unraid-mcp

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that enables AI assistants like Claude to manage Unraid servers through natural language. Install it once from Community Applications and control your homelab from any MCP-compatible AI client.

Features

61 tools across 8 categories:

Category	Tools	Description
Docker	5	List, start, stop, restart containers; get logs
VMs	4	List, start, stop, pause virtual machines
Array	3	Status, start, stop the storage array
Shares	2	List and inspect user shares
Users	1	List user accounts
System	3	System info, reboot, shutdown
Plugins	2	List plugins, trigger updates
Network	1	List network interfaces and stats

Example interactions:

• "Show me all running Docker containers and their memory usage"
• "Stop the Plex container, wait 10 seconds, then start it again"
• "What's the health of my array disks? Any temperatures I should worry about?"
• "List all VMs and tell me which ones are using the most memory"

Architecture

AI Client (Claude Desktop, etc.)
        │  MCP over HTTP (Streamable HTTP transport)
        ▼
  unraid-mcp server  ← binary compiled with bun, runs as Unraid plugin
        │
        ├── GraphQL API (port 31337, Unraid 7.2+) ← primary
        └── CLI / file parsing                     ← fallback

GraphQL-first: Unraid 7.2 introduced a GraphQL API on port 31337. All tools use it as the primary backend for reliability and type safety.

CLI fallback: For operations not yet in the GraphQL API, tools fall back to parsing /proc files, running docker CLI commands, or reading Unraid config files directly.

Compiled binary: The server is compiled to a standalone executable with bun compile — no Node.js or npm required on the Unraid host.

Installation

Community Applications (recommended)

1. Open Community Applications in your Unraid UI
2. Search for "Unraid MCP"
3. Click Install
4. Go to Settings → Unraid MCP to configure your API key and port

Manual

Download the latest .plg file and install via Plugins → Install Plugin in your Unraid UI.

Configuration

After installation, configure via Settings → Unraid MCP in the Unraid UI:

Setting	Default	Description
UNRAID_HOST	localhost	Unraid host (usually localhost)
UNRAID_GRAPHQL_PORT	31337	GraphQL API port (Unraid 7.2+)
UNRAID_API_KEY	(required)	Generate at Settings → API Keys
UNRAID_USE_TLS	false	Use HTTPS for GraphQL connection
MCP_SERVER_PORT	3000	Port for the MCP server
LOG_LEVEL	info	Logging verbosity

Connecting Claude Desktop

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "unraid": {
      "url": "http://YOUR_UNRAID_IP:3000/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Replace YOUR_UNRAID_IP with your Unraid server's IP address.

Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ or Bun
• TypeScript

Setup

git clone https://github.com/lherron/unraid-mcp
cd unraid-mcp
npm install

# Configure environment
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your Unraid connection details

# Start in development mode
npm run dev

Environment variables

UNRAID_HOST=192.168.1.100
UNRAID_GRAPHQL_PORT=31337
UNRAID_API_KEY=your-api-key-here
UNRAID_USE_TLS=false
MCP_SERVER_PORT=3000
LOG_LEVEL=debug

Build

# TypeScript compilation
npm run build

# Compile to standalone binary (requires bun)
npm run compile

# Create Slackware .txz package for Unraid
npm run package

Project structure

src/
  index.ts              # MCP server entry point
  lib/
    graphql.ts          # GraphQL client
    auth.ts             # API key auth helpers
    config.ts           # Config loading from env
  tools/
    docker/index.ts     # Docker management tools
    vms/index.ts        # VM management tools
    array/index.ts      # Array management tools
    shares/index.ts     # Share management tools
    users/index.ts      # User management tools
    system/index.ts     # System info tools
    plugins/index.ts    # Plugin management tools
    network/index.ts    # Network tools
  types/
    index.ts            # TypeScript type definitions
plugin/
  unraid-mcp.plg        # Unraid plugin descriptor
  settings.php          # Settings page for Unraid UI
scripts/
  package.sh            # Build and package script

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Areas that need work:

• More tools: The Unraid GraphQL API has many more operations — PRs adding tools are very welcome
• CLI fallbacks: Improve fallbacks for Unraid versions below 7.2
• Testing: Integration tests against a real or mocked Unraid API
• Documentation: Better examples and use cases

Adding a new tool

1. Find the relevant tool category under src/tools/
2. Add a new server.tool(...) call following the existing pattern
3. Define the GraphQL query/mutation as a constant
4. Add TypeScript types to src/types/index.ts if needed
5. Submit a PR with a description of the tool and the GraphQL operation it uses

Reporting issues

Please open an issue at https://github.com/lherron/unraid-mcp/issues with:

• Your Unraid version
• The tool that failed
• The error message
• Steps to reproduce

License

MIT — see LICENSE