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Authentication

The Grafana MCP server needs credentials to call the Grafana API. Use a service account token (recommended) or a username and password.

What you’ll achieve

You set the environment variables (or equivalent) so the server can authenticate to your Grafana instance. The same credentials apply whether you run the server with uvx, Docker, a binary, or Helm.

Before you begin

  • A Grafana instance (Grafana 9.0 or later).
  • For token auth: a service account with a token and the RBAC permissions needed for the tools you use.

Use a service account token

Set GRAFANA_URL and GRAFANA_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN in the environment passed to the server.

  • GRAFANA_URL: Your Grafana base URL (for example, http://localhost:3000 or https://myinstance.grafana.net).
  • GRAFANA_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN: The token you created for the service account.

The deprecated GRAFANA_API_KEY is still supported but will be removed in a future version; use GRAFANA_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN instead.

Use username and password

You can use basic auth by setting GRAFANA_USERNAME and GRAFANA_PASSWORD instead of a token. This is less suitable for automation; prefer a service account token when possible.

Next steps