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Linux MCP Server for Claude

Run Linux system diagnostics from Claude — inspect CPU, memory, disk, network, services, processes, and journal logs — with the official Linux MCP Server from Red Hat's RHEL Lightspeed team, supporting both local and remote SSH-connected hosts.

by Red Hat RHEL Lightspeed·added 2026-06-18·

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Install

Source

claude mcp add linux -- uvx linux-mcp-server

Readiness

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Documentation Source repository Registry JSON · LLM text

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Open the source and read safety notes before installing.

Safety notes

The default `fixed` toolset is read-only — no changes are made to the system; only diagnostic information is retrieved.
Set `LINUX_MCP_TOOLSET=run_script` to enable script execution — this allows arbitrary command execution on the host; only enable in trusted environments.
For remote hosts, `LINUX_MCP_SSH_KEY_PATH` is used for key-based SSH authentication — ensure the key is protected with appropriate permissions.

Privacy notes

System information including hostname, OS release, CPU model, active network connections, service names, process names, and journal log content are surfaced in Claude's context.
Journal logs may contain sensitive application data — scope `LINUX_MCP_ALLOWED_LOG_PATHS` to limit which logs are readable.

Prerequisites

A Linux system running locally or accessible via SSH.
Python with `uvx` available.
An MCP client such as Claude Code or Claude Desktop.

Schema details

Install type: cli
Troubleshooting: No

Source repository stats

Scope: Source repo

Collection metadata

Estimated setup: 5 minutes
Difficulty: beginner

Tool listing metadata

Website: https://www.redhat.com/en/technologies/linux-platforms/enterprise-linux

Full copyable content

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "linux": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["linux-mcp-server"]
    }
  }
}

About this resource

Overview

The Linux MCP Server is the official Model Context Protocol server from Red Hat's RHEL Lightspeed team, giving Claude read-only access to Linux system diagnostics. It covers system information, CPU, memory, disk usage, network connections, systemd services, journal logs, and running processes — for both local and SSH-connected remote hosts. Licensed under Apache-2.0.

The default fixed toolset is strictly read-only. An optional run_script toolset enables arbitrary command execution when needed for advanced diagnostics.

Key capabilities

System info — hostname, OS release, kernel version, uptime.
CPU & memory — CPU model, core count, load averages, memory usage.
Disk — filesystem mount point usage and capacity.
Services — list all systemd units, get status of specific services.
Journal logs — retrieve recent logs filtered by service or unit.
Processes — list running processes sorted by CPU or memory.
Network — active network connections and listening ports.
Remote hosts — SSH key-based connections for remote system diagnostics.

Tools

Tool	Purpose
`system_info`	Hostname, OS release, kernel, uptime
`cpu_info`	CPU model, core count, load averages
`memory_info`	Memory usage via `free`
`disk_usage`	Filesystem mount point usage
`list_services`	All systemctl service units
`service_status`	Status of a specific service
`service_logs`	Recent journal logs for a service
`journal_logs`	Filtered systemd journal queries
`list_processes`	Running processes sorted by CPU
`network_connections`	Active network connections

Configuration options

Env var	Default	Purpose
`LINUX_MCP_TOOLSET`	`fixed`	`fixed` (read-only), `run_script`, or `both`
`LINUX_MCP_SSH_KEY_PATH`	—	SSH private key for remote hosts
`LINUX_MCP_KEY_PASSPHRASE`	—	SSH key passphrase
`LINUX_MCP_ALLOWED_LOG_PATHS`	—	Comma-separated allowed log file paths
`LINUX_MCP_COMMAND_TIMEOUT`	`30`	Command timeout in seconds
`LINUX_MCP_TRANSPORT`	`stdio`	`stdio`, `http`, or `streamable-http`

How it compares

Server	Read-only mode	Remote SSH	systemd	Journal logs	Notes
Linux MCP	Yes (default)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Official, RHEL-backed
Desktop Commander	No	No	No	No	Full shell access
CLI MCP Server	No	No	No	No	General command runner

Linux MCP is the only system diagnostics MCP with a read-only default mode, SSH remote support, and native systemd/journal integration from an enterprise Linux vendor.

Installation

Claude Code (local)

claude mcp add linux -- uvx linux-mcp-server

Claude Code (remote SSH host)

claude mcp add linux \
  -e LINUX_MCP_SSH_KEY_PATH=/path/to/private-key \
  -- uvx linux-mcp-server

Claude Desktop

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "linux": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["linux-mcp-server"]
    }
  }
}

Requirements

A Linux system (local or remote via SSH).
Python with uvx (from uv).
An MCP client (Claude Code or Claude Desktop).

