cisco-axl-mcp

Built by Call Telemetry — realtime tools for Cisco Collaboration.
An MCP server that gives AI assistants direct access to Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) via the AXL SOAP API.
You describe the task in plain language. The LLM figures out the AXL operations.
The MCP server ships with pre-parsed schemas from Cisco's official AXL WSDL for every supported CUCM version (11.0, 11.5, 12.0, 12.5, 14.0, 15.0). When you set CUCM_VERSION, it loads the schema for your exact version — so the LLM only sees object types, operations, fields, and enums that actually exist on your CallManager. No guessing, no hallucinated field names, no version mismatches.
Seven composable tools give the LLM progressive disclosure of this schema — 232 object types, 1,065+ operations (including 123 action operations like apply, reset, restart, lock, wipe), thousands of fields — plus direct SQL access to the CUCM Informix database. The server handles auto-pagination for large result sets, retries with exponential backoff on transient failures, and maintains a per-cluster JSONL audit trail of every AXL call.
Instead of hand-crafting XML payloads, you say things like:
- "Provision 2,000 phones from this Excel spreadsheet"
- "Audit end users and find anyone missing an associated phone device"
- "Build a report of all 7940G phones in Device Pool Dallas-DP"
- "Set up a hunt group for the support team with round-robin distribution"
- "Enable Built-in Bridge on every phone in the Sales CSS"
- "Apply config changes to all phones in Device Pool Dallas-DP"
- "Reset every phone in the building after the firmware upgrade"
- "Wipe a stolen Jabber client — erase all local data and credentials"
The LLM uses the tools below to discover the right object types, inspect required fields and valid enums, then execute the AXL operations — iterating through hundreds of records if needed.
Related Cisco MCP Servers
| cisco-axl-mcp | CUCM provisioning and admin via AXL SOAP API (this repo) |
| cisco-ris-mcp | Real-time device registration, PerfMon counters, cluster health |
| cisco-phone-mcp | Direct IP phone control — dial, screenshot, RTP stats |
| cisco-cucm-mcp | CUCM operational debugging — logs, traces, packet capture, service control |
What It Does
Exposes seven composable tools that let an LLM discover, inspect, and execute CUCM operations — phones, users, line groups, hunt lists, SQL queries, and any other AXL-managed object:
axl_execute | Execute any AXL SOAP operation (add, get, list, update, remove, apply, reset, restart, lock, wipe, etc.). Supports autoPage for automatic pagination of list results |
axl_describe_operation | Describe required fields, types, and enums for an operation |
axl_list_objects | Discover available CUCM object types |
axl_list_operations | List CRUD and action operations for a specific object type |
axl_list_action_operations | Discover all 123 non-CRUD action operations (apply, reset, restart, do, lock, wipe, assign, unassign), filterable by object or verb |
axl_sql_query | Execute a read-only SQL SELECT against the CUCM Informix database |
axl_sql_update | Execute a SQL INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE against the CUCM Informix database |
Built-in resilience:
- Retry with exponential backoff — automatically retries on 429, 503, connection errors, and AXL memory allocation errors
- Adaptive rate limiting — learns from recent throttle events and proactively delays requests to avoid overloading CUCM
- JSONL audit trail — every AXL call is logged per-host to
~/.cisco-axl-mcp/audit/ with timestamps, durations, and status
Supports CUCM versions 11.0, 11.5, 12.0, 12.5, 14.0, and 15.0.
