network-mcp

Give AI direct access to your network devices. 35 MCP tools, multi-vendor, one interface.

Stop writing Netmiko scripts. Connect Claude, ChatGPT, or any MCP-compatible AI to your routers, switches, and firewalls — and let it run show commands, check health, calculate subnets, discover topology, and manage configs through natural language.

You: "Check the health of all my devices"
Claude: [calls health_check_all] → 6 devices healthy, Switch-R2 has 2 interfaces down

What is this?

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that gives AI assistants real-time access to network devices. Built for network engineers who want to automate without writing boilerplate.

Supported platforms:

• Cisco IOS-XE (routers, switches)
• Nokia SR Linux
• FRRouting (FRR)
• Juniper Junos
• Aruba AOS-CX
• Linux hosts

Quick Start

1. Install

git clone https://github.com/E-Conners-Lab/MCP-DEMO-LAB.git
cd network-mcp
python -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

2. Configure devices

cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your device IPs and credentials

3. Try it instantly (no lab required)

# Demo mode returns realistic mock data — no devices needed
DEMO_MODE=true python network_mcp_server.py

4. Connect to Claude Desktop

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "network": {
      "command": "/path/to/network-mcp/.venv/bin/python",
      "args": ["/path/to/network-mcp/network_mcp_server.py"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. You now have 35 network tools available.

5. Try with a real lab (5 minutes)

# Spin up 2 FRR routers with containerlab
cd quickstart && sudo containerlab deploy -t topology.clab.yml

Tools

Device Operations

Tool	Description
get_devices	List all devices in inventory
send_command	Run show commands on any device
send_config	Push configuration changes
health_check	Check device health (CPU, memory, interfaces)
health_check_all	Health check all devices in parallel
backup_config	Backup running configuration
compare_configs	Diff two config backups
rollback_config	Restore a previous config

Network Intelligence

Tool	Description
discover_topology	LLDP-based topology discovery
get_routing_table	View routing tables
get_neighbors	BGP/OSPF neighbor status
get_arp_table	ARP table lookup
get_mac_table	MAC address table
ping_sweep	Sweep a subnet for reachable hosts
traceroute	Trace path to destination

Calculators (no devices needed)

Tool	Description
calculate_tunnel_mtu	Optimal MTU/MSS for VPN tunnels
calculate_subnet_info	Subnet details from CIDR notation
split_network	VLSM subnet splitting
convert_netmask	CIDR to dotted decimal conversion

SNMP & Monitoring

Tool	Description
snmp_get_oid	SNMP GET for specific OIDs
snmp_walk_oid	SNMP WALK subtrees
snmp_poll_metrics	Poll interface/CPU/memory metrics

NETCONF

Tool	Description
get_interfaces_netconf	Interface data via NETCONF
get_bgp_neighbors_netconf	BGP state via NETCONF
get_netconf_capabilities	Device NETCONF capabilities

Configuration Management

Tool	Description
compliance_check	Check device against compliance templates
full_network_test	End-to-end network validation

See all 35 tools →

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  AI Assistant (Claude, ChatGPT, etc.)   │
└────────────────┬────────────────────────┘
                 │ MCP Protocol (stdio/SSE)
┌────────────────▼────────────────────────┐
│  network_mcp_server.py                  │
│  FastMCP server + tool registry         │
└────────────────┬────────────────────────┘
                 │
┌────────────────▼────────────────────────┐
│  mcp_tools/                             │
│  ├── device.py      (9 tools)           │
│  ├── calculators.py (6 tools)           │
│  ├── topology.py    (6 tools)           │
│  ├── config.py      (8 tools)           │
│  ├── snmp.py        (5 tools)           │
│  ├── netconf.py     (4 tools)           │
│  ├── compliance.py  (7 tools)           │
│  └── ... (10 modules, 35 tools total)   │
└────────────────┬────────────────────────┘
                 │
┌────────────────▼────────────────────────┐
│  core/                                  │
│  ├── connection.py   (Netmiko/Scrapli)  │
│  ├── parser.py       (NTC/Genie)        │
│  ├── mtu_calculator.py                  │
│  └── subnet_calculator.py              │
└────────────────┬────────────────────────┘
                 │ SSH / NETCONF / SNMP
┌────────────────▼────────────────────────┐
│  Network Devices                        │
│  Cisco · Nokia · FRR · Juniper · Aruba  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘

Project Structure

network-mcp/
├── network_mcp_server.py    # MCP server entry point
├── config/
│   └── devices.py           # Device inventory (env var overrides)
├── mcp_tools/               # All MCP tool implementations
│   ├── device.py            # Core device operations
│   ├── calculators.py       # MTU/subnet calculators
│   ├── topology.py          # LLDP discovery
│   ├── config.py            # Config backup/compare/rollback
│   ├── snmp.py              # SNMP polling
│   ├── netconf.py           # NETCONF operations
│   ├── compliance.py        # Compliance checking
│   └── ...                  # 10 modules, 35 tools total
├── core/                    # Connection and parsing libraries
├── templates/               # Jinja2 config templates (FRR, IOS-XE)
├── quickstart/              # Containerlab quick-start lab
└── tests/                   # Test suite

Configuration

All configuration is via environment variables (or .env file):

# Device credentials
DEVICE_USERNAME=admin
DEVICE_PASSWORD=admin

# Device IPs (override defaults)
R1_HOST=10.255.255.11
R2_HOST=10.255.255.12

# Optional features
DEMO_MODE=true              # Mock data, no real devices
USE_NETBOX=true             # Pull inventory from NetBox
NETBOX_URL=http://localhost:8000
NETBOX_TOKEN=your-token

Requirements

• Python 3.11+
• Network devices reachable via SSH/NETCONF/SNMP
• Claude Desktop or any MCP-compatible client

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.