Security

The default fixed toolset is read-only — no system modifications are possible.
Only enable run_script toolset if you need arbitrary command execution and trust the Claude session completely.
Restrict readable log paths with LINUX_MCP_ALLOWED_LOG_PATHS in production environments.

Source Verification Notes

Verified on 2026-06-18:

Official repository rhel-lightspeed/linux-mcp-server (Apache-2.0) on PyPI as linux-mcp-server documents the uvx install, all diagnostic tools (system_info, cpu_info, memory_info, disk_usage, list_services, service_status, service_logs, journal_logs, list_processes, network_connections), the fixed/run_script/both toolset modes, SSH remote configuration, and optional env vars.
Claude Code MCP documentation at code.claude.com/docs/en/mcp describes the stdio connector pattern used above.

#linux #devops #sysadmin #rhel #systemd #diagnostics #monitoring

Source citations

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How it compares

Linux MCP Server for Claude side by side with 3 alternatives on trust, install, platform support, and disclosed safety notes — all from reviewed registry metadata.

Field	Linux MCP Server for Claude Run Linux system diagnostics from Claude — inspect CPU, memory, disk, network, services, processes, and journal logs — with the official Linux MCP Server from Red Hat's RHEL Lightspeed team, supporting both local and remote SSH-connected hosts. Open dossier	ConfigCat MCP Server for Claude Manage ConfigCat feature flags from Claude — create, update, and delete flags and targeting rules, manage environments, find and clean up stale flags, and audit change history — with the official ConfigCat MCP server and its 52 tools for the full ConfigCat Management API. Open dossier	OpenTelemetry MCP Server for Claude Analyze distributed traces and LLM observability data from Claude — search traces and spans, find errors, list services, analyze LLM token usage, identify slow LLM operations, and discover AI model usage patterns — with the OpenTelemetry MCP server supporting Jaeger, Grafana Tempo, and Traceloop backends. Open dossier	Radar MCP Server Built-in HTTP MCP server for Radar, the local-first Kubernetes UI that gives Claude token-optimized cluster topology, health, events, logs, audit, RBAC, GitOps, workload, and resource-management tools. Open dossier
Trust
Install risk	Review first	Review first	Review first	Review first
Notes	Safety ✓ Privacy ✓	Safety ✓ Privacy ✓	Safety ✓ Privacy ✓	Safety ✓ Privacy ✓
Category	mcp	mcp	mcp	mcp
Source	source-backed	source-backed	source-backed	source-backed
Author	Red Hat RHEL Lightspeed	ConfigCat	Traceloop	Skyhook
Added	2026-06-18	2026-06-18	2026-06-18	2026-06-06
Platforms	Claude CodeCodexCursorClaude Desktop	Claude CodeClaude Desktop	Claude CodeClaude Desktop	Claude CodeClaude Desktop
Source repo	—	—	—	—
Safety notes	✓The default `fixed` toolset is read-only — no changes are made to the system; only diagnostic information is retrieved. Set `LINUX_MCP_TOOLSET=run_script` to enable script execution — this allows arbitrary command execution on the host; only enable in trusted environments. For remote hosts, `LINUX_MCP_SSH_KEY_PATH` is used for key-based SSH authentication — ensure the key is protected with appropriate permissions.	✓Tools can create, update, and delete feature flags, targeting rules, environments, and segments — changes affect live feature flag configuration. Use `list-staleflags` before deleting flags to identify zombie flags and avoid breaking active SDKs.	✓All tools are read-only — the server queries trace data but does not modify your application or tracing backend. Trace data may contain sensitive information (request parameters, user IDs, SQL queries) — ensure Claude has appropriate access to this data.	✓Radar MCP can inspect live Kubernetes resources, topology, warning events, logs, metrics, package inventory, audit findings, RBAC permissions, Helm releases, ArgoCD resources, and FluxCD resources. The MCP implementation includes mutating tools for applying YAML, patching resources, restarting or scaling workloads, triggering or suspending CronJobs, managing GitOps resources, and cordoning, uncordoning, or draining nodes. Mutating tools are RBAC-enforced and annotated as destructive-capable, but clients and operators should still require human review before running them. `apply_resource` with forced ownership can take server-side-apply fields from other managers such as Helm or GitOps controllers. `manage_node drain` can evict pods and affect live workloads. Radar provides flags and environment variables that disable MCP, disable exec/local terminal paths, or loosen localhost/origin protections; only relax those protections in trusted development contexts.