Installation
No install required — npx downloads and runs automatically:
npx @calltelemetry/cisco-axl-mcp
Quick Start
Claude Code (one-liner)
claude mcp add cucm_axl \
-e CUCM_HOST=cucm.example.com \
-e CUCM_USERNAME=axl_user \
-e CUCM_PASSWORD=axl_password \
-e CUCM_VERSION=14.0 \
-- npx @calltelemetry/cisco-axl-mcp
Or add to ~/.claude.json manually:
{
"mcpServers": {
"cucm_axl": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["@calltelemetry/cisco-axl-mcp"],
"env": {
"CUCM_HOST": "cucm.example.com",
"CUCM_USERNAME": "axl_user",
"CUCM_PASSWORD": "axl_password",
"CUCM_VERSION": "14.0"
},
"type": "stdio"
}
}
}
Other MCP Clients
Any MCP-compatible client can launch the server via stdio:
CUCM_HOST=cucm.example.com \
CUCM_USERNAME=axl_user \
CUCM_PASSWORD=axl_password \
CUCM_VERSION=14.0 \
npx @calltelemetry/cisco-axl-mcp
Configuration
Credentials
CUCM_HOST | CUCM server hostname or IP |
CUCM_USERNAME | AXL API username |
CUCM_PASSWORD | AXL API password |
CUCM_VERSION | CUCM version (11.0, 11.5, 12.0, 12.5, 14.0, 15.0) |
Each tool call can also override credentials at runtime via cucm_host, cucm_username, cucm_password, and cucm_version parameters — useful for querying multiple clusters in a single session.
Object Allowlisting (Optional)
Restrict which object types the server can operate on:
AXL_MCP_ENABLED_OBJECTS=Phone,User,LineGroup
npx @calltelemetry/cisco-axl-mcp --enabled-objects Phone,User,LineGroup
AXL_MCP_CONFIG='{"enabled_objects": ["Phone", "User", "LineGroup"]}'
When set, only the specified object types and their CRUD + action operations are available. Global action operations (like doDeviceReset, doLdapSync) that aren't tied to a specific object are always permitted. Omit to allow all objects.
Resilience & Audit
AXL_MCP_MAX_RETRIES | 3 | Max retry attempts on transient failures |
AXL_MCP_RETRY_BASE_DELAY_MS | 1000 | Initial backoff delay in milliseconds |
AXL_MCP_ENABLE_SQL | true | Enable SQL tools (false to disable) |
AXL_MCP_MAX_AUTOPAGINATE | 10000 | Max rows returned by autoPage |
AXL_MCP_AUDIT_LOG | request | Audit log detail level (see below) |
AXL_MCP_AUDIT_MAX_SIZE_MB | 10 | Audit log rotation threshold per host |
Audit Log
Every AXL call is logged per-host to ~/.cisco-axl-mcp/audit/<host>.jsonl. The AXL_MCP_AUDIT_LOG variable controls what gets logged:
off | | | No audit logging |
metadata | | | Operation, status, duration, rows only |
request (default) | yes | | Metadata + request payload with credentials redacted |
full | yes | yes | Metadata + request + full response payload |
Credentials (cucm_password, cucm_username, cucm_host, password, username, host) are automatically redacted from request payloads at all log levels.
{"ts":"2026-03-14T15:30:00.000Z","operation":"listPhone","durationMs":342,"status":"ok","rows":50,"request":{"searchCriteria":{"name":"SEP%"}}}
{"ts":"2026-03-14T15:30:01.000Z","operation":"executeSQLQuery","durationMs":1200,"status":"throttled","error":"Maximum AXL Memory Allocation Consumed","request":{"sql":"SELECT name FROM device"}}
When recent throttle events are detected, the server automatically adds a proactive delay before subsequent requests to avoid overloading CUCM.
Tools
axl_execute
Execute any AXL operation by name.
Parameters:
operation | Yes | AXL operation name (e.g. addPhone, getUser, listLineGroup) |
data | Yes | AXL request payload — the JSON body sent as the SOAP request |
returnedTags | No | List of field names to return. Supports dot notation for nested fields, e.g. ["name", "model", "lines.line.dirn.pattern"] |
opts | No | Options: { clean, removeAttributes, dataContainerIdentifierTails } |
autoPage | No | When true, automatically paginates list operations and returns all results (max 10,000 rows). Only valid for list* operations |
cucm_host | No | Override default CUCM host |
cucm_username | No | Override default username |
cucm_password | No | Override default password |
cucm_version | No | Override default version |
axl_describe_operation
Returns the input schema for an AXL operation — required fields, types, enums, defaults, and nested structure. Use this to build correct payloads for axl_execute without guessing.
