Important: This documentation is about an older version. It's relevant only to the release noted, many of the features and functions have been updated or replaced. Please view the current version.

Documentation

Grafana documentation

Developer resources

Grafana MCP server

Clients

Claude Desktop

Enterprise Open source

Claude Desktop

This guide helps you set up the mcp-grafana server for Claude Desktop.

Prerequisites

Claude Desktop installed
Grafana 9.0+ with a service account token
mcp-grafana binary in your PATH

Installation

Option 1: Go install

GOBIN="$HOME/go/bin" go install github.com/grafana/mcp-grafana/cmd/mcp-grafana@latest

Option 2: Download binary

Get the latest release from GitHub Releases and add to your PATH.

Option 3: Docker

No installation needed – use Docker in the configuration below.

Configuration

Edit your Claude Desktop configuration file:

OS	Path
macOS	`~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`
Windows	`%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json`
Linux	`~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`

Binary configuration

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

If you get ENOENT, use the full path:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "grafana": {
      "command": "/Users/yourname/go/bin/mcp-grafana",
      "args": [],
      "env": {
        "GRAFANA_URL": "http://localhost:3000",
        "GRAFANA_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN": "<your-token>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Docker configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "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

Add -debug to args for verbose logging:

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

Verify configuration

Fully quit Claude Desktop (Cmd+Q on macOS)
Restart Claude Desktop
Open a new conversation
Ask: “List my Grafana dashboards”

If it works, you’ll see dashboard names. If not, check logs at ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp*.log (macOS).

Read-only mode

Prevent accidental modifications:

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

TLS client certificates

For Grafana instances requiring mTLS:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "grafana": {
      "command": "mcp-grafana",
      "args": [
        "--tls-cert-file",
        "/path/to/client.crt",
        "--tls-key-file",
        "/path/to/client.key",
        "--tls-ca-file",
        "/path/to/ca.crt"
      ],
      "env": {
        "GRAFANA_URL": "https://secure-grafana.example.com",
        "GRAFANA_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN": "<your-token>"
      }
    }
  }
}