cisco-nso

This Cisco NSO MCP Server exposes Cisco NSO data and operations as MCP primitives, enabling AI-powered automation through natural language interactions. The server presents a set of tools that query NSO data (such as NED IDs, device groups, platform information, configurations, and state) and support operations like syncing from devices. Clients can discover and execute these tools via the MCP protocol, receiving structured results that include status, data, and metadata. Tools are designed to be asynchronous and network-agnostic, so they can be integrated into various AI workflows and frameworks.

Prerequisites:

• Python 3.12+ installed on your system
• Cisco NSO with RESTCONF API enabled and accessible from the MCP server
• Network connectivity from the MCP server to NSO RESTCONF API

Installation steps (uvx/Python runtime recommended):

1. Install the MCP server package from PyPI:

pip install cisco-nso-mcp-server

2. Run the MCP server directly with uvx (no additional build steps required):

uvx cisco-nso-mcp-server \
  --nso-address=127.0.0.1 \
  --nso-port=8080 \
  --nso-username=admin \
  --nso-password=admin

3. Alternatively, install the package and run the executable directly from the installed path:

pip install cisco-nso-mcp-server

Then start the server using the path to your environment’s bin/cisco-nso-mcp-server:

/path/to/venv/bin/cisco-nso-mcp-server \
  --nso-address=127.0.0.1 \
  --nso-port=8080 \
  --nso-username=admin \
  --nso-password=admin

4. If you prefer using a container, you can containerize the deployment by creating a Dockerfile that runs uvx with the same arguments (not provided here).

Environment variables take precedence over default values but can be overridden by command-line arguments. Common environment variables you may configure include LOG_FILE for logging (enables logging to stdout and a file when set) and NSO-related variables if you choose to pass NSO credentials via environment (not shown in the example configuration). If you encounter connection issues, verify NSO RESTCONF is reachable at the specified address/port, ensure TLS verification settings align with your NSO deployment, and confirm that the provided credentials are valid. The server uses a RESTCONF-backed interface via the cisco-nso-restconf library, so NSO permissions and RESTCONF enablement are critical for successful operation.