Nginx Proxy Manager MCP Server

A production-ready Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enables Large Language Models to manage Nginx Proxy Manager instances through natural language interactions.

Quick Links

• 📋 Product Requirements Document
• 🔧 Tool Catalog - All 28 tools documented
• 📚 Installation Guide
• ⚙️ Configuration Guide
• 📖 Usage Guide
• 🔬 Research Summary
• 📝 Changelog

Overview

This MCP server provides comprehensive access to Nginx Proxy Manager's API, enabling AI assistants like Claude to manage your reverse proxy infrastructure through natural language. With 28 semantic tools covering the entire NPM lifecycle, you can configure, monitor, and maintain your proxy infrastructure conversationally.

Key Capabilities

• ✅ Complete NPM Management: All 28 tools covering 100% of NPM API functionality
• ✅ Multi-Instance Support: Manage unlimited NPM instances simultaneously
• ✅ Bulk Operations: Concurrent processing with advanced filtering and dry-run mode
• ✅ Production Security: JWT authentication, encrypted credentials, secure token caching
• ✅ Configuration Management: Export/import configurations in JSON or YAML
• ✅ Advanced Features: Automatic certificate renewal, concurrent operations, comprehensive logging
• ✅ Type Safety: Complete Pydantic validation for all operations
• ✅ Production Ready: 85% test coverage, 809 passing tests, zero critical issues

Quick Start

Option 1: Install via pip (Recommended)

# Install from PyPI
pip install npm-mcp

# Run the server (default: stdio transport)
npm-mcp

# Or run directly with Python
python -m npm_mcp

Option 2: Docker

# Clone and build locally
git clone https://github.com/wadew/npm-mcp.git
cd npm-mcp
docker build -t npm-mcp-server:latest .

# Run with configuration
docker run -i \
  -v ~/.npm-mcp:/config \
  -e NPM_MCP_CONFIG=/config/instances.yaml \
  npm-mcp-server:latest

Option 3: From Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/wadew/npm-mcp.git
cd npm-mcp

# Install with uv (recommended)
uv sync

# Or with pip
pip install -e .

# Run the server
python -m npm_mcp

Configuration

1. Create configuration directory:

mkdir -p ~/.npm-mcp

2. Create your instance configuration (~/.npm-mcp/instances.yaml):

instances:
  - name: production
    host: npm.example.com
    port: 81
    use_https: true
    username: admin
    password: ${NPM_PASSWORD}  # Use environment variable for security
    default: true

  - name: staging
    host: npm-staging.example.com
    port: 81
    use_https: true
    username: admin
    password: ${NPM_STAGING_PASSWORD}

settings:
  timeout: 30
  retry_attempts: 3
  log_level: INFO
  cache_tokens: true

3. Set environment variables:

export NPM_PASSWORD="your-production-password"
export NPM_STAGING_PASSWORD="your-staging-password"

For detailed configuration options, see CONFIGURATION.md.

Integration with Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop configuration (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "npm-mcp": {
      "command": "npm-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Or with uv:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "npm-mcp": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "npm-mcp"],
      "cwd": "/path/to/npm_mcp"
    }
  }
}

Or with Docker (after building locally):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "npm-mcp": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-i",
        "--rm",
        "-v",
        "${HOME}/.npm-mcp:/config",
        "-e",
        "NPM_MCP_CONFIG=/config/instances.yaml",
        "npm-mcp-server:latest"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop to load the MCP server.

For detailed integration instructions, see INSTALLATION.md.

Transport Options

The server supports multiple MCP transport protocols (MCP 2025-03-26 specification):

Transport	Description	Use Case
stdio	Standard input/output (default)	CLI tools, Claude Desktop
sse	Server-Sent Events	Real-time streaming, web clients
streamable-http	Modern HTTP transport	Web services, HTTP clients

Command-line usage:

# Default: stdio transport
npm-mcp

# SSE transport on default port (8000)
npm-mcp --transport sse

# Streamable HTTP on custom host/port
npm-mcp --transport streamable-http --host 0.0.0.0 --port 9000

# Load all tools at startup (instead of lazy loading)
npm-mcp --all-tools

Environment variables:

Variable	Description	Default
NPM_MCP_TRANSPORT	Transport protocol	stdio
NPM_MCP_HOST	Host for HTTP transports	127.0.0.1
NPM_MCP_PORT	Port for HTTP transports	8000
NPM_MCP_ALL_TOOLS	Load all tools at startup	false

Example with environment variables:

NPM_MCP_TRANSPORT=streamable-http NPM_MCP_PORT=8080 npm-mcp

HTTP endpoint (when using sse or streamable-http):

# Test endpoint availability
curl http://localhost:8000/mcp

Features

28 Semantic Tools (100% PRD Coverage)

The server provides 28 comprehensive tools across 9 functional categories:

1. Instance Management (7 tools)

• npm_manage_instance - Create, update, delete, or test NPM instances
• npm_get_instance - Get detailed instance information
• npm_list_instances - List all configured instances with filtering
• npm_select_instance - Set the active instance for operations
• npm_update_instance_credentials - Update credentials securely
• npm_validate_instance_config - Pre-flight configuration validation
• npm_set_default_instance - Change the default instance

2. Proxy Host Management (3 tools)

• npm_manage_proxy_host - Full CRUD operations for proxy hosts
• npm_list_proxy_hosts - List with advanced filtering
• npm_get_proxy_host - Detailed proxy host information

3. Certificate Management (3 tools)

• npm_list_certificates - List with expiration tracking
• npm_manage_certificate - Create, renew, delete certificates
  • Let's Encrypt (HTTP-01, DNS-01 challenges)
  • Custom certificate uploads
• npm_validate_certificate - Pre-flight validation

4. Access Control (2 tools)

• npm_list_access_lists - List access control lists
• npm_manage_access_list - IP-based access control with HTTP auth

5. Stream Management (2 tools)

• npm_list_streams - List TCP/UDP stream configurations
• npm_manage_stream - Create, update, delete streams

6. Redirection & Dead Hosts (4 tools)

• npm_list_redirections - List URL redirections
• npm_manage_redirection - Create, update, delete redirections
• npm_list_dead_hosts - List dead host configurations
• npm_manage_dead_host - Create, update, delete dead hosts

7. User Management (2 tools)

• npm_list_users - List NPM users with role filtering
• npm_manage_user - Create, update, delete users

8. System & Reporting (4 tools)

• npm_get_settings - Get NPM system settings
• npm_update_settings - Update system configuration
• npm_get_audit_log - Retrieve audit logs with filtering
• npm_get_status_report - Comprehensive system status

9. Bulk Operations (1 unified tool, 5 operations)

• npm_bulk_operations - Advanced batch processing
  • renew_certificates - Concurrent certificate renewal
  • toggle_hosts - Bulk enable/disable proxy hosts
  • delete_resources - Bulk deletion with validation
  • export_config - Configuration backup (JSON/YAML)
  • import_config - Configuration restore (merge/replace)

Advanced Bulk Features:

• Concurrent processing with configurable batch sizes (1-50)
• Error resilience with continue-on-error mode
• Dry-run mode for safe previews
• Advanced filtering (domain patterns, expiration windows)
• Multi-format support (JSON and YAML)

Production-Ready Features

• Comprehensive Testing: 85% code coverage, 809 passing tests
• Security Hardening: JWT authentication, encrypted credentials, secure token caching
• Performance Optimized: Async I/O, connection pooling, concurrent operations
• Multiple Transports: stdio, SSE, and Streamable HTTP (MCP 2025-03-26 spec)
• Robust Error Handling: Retry logic, graceful degradation, detailed error messages
• Structured Logging: Comprehensive logging with structlog for debugging
• Type Safety: Complete type hints and Pydantic validation
• Docker Support: Production-ready Dockerfile for local builds
• CI/CD Ready: GitLab CI/CD pipeline with automated testing

Usage Examples

Managing Proxy Hosts

Create a proxy host for api.example.com pointing to localhost:3000
with Let's Encrypt SSL and force HTTPS

The MCP server will:

1. Create the proxy host configuration
2. Request Let's Encrypt SSL certificate
3. Configure force HTTPS redirection
4. Return the complete configuration

Certificate Renewal

Show me all SSL certificates expiring in the next 30 days and renew them

The server will:

1. Query certificates with expiration filtering
2. Display expiring certificates
3. Renew all certificates concurrently
4. Report renewal status for each

Bulk Operations

Export the complete configuration from the production instance to a backup file

The server will:

1. Export all proxy hosts, certificates, access lists, etc.
2. Save to JSON or YAML format
3. Provide backup file location

Multi-Instance Management

Switch to staging instance and list all proxy hosts

The server will:

1. Change active instance to staging
2. Query proxy hosts from staging environment
3. Display results with instance context

For comprehensive usage examples, see USAGE_GUIDE.md.

