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Enterprise Open source

Zed

This guide helps you set up the mcp-grafana server for the Zed editor.

Prerequisites

  • Zed editor installed
  • Grafana 9.0+ with a service account token
  • mcp-grafana binary in your PATH

Configuration

Zed uses context_servers in settings.json, not mcpServers.

Add using the UI

  1. Open Agent Panel (Cmd+Shift+A)
  2. Click Settings (gear icon)
  3. Click Add Custom Server
  4. Fill in command and args

Manual configuration

Open Zed settings (Cmd+,) and add:

JSON 
{
  "context_servers": {
    "grafana": {
      "command": "mcp-grafana",
      "args": [],
      "env": {
        "GRAFANA_URL": "http://localhost:3000",
        "GRAFANA_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN": "<your-token>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Note: Zed uses context_servers, not mcpServers.

Docker configuration

JSON 
{
  "context_servers": {
    "grafana": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "--rm",
        "-i",
        "-e",
        "GRAFANA_URL",
        "-e",
        "GRAFANA_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN",
        "grafana/mcp-grafana",
        "-t",
        "stdio"
      ],
      "env": {
        "GRAFANA_URL": "http://host.docker.internal:3000",
        "GRAFANA_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN": "<your-token>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Debug mode

JSON 
{
  "context_servers": {
    "grafana": {
      "command": "mcp-grafana",
      "args": ["-debug"],
      "env": {
        "GRAFANA_URL": "http://localhost:3000",
        "GRAFANA_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN": "<your-token>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Verify configuration

  1. Open Agent Panel settings
  2. Check indicator next to grafana
    • Green = server active
    • Other colors = check tooltip for status
  3. Open Agent Panel chat
  4. Ask: “List my Grafana dashboards”

Tip: Mention “grafana” in your prompt to help the model pick the right tools.

Tool permissions

By default, Zed asks permission for each tool call. To auto-allow:

JSON 
{
  "agent": {
    "always_allow_tool_actions": true
  }
}

Use with caution – this enables all MCP tools without confirmation.

Troubleshooting

Server not starting:

  • Check Zed logs: Cmd+Shift+P -> zed: open logs
  • Verify binary path: which mcp-grafana
  • Restart Zed after configuration changes

Tools not appearing:

  • Zed supports both stdio and HTTP transports
  • For remote servers, use native URL syntax or mcp-remote shim

Remote server (native URL syntax):

Zed supports direct URL connections for remote MCP servers:

JSON 
{
  "context_servers": {
    "grafana": {
      "url": "http://localhost:8000/sse",
      "headers": {}
    }
  }
}

First start the server:

Bash 
mcp-grafana --transport sse --address localhost:8000

Remote server (mcp-remote fallback):

Alternative using mcp-remote shim:

JSON 
{
  "context_servers": {
    "grafana": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["mcp-remote", "http://localhost:8000/sse"]
    }
  }
}

Read-only mode

JSON 
{
  "context_servers": {
    "grafana": {
      "command": "mcp-grafana",
      "args": ["--disable-write"],
      "env": {
        "GRAFANA_URL": "http://localhost:3000",
        "GRAFANA_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN": "<your-token>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Next steps