Ansible MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Ansible automation. This server allows AI assistants to interact with Ansible, execute playbooks, manage inventory, and perform other Ansible operations directly.

Features

• Run Ansible Playbooks: Execute Ansible playbooks with support for parameters like inventory, extra vars, tags, and limits
• List Inventory: View hosts and groups from an Ansible inventory file
• Check Syntax: Validate Ansible playbook syntax without execution
• List Tasks: Preview tasks that would be executed by a playbook
• Access Default Inventory: Access the default Ansible inventory file via resource API
• AWS Integration: Manage AWS resources using Ansible (EC2, S3, VPC, CloudFormation, etc.)
• LocalStack Support: Test AWS operations locally using LocalStack without real AWS credentials

Requirements

• Node.js 18 or higher
• npm or yarn
• Ansible installed and in PATH
• @modelcontextprotocol/sdk (installed automatically)
• For AWS operations: AWS CLI and valid credentials
• For LocalStack: LocalStack installed and running, awslocal CLI

Installation

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/your-username/mcp-ansible.git
cd mcp-ansible

2. Install dependencies

npm install

3. Build the server

npm run build

4. Configure MCP settings

Add the Ansible MCP server to your MCP settings configuration file.

For VSCode with Claude extension:

• Edit the file at ~/.config/Code/User/globalStorage/saoudrizwan.claude-dev/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json

For Claude Desktop app:

• macOS: Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: Edit %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: Edit ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Add the following to the mcpServers section:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ansible": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/mcp-ansible/build/index.js"],
      "env": {}
    }
  }
}

Make sure to replace /absolute/path/to/mcp-ansible with the actual path to your installation.

Usage Examples

Once installed and configured, the MCP server provides the following tools to the AI assistant:

1. Run a Playbook

<use_mcp_tool>
<server_name>ansible</server_name>
<tool_name>run_playbook</tool_name>
<arguments>
{
  "playbook": "/path/to/your/playbook.yml",
  "inventory": "/path/to/inventory.ini",
  "extraVars": {
    "var1": "value1",
    "var2": "value2"
  },
  "tags": "setup,configure",
  "limit": "webservers"
}
</arguments>
</use_mcp_tool>

2. List Inventory

<use_mcp_tool>
<server_name>ansible</server_name>
<tool_name>list_inventory</tool_name>
<arguments>
{
  "inventory": "/path/to/inventory.ini"
}
</arguments>
</use_mcp_tool>

3. Check Playbook Syntax

<use_mcp_tool>
<server_name>ansible</server_name>
<tool_name>check_syntax</tool_name>
<arguments>
{
  "playbook": "/path/to/your/playbook.yml"
}
</arguments>
</use_mcp_tool>

4. List Tasks in a Playbook

<use_mcp_tool>
<server_name>ansible</server_name>
<tool_name>list_tasks</tool_name>
<arguments>
{
  "playbook": "/path/to/your/playbook.yml"
}
</arguments>
</use_mcp_tool>

5. Access Default Inventory Resource

<access_mcp_resource>
<server_name>ansible</server_name>
<uri>ansible://inventory/default</uri>
</access_mcp_resource>

6. AWS S3 Operations

<use_mcp_tool>
<server_name>ansible</server_name>
<tool_name>aws_s3</tool_name>
<arguments>
{
  "action": "list_buckets",
  "region": "us-east-1"
}
</arguments>
</use_mcp_tool>

LocalStack Integration

This project includes integration with LocalStack for testing AWS operations locally without real AWS credentials. The LocalStack integration allows you to:

1. Test Ansible playbooks that use AWS services locally
2. Develop and test AWS operations without incurring AWS costs
3. Run tests without requiring real AWS credentials
4. Validate your infrastructure code before deploying to real AWS

Using LocalStack

See the LocalStack README for detailed instructions on using the LocalStack integration.

Quick start:

# Install LocalStack and awslocal CLI
pip install localstack awscli-local

# Start LocalStack
localstack start

# Run the sample playbook
node localstack/run_sample_playbook.mjs

Development

Project Structure

mcp-ansible/
├── src/
│   ├── index.ts                  # Main entry point
│   └── ansible-mcp-server/       
│       └── index.ts              # Ansible MCP server implementation
├── localstack/                   # LocalStack integration
│   ├── README.md                 # LocalStack documentation
│   ├── sample_playbook.yml      # Sample playbook for LocalStack
│   ├── inventory.ini             # Sample inventory for LocalStack
│   ├── run_sample_playbook.mjs   # Script to run sample playbook
│   └── utils.localstack.ts       # Modified utils for LocalStack
├── package.json                  # Project configuration and dependencies
├── tsconfig.json                 # TypeScript configuration
└── README.md                     # Documentation

Adding New Features

To add new Ansible capabilities to the MCP server:

1. Modify src/ansible-mcp-server/index.ts
2. Add your new tool in the setupToolHandlers method
3. Implement a handler function for your tool
4. Rebuild with npm run build

License

MIT License - See LICENSE for details