network-mcp-server

MCP server for network operations — lets AI assistants (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, or any Model Context Protocol client) talk to your Cisco/Juniper network through safe, well-defined tools.

"Is rtr-core-01 compliant?" → the assistant calls run_compliance_audit, reads the findings and explains which rules failed — no copy-pasting configs into a chat.

Built on the official MCP Python SDK (FastMCP) with the domain logic from python-netops-tools — the same engine behind the netops CLI and the network-api-portal REST API.

Tools exposed

Tool	Network access	What it does
list_devices	none	Devices from the YAML inventory (name, IP, platform)
list_backups	none	Saved config backups with timestamps
get_device_config	none	Content of a device's most recent backup
run_compliance_audit	none	Audits the latest backups against the YAML rules
backup_device	SSH to device	Pulls and saves the running config (the only write-path tool)

The split is deliberate: four read-only tools the assistant can call freely, and one clearly-documented tool that touches the network — MCP clients ask for user approval per tool, so risky actions stay visible.

Installation

python3 -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ../python-netops-tools   # domain logic (or its git URL)
pip install -e ".[dev]"

Hooking it up to Claude Code

claude mcp add network-ops \
  --env NETMCP_INVENTORY=/path/to/devices.yml \
  --env NETMCP_RULES=/path/to/rules.yml \
  --env NETMCP_BACKUP_DIR=/path/to/backups \
  --env NETOPS_USER=admin \
  --env NETOPS_PASSWORD=your-password \
  -- /path/to/network-mcp-server/.venv/bin/network-mcp

Then just ask: "list my network devices", "run a compliance audit", "show me the config of mx-edge-01".

Hooking it up to Claude Desktop

claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "network-ops": {
      "command": "/path/to/network-mcp-server/.venv/bin/network-mcp",
      "env": {
        "NETMCP_INVENTORY": "/path/to/devices.yml",
        "NETMCP_RULES": "/path/to/rules.yml",
        "NETMCP_BACKUP_DIR": "/path/to/backups",
        "NETOPS_USER": "admin",
        "NETOPS_PASSWORD": "your-password"
      }
    }
  }
}

Configuration

Variable	Default	Purpose
NETMCP_INVENTORY	examples/devices.yml	Device inventory
NETMCP_RULES	examples/rules.yml	Compliance rules
NETMCP_BACKUP_DIR	backups	Where configs are stored/read
NETOPS_USER / NETOPS_PASSWORD	—	SSH credentials (only needed by backup_device)

Design notes

• Read-only by default: every question-answering path works from saved backups; only backup_device opens an SSH session, and its docstring says so explicitly so both the model and the human approving the call know.
• Prescriptive tool descriptions: each docstring states when to call the tool, not just what it does — that's what drives correct tool selection by the model.
• Thin server, reusable core: server.py only declares tools; operations.py bridges to netops-tools and is fully unit-tested. CLI, REST API and MCP server all share one engine.

Tests

pytest

Runs entirely offline (temporary inventories; the SSH path is exercised with a monkeypatched backup function).

License

MIT