Configuration Reference

Every environment variable the MCP server reads, in one place. If you just want the two you need to get started, see Installation instead — this page is for when you want the complete picture, or need something not covered there.

Connection

Variable	Applies to	Default	Purpose
RUNDECK_URL	Docker & npx	—	Base URL of your Rundeck instance, e.g. https://rundeck.example.com. Required for api_call and anything that calls through it (runner_create, acl_manage); job_create/job_validate need no live instance.
RUNDECK_TOKEN	Docker & npx	—	Rundeck API token. Same requirement as RUNDECK_URL.
RUNDECK_INSTANCES	Docker & npx	—	JSON registry of multiple named Rundeck instances, for switching between them (e.g. prod/staging) in the same session instead of setting RUNDECK_URL/RUNDECK_TOKEN directly. See Multiple Instances.

API behavior

Variable	Applies to	Default	Purpose
RUNDECK_API_VERSION	Docker & npx	59	Rundeck API version appended to the base URL. Only needed if your instance runs a different supported version.
RUNDECK_API_TIMEOUT_MS	Docker & npx	30000	Timeout for api_call's underlying HTTP request (also bounds runner_create and acl_manage).
RUNDECK_SKIP_OPENAPI_VALIDATE	Docker & npx	—	Set to 1 to disable pre-request validation of api_call parameters against the shipped OpenAPI spec.

Documentation source (npx only)

The Docker image resolves its own bundled documentation automatically at a fixed path, so none of these three apply to it.

Variable	Applies to	Default	Purpose
RUNDECK_DOCS_PATH	npx only	Auto-detected (rarely resolves for an MCP client)	Path to a Rundeck documentation checkout on disk. Without it, docs_search, the documentation resources, and OpenAPI-based validation in api_call silently come up empty.
RUNDECK_DOCS_BRANCH	npx only	4.0.x	Branch of rundeck/docs to download when no documentation is already present.
SKIP_RUNDECK_DOCS_DOWNLOAD	npx only	—	Set to 1 to skip the automatic documentation download during npm install/npm ci.

Safety

Variable	Applies to	Default	Purpose
SKIP_ELICITATION	Docker & npx	—	Set to 1 or true to bypass the confirmation prompt for destructive actions (api_call DELETE/credential regeneration, acl_manage update/delete) and let them proceed without asking. A server-operator setting, not something an agent can set via tool parameters. See Destructive-action confirmation.

Diagnostics

Variable	Applies to	Default	Purpose
MCP_DEBUG	Docker & npx	—	Set to 1 or true for verbose server-side logging.