Parameters:
operationName | Yes | AXL operation name (e.g. addPhone, getUser, listLine) |
Returns: { wsdlVersion, operationName, verb, object, fields } where each field includes:
type | "string", "boolean", "integer", "object", or "array" |
required | true when the field is mandatory (omitted when optional) |
default | Default value from the XSD, if any |
enum | Inline enum values for small enums (≤ 30 values) |
enumType | Reference to a large enum type (look up via AXL_ENUMS) |
typeName | XSD type name for complex types |
fields | Nested child fields (depth-limited to 3 levels) |
axl_list_objects
Returns all top-level CUCM object types available in the loaded WSDL version.
Parameters: None
Returns: { wsdlVersion, objectCount, objects[] }
axl_list_operations
Returns the CRUD operations available for a specific object type.
Parameters:
objectName | Yes | Object type name (e.g. Phone, User, LineGroup) |
Returns: { wsdlVersion, objectName, operations: { add, get, list, update, remove, apply?, reset?, restart?, lock?, wipe?, ... } }
Action verbs (apply, reset, restart, lock, wipe, etc.) are included when the object supports them. For example, Phone returns apply, reset, restart, lock, wipe alongside the standard CRUD verbs.
axl_list_action_operations
Discover all 123 non-CRUD action operations across the AXL schema — apply, reset, restart, do, lock, wipe, assign, unassign.
Parameters:
objectName | No | Filter by object type (e.g. Phone shows only phone-related actions) |
verb | No | Filter by verb prefix (e.g. reset shows all reset operations) |
Returns: { wsdlVersion, totalCount, operations[] } where each operation includes the verb, object (if mapped), and full operation name.
Examples:
{ "objectName": "Phone" }
{ "verb": "do" }
axl_sql_query
Execute a read-only SQL SELECT against the CUCM Informix database via AXL's executeSQLQuery.
Parameters:
sql | Yes | SQL SELECT query |
cucm_host | No | Override default CUCM host |
cucm_username | No | Override default username |
cucm_password | No | Override default password |
cucm_version | No | Override default version |
Example:
{
"sql": "SELECT d.name, d.description, n.dnorpattern FROM device d JOIN numplan n ON d.fknumplan = n.pkid WHERE d.tkclass = 1"
}
axl_sql_update
Execute a SQL INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE against the CUCM Informix database via AXL's executeSQLUpdate.
Parameters:
sql | Yes | SQL INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statement |
cucm_host | No | Override default CUCM host |
cucm_username | No | Override default username |
cucm_password | No | Override default password |
cucm_version | No | Override default version |
Note: SQL tools can be disabled by setting AXL_MCP_ENABLE_SQL=false.
How returnedTags Works
AXL uses returnedTags to select which fields come back in a response — like a SELECT clause in SQL. Without it, AXL returns every field on the object.
The returnedTags parameter accepts a list of field names. Flat fields are straightforward:
{
"operation": "getPhone",
"data": { "name": "SEP001122334455" },
"returnedTags": ["name", "model", "callingSearchSpaceName"]
}
For nested fields (like line details on a phone), use dot notation:
{
"returnedTags": [
"name",
"lines.line.index",
"lines.line.dirn.pattern",
"lines.line.dirn.routePartitionName"
]
}
The MCP server automatically expands dot notation into the nested object structure that AXL expects. The example above becomes:
{
"name": "SEP001122334455",
"returnedTags": {
"name": true,
"lines": {
"line": {
"index": true,
"dirn": {
"pattern": true,
"routePartitionName": true
}
}
}
}
}
You can also pass the nested object form directly in data.returnedTags if you prefer — the array form is just a convenience.
Discovery Flow
An LLM discovers how to use AXL operations in three steps:
axl_list_objects → what object types exist? (Phone, User, LineGroup, ...)
axl_list_operations → what ops exist for Phone? (add, get, list, update, remove, apply, reset, restart, lock, wipe)
axl_list_action_operations → what action ops exist? (123 non-CRUD ops: apply, reset, do, lock, wipe, ...)
axl_describe_operation → what fields does addPhone require?
axl_execute → call addPhone with the correct payload
axl_sql_query → run SQL directly against the CUCM Informix database
Fields marked required: true must be included. Fields with enum or enumType constrain valid values. For complex queries that don't map well to AXL CRUD operations, use axl_sql_query to query the database directly. See the Examples section below for full interactive walkthroughs.
