MCP Server For Cisco Aci

🚀 MCP (Model Context Protocol) for Cisco APIC

This project offers a straightforward MCP (Model Context Protocol) server designed to interact with a Cisco APIC controller. It provides a practical solution for integrating AI with Cisco's application - centric infrastructure.

If you're interested in delving into the detailed workings of this project, please refer to this blog post.

• It has been tested with Claude Desktop and Visual Studio Code in Agent mode with Copilot.
• The server operates in STDIO mode, primarily intended for local execution.

✨ Features

• Offers two tools for interacting with the APIC. For detailed information, refer to app/main.py.
• Can be easily configured through environment variables.

📦 Installation

1. Specify APIC credentials in the .env file.
2. If you want Claude or VS Code to directly run the Python code (without using a container), install UV.
3. Register the MCP server with Claude or VS Code:
   • For VS Code, create a .vscode/mcp.json file in your workspace as follows:

   {
     "servers": {
       "ciscoApicServer": {
         "type": "stdio",
         "command": "C:\\Users\\cpaggen\\.local\\bin\\uv.EXE",
         "args": [
           "run",
           "--with",
           "mcp[cli]",
           "mcp",
           "run",
           "C:\\MCP\\app\\main.py"
         ]
       }
     }
   }
   

4. Instruct Claude Desktop or VS Code to use it:
   • Refer to Claude Desktop Quickstart.
   • Refer to VS Code Copilot MCP Servers.
5. Install MCP client tools locally if you invoke the MCP server with uv run mcp as described above.
   • Use uv add "mcp[cli]" or pip install "mcp[cli]"

💻 Usage Examples

Basic Usage

To set up the MCP server and start interacting with the Cisco APIC controller, follow the installation steps above.

Advanced Usage

You can run the server directly using UV or build a Docker image and run it as a container. When using Docker, adjust the mcp.json configuration accordingly.

⚠️ Important Note

Local installation of MCP client tools is recommended for debugging the server code.

📚 Documentation

Below are some screenshots that demonstrate the MCP server in action and its integration with Claude Desktop and VS Code:

These images illustrate the registration process, available tools, and example interactions.