Privacy notes	✓System information including hostname, OS release, CPU model, active network connections, service names, process names, and journal log content are surfaced in Claude's context. Journal logs may contain sensitive application data — scope `LINUX_MCP_ALLOWED_LOG_PATHS` to limit which logs are readable.	✓Feature flag configurations, targeting rules, audience segments, SDK keys, and audit log entries from your ConfigCat account are surfaced in Claude's context. `CONFIGCAT_API_USER` and `CONFIGCAT_API_PASS` are Management API credentials — keep them in the MCP config env and never commit them to version control.	✓Distributed trace content including service names, operation names, error messages, HTTP parameters, and LLM prompt/response metadata may be surfaced in Claude's context. For Traceloop backend, `BACKEND_API_KEY` is required and grants access to your Traceloop organization's trace data.	✓Kubeconfig paths, cluster names, namespaces, resource names, manifests, labels, annotations, topology edges, metrics, events, logs, RBAC rules, Helm release data, GitOps metadata, and audit findings may be exposed to the MCP client and model provider. Radar's MCP docs state that Secret data is not exposed and environment/log values are redacted for known sensitive patterns, but metadata, key names, errors, and operational context can still be sensitive. Workload logs can contain credentials, customer data, request payloads, internal hostnames, incident details, or proprietary deployment context. In-cluster deployments without authentication make all MCP callers share the pod service account view, so restrict network access, enable auth, and scope RBAC before exposing shared endpoints.
Prerequisites	A Linux system running locally or accessible via SSH. Python with `uvx` available. An MCP client such as Claude Code or Claude Desktop.	A ConfigCat account — log in at app.configcat.com. Management API credentials: My Account → Public API Credentials → + Create new credentials (these are separate from SDK keys). Node.js with `npx` available. An MCP client such as Claude Code or Claude Desktop.	An OpenTelemetry-compatible tracing backend: Jaeger (local), Grafana Tempo, or Traceloop Cloud. Services instrumented with OpenTelemetry sending traces to your backend. Python 3.11+ with `uvx` available. An MCP client such as Claude Code or Claude Desktop.	Radar installed from Homebrew, Krew, GitHub Releases, Scoop, or another upstream-supported path. Running Radar server or `kubectl radar` session with the MCP endpoint enabled. MCP client that supports Streamable HTTP server configuration. Kubernetes kubeconfig, context, namespace scope, or in-cluster service account reviewed before connecting an AI client.
Install	`claude mcp add linux -- uvx linux-mcp-server`	`claude mcp add configcat -e CONFIGCAT_API_USER=<your-api-user> -e CONFIGCAT_API_PASS=<your-api-pass> -- npx -y @configcat/mcp-server`	`claude mcp add opentelemetry -e BACKEND_TYPE=jaeger -e BACKEND_URL=http://localhost:16686 -- uvx opentelemetry-mcp`	`brew install skyhook-io/tap/radar`
Config	`{ "mcpServers": { "linux": { "command": "uvx", "args": ["linux-mcp-server"], "env": { "LINUX_MCP_TOOLSET": "fixed", "LINUX_MCP_COMMAND_TIMEOUT": "30" } } } }`	`{ "mcpServers": { "configcat": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "@configcat/mcp-server"], "env": { "CONFIGCAT_API_USER": "<your-api-user>", "CONFIGCAT_API_PASS": "<your-api-pass>", "CONFIGCAT_BASE_URL": "https://api.configcat.com" } } } }`	`{ "mcpServers": { "opentelemetry": { "command": "uvx", "args": ["opentelemetry-mcp"], "env": { "BACKEND_TYPE": "jaeger", "BACKEND_URL": "http://localhost:16686", "MAX_TRACES_PER_QUERY": "100", "BACKEND_TIMEOUT": "30" } } } }`	`{ "mcpServers": { "radar": { "url": "RADAR_MCP_URL" } } }`
Citations	Source repositorygithub.com 2026-06-18T09:01:14+00:00 Documentationraw.githubusercontent.com Websiteredhat.com	Source repositorygithub.com 2026-06-18T09:01:14+00:00 Documentationraw.githubusercontent.com	Source repositorygithub.com 2026-06-18T09:01:14+00:00 Documentationraw.githubusercontent.com	Source repositorygithub.com 2026-06-18T09:01:14+00:00 Documentationraw.githubusercontent.com Submitted by oktofeesh12026-06-06
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Safety notes

Privacy notes

Prerequisites

Schema details

About this resource

Overview

Key capabilities

Tools

Configuration options

How it compares

Installation

Claude Code (local)

Claude Code (remote SSH host)

Claude Desktop

Requirements

Security

Source Verification Notes

Source citations

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How it compares

Related resources

ConfigCat MCP Server for Claude

OpenTelemetry MCP Server for Claude

Radar MCP Server

Android Skills MCP Server for Claude

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