Examples — LLM Conversations (Real CUCM 15 Output)
All examples below are real interactions with a live CUCM 15.0.1 cluster, showing how an LLM uses the tools conversationally.
"What can I manage through AXL?"
User: What object types are available in AXL?
Tool call: axl_list_objects
{}
{
"wsdlVersion": "15.0",
"objectCount": 232,
"objects": [
"AarGroup", "Announcement", "AppUser", "CallManager",
"CallManagerGroup", "CallPark", "CallPickupGroup",
"CommonDeviceConfig", "Css", "CtiRoutePoint", "DevicePool",
"DeviceProfile", "H323Gateway", "H323Trunk", "HuntList",
"HuntPilot", "Line", "LineGroup", "Location",
"MediaResourceGroup", "MediaResourceList", "Phone",
"RecordingProfile", "Region", "RouteGroup", "RouteList",
"RoutePartition", "RoutePattern", "SipProfile", "SipTrunk",
"TransPattern", "User", "VoiceMailProfile",
"... 199 more objects"
]
}
Assistant: AXL exposes 232 object types on your CUCM 15.0 cluster. The most commonly used ones:
- Devices: Phone, DeviceProfile, H323Gateway, SipTrunk, CtiRoutePoint
- Dial plan: Line, RoutePartition, Css, RoutePattern, TransPattern, HuntList, HuntPilot, LineGroup
- Users: User, AppUser
- Infrastructure: DevicePool, CallManagerGroup, Region, Location, MediaResourceList
Want me to check what operations are available for a specific object?
"What operations can I do with phones?"
User: What CRUD operations exist for Phone?
Tool call: axl_list_operations
{ "objectName": "Phone" }
{
"wsdlVersion": "15.0",
"objectName": "Phone",
"operations": {
"add": "addPhone",
"get": "getPhone",
"list": "listPhone",
"remove": "removePhone",
"update": "updatePhone",
"apply": "applyPhone",
"reset": "resetPhone",
"restart": "restartPhone",
"lock": "lockPhone",
"wipe": "wipePhone"
}
}
Assistant: Phone supports 5 CRUD operations plus 5 action operations:
| add | addPhone | Provision a new device |
| get | getPhone | Retrieve full config by name or UUID |
| list | listPhone | Search/filter phones with wildcards |
| update | updatePhone | Modify settings on an existing phone |
| remove | removePhone | Delete a device |
| apply | applyPhone | Push pending config changes to the phone |
| reset | resetPhone | Full reset — unregisters, reloads config, re-registers |
| restart | restartPhone | Restart the phone process without full re-registration |
| lock | lockPhone | Lock the device PIN (Cisco Jabber/Webex mobile clients) |
| wipe | wipePhone | Factory-reset a mobile client, erasing all local data and credentials (Cisco Jabber/Webex) |
Want me to describe the required fields for any of these?
"What fields does addPhone need?"
User: What are the required fields for adding a phone?
