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Installing the MCP Server

Installing the MCP Server

The Rundeck MCP Server is distributed two ways: as a Docker image (rundeck/mcp) and as an npm package (@rundeck/mcp). This page walks through the fastest path: Docker with Claude Code. Every other client, and the npx alternative, are on Other Setups.

Prerequisites

  • Rundeck 6.1.0 or later. Each MCP server release is built against the OpenAPI spec current at release time — the default API version (59) was introduced in Rundeck 6.1.0.
  • A Rundeck or Runbook Automation instance URL, and an API token generated from your Rundeck user profile page (User Profile → Generate API Token). See Best Practices before using your own account's token for this.
  • A running Docker daemon (Docker Desktop, Rancher Desktop, etc.): your MCP client starts a container on demand each time it connects.

Quick setup

claude mcp add rundeck-mcp -- docker run -i --rm -e RUNDECK_URL=https://your-rundeck-instance.example.com -e RUNDECK_TOKEN=your-rundeck-api-token-here rundeck/mcp:latest

That's the whole setup.

Required configuration

VariablePurpose
RUNDECK_URLBase URL of your Rundeck instance, e.g. https://rundeck.example.com.
RUNDECK_TOKENRundeck API token.

Both are required for api_call and anything that calls through it (runner_create, acl_manage); job_create/job_validate need no live instance.

Advanced configuration

RUNDECK_URL and RUNDECK_TOKEN above are the only two you need to get running. Everything else — API version, timeouts, multiple instances, debug logging, and (for the npx path) documentation source variables — has a working default and is documented in one place: the Configuration Reference.

Other setups

Running a different client (Cursor, VS Code, Claude Desktop), or want to skip Docker entirely and run via npx? See Other Setups for the full set of client configurations.

Next steps

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