@parseable/parseable-mcp-server

Parseable MCP Server

Model Context Protocol server for Parseable. Lets any MCP-capable client (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code Copilot, Windsurf, Continue, Cline, Zed, Codex) discover, query, and manage Parseable datasets and alerts using natural language.

Two transports:

Mode	Transport	Auth	Use when
stdio	Stdin/stdout	API key via env vars	Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, local clients
http	Streamable HTTP	Cloud API key, or self-hosted URL + API key	Hosted deployments and remote clients

Quickstart — stdio (local)

One command — interactive setup, detects Claude Desktop / Cursor, writes config files:

npx -y @parseable/parseable-mcp-server init

Restart your MCP client. Tools appear. Done.

Scripted:

npx -y @parseable/parseable-mcp-server init \
  --client claude-desktop \
  --url https://your-parseable.example.com \
  --api-key "$PARSEABLE_API_KEY"

Supported --client values: claude-desktop, cursor.

Cursor Marketplace plugin

The repository also contains a native Cursor plugin manifest. Marketplace installs connect to https://mcp.parseable.com/mcp and read credentials from the environment.

Set these variables before starting Cursor:

export PARSEABLE_URL="https://your-parseable.example.com"
export PARSEABLE_API_KEY="your-api-key"
export PARSEABLE_MODE="self-hosted"

PARSEABLE_API_KEY and PARSEABLE_MODE are required by the Cursor plugin. Use PARSEABLE_MODE=cloud and omit PARSEABLE_URL for Parseable Cloud. Use PARSEABLE_MODE=self-hosted with PARSEABLE_URL for self-hosted Parseable.

# Parseable Cloud
export PARSEABLE_MODE="cloud"
export PARSEABLE_API_KEY="your-cloud-api-key"
unset PARSEABLE_URL

Then install the Parseable plugin from the Cursor Marketplace. If Cursor was opened from the macOS dock or another GUI launcher that does not inherit shell variables, use the interactive setup instead:

npx -y @parseable/parseable-mcp-server init --client cursor

Plugin metadata lives in .cursor-plugin/plugin.json; its MCP connection configuration lives in mcp.json. Keep the plugin version aligned with the npm package version when releasing.

Quickstart — HTTP (hosted)

HTTP mode serves a setup page and MCP endpoint from one process. Cloud clients supply an API key. Self-hosted clients supply their Parseable URL and API key.

1. Set env vars

# .env
PORT=8787

2. Run

# From source
npm run build:all
node dist/server.js http

# Docker
docker build -t parseable-mcp-server .
docker run -p 8787:8787 --env-file .env parseable-mcp-server

3. Connect from Claude

• Claude Desktop → Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector
• Name: Parseable
• URL: https://mcp.your-domain.com/mcp
• Header X-Parseable-URL: https://your-parseable.example.com
• Header X-API-Key: your Parseable API key
• Click Add → Connect

4. Connect from Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http parseable https://mcp.your-domain.com/mcp --scope user \
  --header "X-Parseable-URL: https://your-parseable.example.com" \
  --header "X-API-Key: $PARSEABLE_API_KEY"

5. Connect from Cursor / VS Code

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "parseable": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.your-domain.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "X-Parseable-URL": "https://your-parseable.example.com",
        "X-API-Key": "your-parseable-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

HTTP authentication

Each POST /mcp request requires X-API-Key and supports two modes:

Mode	Headers
Cloud	X-Parseable-Mode: cloud, X-API-Key
Self-hosted (default)	X-Parseable-URL, X-API-Key

X-Parseable-Mode is checked first when present. Omitting it selects self-hosted mode; clients do not need to send X-Parseable-Mode: self-hosted. In cloud mode, server validates API key with Parseable Cloud, caches returned URL and tenant routing in a bounded in-memory LRU for 24 hours, and sends x-p-tenant on Parseable requests. Cache is disposable; misses and process restarts resolve through Cloud again.

For self-hosted mode, HTTP server validates supplied URL and forwards API key to that Parseable instance. By default, private and loopback Parseable URLs are rejected to limit SSRF. Set PARSEABLE_MCP_ALLOW_PRIVATE=true only for trusted deployments that need private network targets.

