This MCP server provides a bridge to a Jaeger backend via the MCP (Model Context Protocol) transport. It exposes a set of tools that allow you to query Jaeger data using standard MCP commands, such as listing services, getting operations, and retrieving traces. Key tools include: get-operations, get-services, get-trace, find-traces. You can connect to the server from compatible MCP clients (e.g., VS Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, or other clients that support the MCP stdio transport) by launching the jaeger-mcp-server package and pointing the client to the server. The server communicates with Jaeger using the provided JAEGER_URL (and optional JAEGER_PROTOCOL) and returns traces and span data in OpenTelemetry-compatible formats.

Prerequisites:

• Node.js 18+ installed on your system
• Access to npm (comes with Node.js)

Installation steps:

1. Ensure Node.js 18+ is installed
   • macOS/Linux: node -v
   • Windows: node -v
2. Install or run via npx (no global install required)
   • To use directly with your MCP client: npm install -g jaeger-mcp-server 2>/dev/null || true npx -y jaeger-mcp-server
3. Alternatively, run from a project using npm: mkdir my-mcp-project && cd my-mcp-project npm init -y npm install jaeger-mcp-server

   Then start the server as appropriate for your setup (see below)

Usage examples (from your MCP client):

• VS Code or similar clients: { "servers": { "jaeger-mcp-server": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "jaeger-mcp-server"], "envFile": "${workspaceFolder}/.env" } } }
• Claude Desktop or other clients: { "mcpServers": { "jaeger-mcp-server": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "jaeger-mcp-server"], "env": { "JAEGER_URL": "<YOUR_JAEGER_HTTP_OR_GRPC_API_URL>" } } } }

Environment variables:

• JAEGER_URL: Jaeger API URL (HTTP JSON at /api/v3/* or gRPC Protobuf endpoint)
• JAEGER_PORT: Port for the Jaeger API (default 16686 for HTTP, 16685 for gRPC)
• JAEGER_AUTHORIZATION_HEADER: Optional Authorization header value to include in requests
• JAEGER_PROTOCOL: HTTP or GRPC, defaults to GRPC if not specified If you encounter connectivity issues, ensure the Jaeger endpoint is reachable from the machine running the MCP server and that the correct protocol is selected. When using npx, dependencies are downloaded on demand; for production deployments, consider a local installation or containerized deployment and pin the version of jaeger-mcp-server you deploy.