Tool call: axl_describe_operation — schema discovery
{ "operationName": "addPhone" }
{
"wsdlVersion": "15.0",
"operationName": "addPhone",
"verb": "add",
"object": "Phone",
"fields": {
"phone": {
"type": "object",
"required": true,
"fields": {
"name": { "type": "string", "required": true },
"product": { "type": "string", "required": true, "enumType": "XProduct" },
"class": { "type": "string", "required": true, "enum": ["Phone", "Gateway", "..."] },
"protocol": { "type": "string", "required": true, "enum": ["SCCP", "SIP", "..."] },
"protocolSide": { "type": "string", "required": true, "default": "User" },
"devicePoolName": { "type": "string", "required": true },
"commonPhoneConfigName": { "type": "string", "required": true },
"locationName": { "type": "string", "required": true },
"phoneTemplateName": { "type": "string", "required": true },
"builtInBridgeStatus": { "type": "string", "required": true, "default": "Default" },
"packetCaptureMode": { "type": "string", "required": true, "default": "None" },
"certificateOperation": { "type": "string", "required": true, "default": "No Pending Operation" },
"deviceMobilityMode": { "type": "string", "required": true, "default": "Default" },
"description": { "type": "string" },
"callingSearchSpaceName": { "type": "string" },
"lines": { "type": "object", "fields": { "line": ["index", "dirn", "..."] } },
"...70+ optional fields"
}
}
}
}
Assistant: addPhone requires a phone object with these mandatory fields:
name | string | Device name (e.g. SEPAABBCCDDEEFF) |
product | enum | Product model (uses XProduct enum — large list) |
class | enum | Phone, Gateway, etc. |
protocol | enum | SIP or SCCP (most common) |
devicePoolName | string | FK to a Device Pool |
commonPhoneConfigName | string | FK to Common Phone Config |
locationName | string | FK to a Location |
phoneTemplateName | string | FK to a Phone Button Template |
Several required fields have defaults (protocolSide: "User", builtInBridgeStatus: "Default", etc.) so you can omit them unless you need non-default values. There are 70+ optional fields for lines, speed dials, BLF, services, security, and more.
"Show me all phones on the cluster"
User: List all the phones configured on CUCM.
Tool call: axl_execute — listPhone
{
"operation": "listPhone",
"data": {
"searchCriteria": { "name": "SEP%" },
"returnedTags": { "name": "", "model": "", "description": "" }
}
}
{
"phone": [
{ "name": "SEP000832C78E0F", "model": "Cisco 7821", "description": "Auto 1001" },
{ "name": "SEP000C291130BA", "model": "Cisco IP Communicator", "description": "Auto 1002" },
{ "name": "SEP0022905C7710", "model": "Cisco 7975", "description": "Auto 1000 7975 Phone3" },
{ "name": "SEP010CE46F48A2", "model": "Cisco 7965", "description": "Lexie Towne - Ardith" },
{ "name": "SEP505C885DF37F", "model": "Cisco 9841", "description": "Auto 1003 9841" },
"... 118 phones total"
]
}
Assistant: Found 123 phones configured in AXL. Here's a summary by model:
| Cisco 7965 | ~60 | Provisioned users (Lexie Towne, Gabe Gottlieb, ...) |
| Cisco 7945 | ~55 | Provisioned users |
| Cisco 7821 | 1 | SEP000832C78E0F — Auto 1001 |
| Cisco 7975 | 1 | SEP0022905C7710 — Auto 1000 |
| Cisco 9841 | 1 | SEP505C885DF37F — Auto 1003 |
| Cisco IP Communicator | 1 | SEP000C291130BA — Auto 1002 |
The bulk of the inventory appears to be synthetic test data (7945/7965 models). The 3 "Auto" phones are the real lab devices.
"Get the full config for a specific phone"
User: Show me the config for the 7821 phone, including its line details.
Tool call: axl_execute — getPhone with nested returnedTags
{
"operation": "getPhone",
"data": { "name": "SEP000832C78E0F" },
"returnedTags": [
"name", "model", "description",
"devicePoolName", "callingSearchSpaceName",
"lines.line.index",
"lines.line.dirn.pattern",
"lines.line.dirn.routePartitionName"
]
}
{
"phone": {
"name": "SEP000832C78E0F",
"description": "Auto 1001",
"model": "Cisco 7821",
"callingSearchSpaceName": "CT-Internal-CSS",
"devicePoolName": "Default",
"lines": {
"line": [
{
"index": "1",
"dirn": {
"pattern": "1001",
"routePartitionName": "CT-Internal"
}
}
]
}
}
}
Assistant: Here's the 7821 config:
- Device: SEP000832C78E0F (Cisco 7821)
- Description: Auto 1001
- Device Pool: Default
- Calling Search Space: CT-Internal-CSS
- Line 1: DN
1001 in partition CT-Internal
The returnedTags dot notation (lines.line.dirn.pattern) automatically expands into the nested AXL structure — you don't need to build the XML nesting manually.