Environment variables

stdio mode

Var	Required	Default	Purpose
PARSEABLE_URL	✅	—	Parseable base URL
PARSEABLE_API_KEY	✅	—	API key for self-hosted Parseable
PARSEABLE_DEFAULT_DATASET		—	Advisory default dataset
PARSEABLE_MAX_ROWS		1000	Hard cap on query rows
PARSEABLE_QUERY_TIMEOUT_MS		30000	HTTP timeout (ms)

HTTP mode

Var	Required	Default	Purpose
PORT		8787	HTTP listen port
PARSEABLE_MCP_ALLOW_PRIVATE		false	Permit private/loopback Parseable URLs supplied in request headers
PARSEABLE_ORCHESTRATOR_URL	Cloud only	-	Parseable Cloud orchestrator base URL
PARSEABLE_CLOUD_AUTH_TOKEN	Cloud only	-	Service bearer token for API-key validation
PARSEABLE_CLOUD_CACHE_TTL_SECONDS		86400	Cloud routing LRU TTL
PARSEABLE_CLOUD_CACHE_MAX_ENTRIES		10000	Maximum cached cloud API-key routes
PARSEABLE_CLOUD_VALIDATE_TIMEOUT_MS		10000	Cloud validation timeout

OpenTelemetry (optional)

Var	Default	Purpose
PARSEABLE_OTEL_ENABLED	false	Enable trace export to Parseable
PARSEABLE_OTEL_ENDPOINT	—	Parseable OTLP endpoint
PARSEABLE_OTEL_USERNAME	—	Basic auth for OTLP
PARSEABLE_OTEL_PASSWORD	—	Basic auth for OTLP
PARSEABLE_OTEL_TRACES_STREAM	mcp-traces	Stream name for traces
PARSEABLE_OTEL_DEBUG	false	Log OTLP export errors

Copy .env.example → .env for a full template.

Tools

Discovery

Tool	Purpose
list_datasets	List all log datasets
get_dataset_schema	Column names + types
get_dataset_info	Metadata (created_at, retention, time window)
get_dataset_stats	Event count and storage bytes
sample_events	Most recent N events (time-bounded, row-capped)

Query

Tool	Purpose
query_sql	SQL SELECT over a time window. DDL/DML blocked. Auto-injects LIMIT.
query_promql	PromQL instant or range query against a metrics dataset

Alerts

Tool	Purpose
list_alerts	List all alerts with state, severity, tags
get_alert	Full config for one alert
list_alert_tags	All alert tags in use
enable_alert	Enable an alert
disable_alert	Disable an alert
evaluate_alert	Force-evaluate now. May fire real notifications.
create_alert	Create alert via guided Q&A (8 questions, confirms before submit)

Alert targets

Tool	Purpose
list_alert_targets	List targets (Slack, webhook, Alertmanager)
get_alert_target	Full config for one target
create_alert_target	Create a new Slack / webhook / Alertmanager target

Diagnostics

Tool	Purpose
ping	Check connectivity, return version + health
explain_query	EXPLAIN a SQL query without executing it

RBAC (read-only)

Tool	Purpose
list_users	List all users
get_user_roles	Roles for a specific user
list_roles	All role names
get_role	Privilege definition for a role
get_default_role	Default role for new users

Admin (read-only)

Tool	Purpose
get_cluster_status	All nodes with status (distributed mode)
get_cluster_metrics	Aggregated ingest/query/storage metrics
get_retention	Retention policy for a dataset

Client setup — stdio

Claude Desktop

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Parseable": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@parseable/parseable-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "PARSEABLE_URL": "https://your-parseable.example.com",
        "PARSEABLE_API_KEY": "your-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

claude mcp add Parseable \
  --env PARSEABLE_URL=https://your-parseable.example.com \
  --env PARSEABLE_API_KEY=your-api-key \
  -- npx -y @parseable/parseable-mcp-server

Cursor

~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Parseable": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@parseable/parseable-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "PARSEABLE_URL": "https://your-parseable.example.com",
        "PARSEABLE_API_KEY": "your-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

VS Code

.vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "Parseable": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@parseable/parseable-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "PARSEABLE_URL": "https://your-parseable.example.com",
        "PARSEABLE_API_KEY": "your-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Development

git clone https://github.com/parseablehq/parseable-mcp-server.git
cd parseable-mcp-server
npm install
cp .env.example .env    # fill in your values

# Build
npm run build           # server only (tsc)
npm run build:ui        # React UI only (vite)
npm run build:all       # both

# Run
node dist/server.js         # stdio mode
node dist/server.js http    # HTTP mode (port 8787)

# Dev
npm run dev             # tsc --watch
npm run dev:ui          # vite dev server (proxies API to :8787)
npm test
npm run lint
npm run fix             # biome auto-fix

CI (GitHub Actions) runs lint + build:all + test on every push/PR to main on Node 22. On merge to main, Docker image is published to ghcr.io/parseablehq/parseable-mcp-server.

Security

• Parseable API keys live in MCP client configuration. Use keys scoped to minimum required permissions.
• HTTP clients send credentials in X-Parseable-URL and X-API-Key; always use HTTPS for remote deployments.
• query_sql blocks DDL/DML and enforces a row LIMIT. Time window is mandatory.
• evaluate_alert can fire real notifications — review the call before approving.
• No telemetry. Outbound calls go only to the Parseable instance configured by the user.

License

Apache-2.0. See LICENSE.