AKS MCP Server Setup

Step-by-step setup for the AKS MCP server with Claude Code in VS Code.

Prerequisites

• VS Code with Claude Code extension
• Azure CLI logged in (az login)
• Kubernetes extension for VS Code (installs the AKS MCP binary)

1. Install the Kubernetes Extension

Install the Kubernetes extension from the VS Code marketplace. This bundles the AKS MCP server binary.

The binary gets installed to:

C:\Users\<user>\.vs-kubernetes\tools\aks-mcp\v0.0.11\aks-mcp.exe

2. Create .mcp.json in Your Repo

Create a .mcp.json file in your project root:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "aks-mcp": {
      "command": "C:\\Users\\<user>\\.vs-kubernetes\\tools\\aks-mcp\\v0.0.11\\aks-mcp.exe",
      "args": ["--transport", "stdio", "--access-level", "readwrite"],
      "env": {}
    }
  }
}

Update the path to match your username.

3. Verify Connection

Restart Claude Code. You should see the MCP server connected in the status.

Test with:

• "list my aks clusters"
• "show cluster status"
• "get pods in default namespace"

What You Can Do

The AKS MCP gives Claude access to:

Access Levels

• readonly - Safe for production, only read operations
• readwrite - Full access including mutations

Notes

• MCP servers run locally - no cloud-hosted option yet
• The binary is bundled with the K8s extension, not a separate install
• Works with any kubeconfig context you have configured