Tag: ai

OpenShift MCP Server Test Drive

I want to explore the capability of the OpenShift MCP server. My first use case is to run the OpenShift MCP server and integrate with Claude. Then, I will explore how to configure OpenShift Lightspeed to use the OpenShift MCP server with Claude as the LLM model next.

Prerequistes:

  • OpenShift 4.22 cluster
  • oc logged in as a user who has cluster-admin permission
  • Helm 3.x
  • Pull access to registry.redhat.io
  • An MCP client (Cursor or Claude Code, for example)

Step 1: Add OpenShift Helm Repo

Output from the terminal:

$ helm repo add openshift-helm-charts https://charts.openshift.io/
"openshift-helm-charts" has been added to your repositories
$ helm repo update
Hang tight while we grab the latest from your chart repositories...
...Successfully got an update from the "openshift-helm-charts" chart repository
...Successfully got an update from the "advanced-workflows" chart repository
...Successfully got an update from the "rh-ecosystem-edge" chart repository
...Successfully got an update from the "stackrox" chart repository
...Successfully got an update from the "rhacs" chart repository
...Successfully got an update from the "stable" chart repository
...Successfully got an update from the "airbyte" chart repository
Update Complete. ⎈Happy Helming!⎈
$ helm search repo redhat-openshift-mcp-server
NAME                                             	CHART VERSION	APP VERSION	DESCRIPTION                                    
openshift-helm-charts/redhat-openshift-mcp-server	0.3.0        	latest     	Helm Chart for MCP server for Red Hat OpenShift

Step 2: Define the MCP server hostname for ingress access

$ APPS_DOMAIN=$(oc get ingresses.config.openshift.io cluster -o jsonpath='{.spec.domain}')
$ echo "mcp-server.${APPS_DOMAIN}"

Step 3: Install the OpenShift MCP server with full access (you can set read-only access optionally)

  • Recommended for most cases — binds the chart ServiceAccount to the built-in view ClusterRole.
  • Full cluster access (only if you intentionally want write/admin capabilities)
  • Defaults are already core + config in read-only mode. Other toolsets from the 4.22 docs include netedge, helm, metrics, ossm, kubevirt, tekton.
  • Run the command below in your terminal
$ helm upgrade -i -n openshift-mcp-server --create-namespace openshift-mcp-server \
  openshift-helm-charts/redhat-openshift-mcp-server \
  --set openshift=true \
  --set ingress.host=mcp-server.${APPS_DOMAIN} \
  --set-json 'config.toolsets=["core","config","kubevirt","metrics"]' \
  --set-json 'rbac.extraClusterRoleBindings=[{"name":"admin-access","roleRef":{"name":"cluster-admin","external":true}}]'

Note: Available toolsets: config, core, helm, kcp, kubevirt, metrics, netedge, openshift, ossm, tekton. Defaults to core, config.

Output from terminal:

$
helm upgrade -i -n openshift-mcp-server --create-namespace openshift-mcp-server \
  openshift-helm-charts/redhat-openshift-mcp-server \
  --set openshift=true \
  --set ingress.host=mcp-server.${APPS_DOMAIN} \
  --set-json 'config.toolsets=["core","config","kubevirt","metrics"]' \
  --set-json 'rbac.extraClusterRoleBindings=[{"name":"admin-access","roleRef":{"name":"cluster-admin","external":true}}]'
Release "openshift-mcp-server" does not exist. Installing it now.
NAME: openshift-mcp-server
LAST DEPLOYED: Wed Jul 29 14:15:00 2026
NAMESPACE: openshift-mcp-server
STATUS: deployed
REVISION: 1
NOTES:
Thank you for installing redhat-openshift-mcp-server 0.3.0.

MCP server for Red Hat OpenShift has been deployed successfully.

For more information, visit: https://github.com/openshift/openshift-mcp-server

Step 4: Verify the deployment

$ oc get pods,svc,route -n openshift-mcp-server                                    
NAME                                                                  READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
pod/openshift-mcp-server-redhat-openshift-mcp-server-85578d446xtqj6   1/1     Running   0          10s

NAME                                                       TYPE        CLUSTER-IP       EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)    AGE
service/openshift-mcp-server-redhat-openshift-mcp-server   ClusterIP   172.30.223.187   <none>        8080/TCP   4m12s

NAME                                                                              HOST/PORT                                      PATH   SERVICES                                           PORT   TERMINATION     WILDCARD
route.route.openshift.io/openshift-mcp-server-redhat-openshift-mcp-server-hgpjr   mcp-server.apps.demo.sandbox1576.opentlc.com   /      openshift-mcp-server-redhat-openshift-mcp-server   http   edge/Redirect   None

$ oc logs openshift-mcp-server-redhat-openshift-mcp-server-85578d446xtqj6 --tail=50
I0729 21:19:05.621429       1 http.go:163] "HTTP server starting on port 8080 (endpoints: /mcp, /sse, /message, /healthz, /stats, /metrics)"

Get the route URL:

$ oc get route -n openshift-mcp-server -o jsonpath='{.items[0].spec.host}{"\n"}'

mcp-server.apps.demo.sandbox1576.opentlc.com

Step 5: Connect my OpenShift MCP server with Claude code

Create a .mcp.json file similar to the one shown below

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openshift": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp-server.apps.demo.sandbox1576.opentlc.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Smoke test from a terminal:

$ curl -k -sS -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}\n" \
  "https://mcp-server.${APPS_DOMAIN}/healthz"
200

Run the following command to add a kubeconfig token for cluster access. 

$ claude mcp add --transport stdio --env KUBECONFIG=$HOME/.kube/config openshift -- npx openshift-mcp@latest            

  Thought for 3s (ctrl+o to expand)

⏺ That command looks correct now. After running it, verify the server connected:
     
  claude mcp list

  You should see openshift listed with a ✔ Connected status. If it connects successfully, restart your Claude Code
  session and the OpenShift MCP tools will be available automatically.

  If it fails to connect, try running the server command directly to see any errors:

  npx openshift-mcp@latest

Step 6: Let’s test out the Claude code and OpenShift MCP integration.

References:

OpenShift MCP Server User Guide

OpenShift Documentation