Elasticsearch MCP Server

Available Tools

• list_indices

  : List all available Elasticsearch indices

• get_mappings

  : Get field mappings for a specific Elasticsearch index

• search

  : Perform an Elasticsearch search with the provided query DSL

• get_shards

  : Get shard information for all or specific indices

Prerequisites

• An Elasticsearch instance
• Elasticsearch authentication credentials (API key or username/password)
• MCP Client (e.g. Claude Desktop)

Demo

Installation & Setup

Using the Published NPM Package

[!TIP] The easiest way to use Elasticsearch MCP Server is through the published npm package.

1. Configure MCP Client
   • Open your MCP Client. See the list of MCP Clients, here we are configuring Claude Desktop.
   • Go to Settings > Developer > MCP Servers
   • Click

     Edit Config

     and add a new MCP Server with the following configuration:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "elasticsearch-mcp-server": {
         "command": "npx",
         "args": [
           "-y",
           "@elastic/mcp-server-elasticsearch"
         ],
         "env": {
           "ES_URL": "your-elasticsearch-url",
           "ES_API_KEY": "your-api-key"
         }
       }
     }
   }
   

2. Start a Conversation
   • Open a new conversation in your MCP Client
   • The MCP server should connect automatically
   • You can now ask questions about your Elasticsearch data

Configuration Options

[!NOTE] You must provide either an API key or both username and password for authentication.

ES_URL

ES_API_KEY

ES_USERNAME

ES_PASSWORD

ES_CA_CERT

Developing Locally

[!NOTE] If you want to modify or extend the MCP Server, follow these local development steps.

1. Use the correct Node.js version

   nvm use
   

2. Install Dependencies

   npm install
   

3. Build the Project

   npm run build
   

4. Run locally in Claude Desktop App
   • Open Claude Desktop App
   • Go to Settings > Developer > MCP Servers
   • Click

     Edit Config

     and add a new MCP Server with the following configuration:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "elasticsearch-mcp-server-local": {
         "command": "node",
         "args": [
           "/path/to/your/project/dist/index.js"
         ],
         "env": {
           "ES_URL": "your-elasticsearch-url",
           "ES_API_KEY": "your-api-key"
         }
       }
     }
   }
   

5. Debugging with MCP Inspector

   ES_URL=your-elasticsearch-url ES_API_KEY=your-api-key npm run inspector
   

   This will start the MCP Inspector, allowing you to debug and analyze requests. You should see:

   Starting MCP inspector...
   Proxy server listening on port 3000
   
   🔍 MCP Inspector is up and running at http://localhost:5173 🚀
   

Contributing

Example Questions

[!TIP] Here are some natural language queries you can try with your MCP Client.

• "What indices do I have in my Elasticsearch cluster?"
• "Show me the field mappings for the 'products' index."
• "Find all orders over $500 from last month."
• "Which products received the most 5-star reviews?"

How It Works

1. The MCP Client analyzes your request and determines which Elasticsearch operations are needed.
2. The MCP server carries out these operations (listing indices, fetching mappings, performing searches).
3. The MCP Client processes the results and presents them in a user-friendly format.

Security Best Practices

[!WARNING] Avoid using cluster-admin privileges. Create dedicated API keys with limited scope and apply fine-grained access control at the index level to prevent unauthorized data access.

POST /_security/api_key
{
  "name": "es-mcp-server-access",
  "role_descriptors": {
    "mcp_server_role": {
      "cluster": [
        "monitor"
      ],
      "indices": [
        {
          "names": [
            "index-1",
            "index-2",
            "index-pattern-*"
          ],
          "privileges": [
            "read",
            "view_index_metadata"
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

License

Troubleshooting

• Ensure your MCP configuration is correct.
• Verify that your Elasticsearch URL is accessible from your machine.
• Check that your authentication credentials (API key or username/password) have the necessary permissions.
• If using SSL/TLS with a custom CA, verify that the certificate path is correct and the file is readable.
• Look at the terminal output for error messages.