Documentation

Complete documentation is available in the docs/ directory:

Document	Description
INSTALLATION.md	Detailed installation instructions (pip, Docker, source)
CONFIGURATION.md	Complete configuration reference
USAGE_GUIDE.md	Comprehensive usage guide with examples
TOOL_CATALOG.md	All 28 tools with full specifications
PRD.md	Product Requirements Document (67 pages)
RESEARCH_SUMMARY.md	Research findings and API analysis
CONTRIBUTING.md	Development and contribution guidelines
CHANGELOG.md	Version history and release notes

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│         LLM Client (Claude)         │
│     Natural Language Interface      │
└─────────────┬───────────────────────┘
              │ MCP Protocol
              │ (stdio | sse | streamable-http)
              │
┌─────────────▼───────────────────────┐
│       NPM MCP Server (Python)       │
│  ┌───────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │    28 Semantic Tools           │  │
│  │  • Instance Management         │  │
│  │  • Proxy Hosts                 │  │
│  │  • Certificates                │  │
│  │  • Access Lists                │  │
│  │  • Bulk Operations             │  │
│  │  • System & Reporting          │  │
│  └───────────────────────────────┘  │
│  ┌───────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │  Core Services                 │  │
│  │  • Multi-Instance Manager      │  │
│  │  • JWT Authentication          │  │
│  │  • Connection Pooling          │  │
│  │  • Pydantic Validation         │  │
│  │  • Structured Logging          │  │
│  └───────────────────────────────┘  │
└─────────────┬───────────────────────┘
              │ HTTPS/REST API
              │
┌─────────────▼───────────────────────┐
│    NPM Instance(s) API (Port 81)    │
│  • Production                       │
│  • Staging                          │
│  • Development                      │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘

Technology Stack

Component	Technology	Version
Language	Python	>= 3.11
MCP SDK	mcp	>= 1.25.0
HTTP Client	httpx	>= 0.28.0
Validation	pydantic	>= 2.12.0
Configuration	PyYAML	>= 6.0.3
Security	cryptography	>= 46.0.0
Credentials	keyring	>= 25.6.0
Logging	structlog	>= 25.4.0
Retry Logic	tenacity	>= 9.1.0

Development Tools:

• Testing: pytest, pytest-asyncio, pytest-cov
• Linting: ruff, mypy
• Build: setuptools, uv

Development

Setup

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/wadew/npm-mcp.git
cd npm-mcp

# Install with development dependencies
uv sync

# Or with pip
pip install -e ".[dev]"

Testing

# Run full test suite
uv run pytest

# Run with coverage
uv run pytest --cov=src/npm_mcp --cov-report=html

# Run specific test file
uv run pytest tests/unit/test_server.py

# Run with verbose output
uv run pytest -v

Code Quality

# Run linter
uv run ruff check .

# Run formatter
uv run ruff format .

# Run type checker
uv run mypy src/

# Run all checks
uv run ruff check . && uv run ruff format --check . && uv run mypy src/

Building

# Build Python package
python -m build

# Build Docker image
docker build -t npm-mcp-server:local .

# Check Docker image size
docker images npm-mcp-server:local --format "{{.Size}}"

For detailed development guidelines, see CONTRIBUTING.md.

Project Status

Phase 5: Production Ready ✅

All development phases complete:

• ✅ Phase 1: Foundation (Configuration, Authentication, HTTP Client, Models)
• ✅ Phase 2: MCP Server & Core Tools (15 tools)
• ✅ Phase 3: Extended Features (12 tools)
• ✅ Phase 4: Bulk Operations & Advanced Features (1 tool, 5 operations)
• ✅ Phase 5: Release Preparation (CI/CD, Docker, Documentation)

Total: 28 semantic tools (100% PRD specification)

Quality Metrics

Metric	Value
Test Coverage	85.44%
Tests Passing	809/809
Lines of Code	~15,000
Documentation	~10,000 lines
Docker Image Size	~180MB (local build)

Roadmap

Version 1.0.0 (Current)

• 28 semantic tools (100% PRD coverage)
• Multi-instance management
• Bulk operations with concurrent processing
• Production-ready security and performance

Future Enhancements

• Additional NPM features as they're released
• Performance optimizations
• UI/web interface (optional)
• Kubernetes Helm chart (optional)

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for:

• Development environment setup
• Code style guidelines
• Testing requirements
• Pull request process
• Commit conventions

Support

• Issues: GitHub Issues
• Documentation: docs/
• Discussions: GitHub Discussions

License

MIT License - See LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Nginx Proxy Manager - Excellent reverse proxy manager
• Anthropic MCP - Model Context Protocol specification
• MCP Python SDK - Official Python implementation
• FastMCP - FastMCP framework for rapid MCP development

Citation

If you use this project in your research or production environment, please cite:

@software{npm_mcp_server,
  title = {NPM MCP Server: AI-Powered Nginx Proxy Manager Management},
  author = {Woolwine, Wade},
  year = {2025},
  url = {https://github.com/wadew/npm-mcp},
  version = {1.0.0}
}

---

Version: 1.0.0-rc1 Last Updated: 2025-01-28 Maintainer: Wade Woolwine <wade.woolwine@gmail.com> License: MIT Status: 🚀 Production Ready