Add the Grafana MCP server to Claude Desktop

Config last verified Jun 1, 2026

The exact config to run Grafana in Claude Desktop — paste it in, restart, and the tools load.

Prerequisites

Claude Desktop installed.
GRAFANA_URL — URL of your Grafana instance, e.g. https://myinstance.grafana.net or http://localhost:3000.
GRAFANA_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN — Grafana service account token used to authenticate (Grafana 9.0+).

Setup

1. Open `~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`

On Windows the file lives at %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json.

2. Add this configuration

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

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

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "grafana": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "--rm",
        "-i",
        "-e",
        "GRAFANA_URL",
        "-e",
        "GRAFANA_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN",
        "grafana/mcp-grafana",
        "-t",
        "stdio"
      ],
      "env": {
        "GRAFANA_URL": "<GRAFANA_URL>",
        "GRAFANA_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN": "<GRAFANA_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN>"
      }
    }
  }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop and confirm the Grafana tools load.

Gotchas

Claude Desktop reads MCP servers from an "mcpServers" object, but the config file is stdio-only: it cannot dial a remote URL directly. To reach a remote server you bridge it locally by running "npx mcp-remote <url>" as the command. Native remote Connectors exist on paid plans, but not through this config file, so the bridge is the portable path.

← Back to the Grafana MCP server