"What operations exist for LineGroup?"
User: I need to set up hunt groups. What can I do with LineGroup?
Tool call: axl_list_operations
{ "objectName": "LineGroup" }
{
"wsdlVersion": "15.0",
"objectName": "LineGroup",
"operations": {
"add": "addLineGroup",
"get": "getLineGroup",
"list": "listLineGroup",
"remove": "removeLineGroup",
"update": "updateLineGroup"
}
}
Assistant: LineGroup supports full CRUD. For a hunt group setup, the typical workflow is:
addLineGroup — Create a line group with member DNs and a distribution algorithm (Top Down, Circular, etc.)
addHuntList — Create a hunt list referencing one or more line groups
addHuntPilot — Create the pilot number users dial to reach the hunt group
Want me to describe the required fields for addLineGroup so we can build the payload?
"Enable Built-in Bridge on a phone"
User: Turn on BIB for the 7821.
Tool call: axl_execute — updatePhone
{
"operation": "updatePhone",
"data": {
"name": "SEP000832C78E0F",
"builtInBridgeStatus": "On"
}
}
{ "return": "{7C6B3FC2-C043-480F-811D-641BA7E47909}" }
Assistant: Done — Built-in Bridge is now On for SEP000832C78E0F. The phone will need to reset for the change to take effect. Update operations just take the device name plus the fields to change.
"Query a different cluster"
User: Can you check phones on our London cluster too?
Assistant: Yes — each tool call can override credentials for a different cluster without restarting the MCP server:
{
"operation": "listPhone",
"data": { "searchCriteria": { "name": "SEP%" }, "returnedTags": { "name": "", "model": "" } },
"cucm_host": "10.1.1.5",
"cucm_username": "london_axl",
"cucm_password": "london_pass",
"cucm_version": "14.0"
}
The cucm_host, cucm_username, cucm_password, and cucm_version parameters override the defaults on a per-call basis. This lets you query multiple clusters in a single session.
CUCM Prerequisites
The AXL API user needs the Standard AXL API Access role in CUCM. To set this up:
- In CUCM Administration, go to User Management > Application User (or End User)
- Create or select a user
- Add the Standard AXL API Access role
- Ensure the AXL Web Service is activated in Cisco Unified Serviceability > Tools > Service Activation
Development
Requires Node.js 22+ and Yarn 4 (via Corepack).
Building and Testing
git clone https://github.com/calltelemetry/cisco-axl-mcp.git
cd cisco-axl-mcp
corepack enable
yarn install
yarn build
yarn test
The generated TypeScript types in src/types/generated/ and generated/ are checked into the repo. Contributors can build, test, and modify the MCP server without needing access to any WSDL files.
Available Scripts
yarn build | Build with Vite |
yarn test | Run all tests (Vitest) |
yarn test:mcp | Run MCP conformance tests only |
yarn typecheck | TypeScript type checking |
yarn lint | ESLint |
yarn lint:fix | ESLint with auto-fix |
yarn format | Prettier format |
yarn format:check | Prettier check |
yarn validate | Typecheck + lint + test (full pre-commit check) |
Regenerating AXL Types
This is only needed when adding support for new CUCM versions or new AXL object types. The cisco-axl library by Jeremy Worden bundles Cisco AXL WSDL schemas for versions 11.0–15.0 in its npm package. The type generation script reads these directly from node_modules:
yarn install
yarn generate:types
To use schemas from a custom location:
yarn generate:types --schema-dir /path/to/schema
After regeneration, commit the updated generated files.
Contributing
Contributions are welcome! To get started:
- Fork the repo and create a feature branch
- Run
corepack enable && yarn install
- Make your changes
- Run
yarn validate (typecheck + lint + tests must all pass)
- Open a pull request against
main
CI runs automatically on pull requests — typecheck, lint, tests with coverage, and build must all pass before merge. The main branch is protected and requires CI to pass.
Acknowledgments
This project is made possible by:
License
MIT — see LICENSE for details.