strimzi

This MCP server enables AI assistants to manage and troubleshoot Strimzi Kafka deployments running on Kubernetes. It exposes a rich set of tools to inspect and manipulate Kafka clusters, topics, users, connectors, and various Strimzi resources, as well as utilities for observability and health checks. After starting the server, you can issue commands to list Kafka clusters, describe topics and users, perform rebalances, manage connectors, rotate credentials, and fetch logs or events. Built-in capabilities cover cluster management (list/status/restarts), topic and user lifecycle operations, connect management, bridging, Cruise Control rebalancing, and observability tasks, providing a comprehensive toolkit for automation and day-to-day operations.

To use the server, connect your MCP client (e.g., Claude or another automation layer) to the Strimzi MCP server endpoint. Use the available tool names to perform actions, for example: listing Kafka topics, describing a topic’s configuration, creating a new KafkaTopic, or triggering a rolling restart of a Kafka broker. The toolset also includes health checks and log/event retrieval to help diagnose issues quickly and safely. Since Strimzi runs inside Kubernetes, most operations are executed against the cluster via the local kubeconfig, so ensure your runtime environment has appropriate access to the cluster and namespaces where Strimzi resources live.

Prerequisites:

• Java 21+ (required to run the Strimzi MCP server)
• A Kubernetes cluster with Strimzi installed
• Local kubeconfig at ~/.kube/config or accessible cluster context

Option A: Install via Claude Code Plugin (if applicable to your setup)

1. Open Claude Code Plugin marketplace and add the Strimzi MCP server plugin: plugin marketplace add https://github.com/see-quick/strimzi-mcp-server
2. Install the MCP server plugin: plugin install strimzi-mcp@see-quick-strimzi-mcp-server

Option B: Manual install (download and run the JAR)

1. Build or download the Strimzi MCP server JAR (strimzi-mcp-server.jar) from releases.
2. Run the MCP server: java -jar strimzi-mcp-server.jar

Notes:

• Ensure the MCP server has network access to your Kubernetes cluster (via kubeconfig).
• You may need to configure JVM memory settings via JAVA_OPTS if running in constrained environments.

Configuration example (when running manually):

• Make sure the working directory contains strimzi-mcp-server.jar or provide the full path.
• The server will use ~/.kube/config by default unless overridden by KUBECONFIG env var.

Tips and common issues:

• Ensure your Kubernetes cluster has Strimzi installed and configured in the namespaces you intend to manage.
• The MCP server relies on your kubeconfig; confirm that your environment can access the cluster context used for Strimzi resources.
• If you encounter permission errors, verify the service account and RBAC setup in the Kubernetes cluster where you operate Strimzi resources.
• For large clusters, consider increasing JVM heap size (set JAVA_OPTS) to avoid OOM errors during heavy operations.
• Use health_check and get_operator_logs frequently when troubleshooting connectivity or operator issues.
• The toolset includes observe and export utilities; use export_resource_yaml to back up resource definitions before performing destructive actions.