privilege, since the Console can call any Elasticsearch API including write and admin endpoints. A user who can read the target indices but has no Dev Tools privilege gets 403 from the Console proxy; this tool gives that user search, and nothing more. If your Kibana administrators rely on withholding Dev Tools to block ad-hoc queries from an account, be aware that this tool allows Query DSL searches for it.

Example tool arguments for a bounded log search:

{
  "index": "application-logs-*",
  "body": {
    "size": 20,
    "_source": [
      "@timestamp",
      "message",
      "trace.id",
      "service.name"
    ],
    "sort": [
      { "@timestamp": "desc" }
    ],
    "query": {
      "bool": {
        "filter": [
          {
            "range": {
              "@timestamp": {
                "gte": "2025-01-15T10:00:00Z",
                "lt": "2025-01-15T11:00:00Z"
              }
            }
          },
          {
            "term": {
              "service.name.keyword": "example-service"
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

For high-volume logs, start with a small time window and a small size. After finding a trace or correlation id, use that value in a second narrow search instead of repeatedly scanning a broad time range. Use _source to keep only fields needed for the current investigation.

The tool rejects wildcard-only index segments such as *, **, or _all (including inside comma-separated index expressions), an empty search body, and body.size above 100. String size values are coerced and validated as numbers. The endpoint is an internal Kibana API, so compatibility should be verified after major Kibana upgrades.

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📖 Resources

Resource URI	Description
kibana-api://paths	List all available API endpoints
kibana-api://paths?search=<keyword>	Search endpoints by keyword
kibana-api://path/{method}/{encoded_path}	Get specific endpoint details

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💬 Example Queries

Basic Operations

• "What is the status of my Kibana server?"
• "List all available Kibana spaces"
• "Show me all API endpoints related to dashboards"

Elasticsearch & Logs

• "Search the production logs for errors from service X in the last hour"
• "Find this trace id and show the surrounding log events in chronological order"
• "Search index application-logs-* using this Elasticsearch Query DSL"
• "Aggregate error counts by service for this time range"

Saved Objects

• "Search for all dashboards"
• "Find visualizations containing 'nginx' in the title"
• "Create a new dashboard named 'Sales Overview'"
• "Update the description of dashboard 'my-dashboard-123'"
• "Delete multiple dashboards by their IDs"

Health & Analysis

• "Check health of dashboard 'overview'"
• "Analyze dependencies for visualization 'viz-123'"
• "Scan all dashboards for health issues"

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🐛 Troubleshooting

Connection Issues

• Verify Kibana URL is accessible
• Check authentication credentials
• For SSL issues: NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED=0 (use with caution)

Claude Desktop Issues

• Restart Claude Desktop after config changes
• Validate JSON config syntax
• Check console logs for errors

Common Errors

• "import: command not found": Update to latest version
• Authentication failed: Verify credentials and permissions
• SSL errors: Check CA certificate or disable SSL validation
• 403 from /api/console/proxy while searching Elasticsearch: Use search_elasticsearch. The Console proxy can require the Kibana Dev Tools privilege even when the user has permission to read the target indices.

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🔍 Debugging

Use MCP Inspector for debugging:

npm run inspector

This provides a browser-accessible debugging interface.

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📦 Package Information

• NPM: @tocharianou/mcp-server-kibana
• GitHub: TocharianOU/mcp-server-kibana
• Node.js: >= 18.0.0
• License: Apache 2.0

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🤝 Contributing

This project is community-maintained. Contributions and feedback are welcome!

Please follow the Elastic Community Code of Conduct in all communications.

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📄 License

Apache License 2.0 - See LICENSE file for details.