Ansible Development Tools MCP Server

What it does

The Ansible Development Tools MCP Server is published by the Ansible project from the same repository as the Ansible extension for VS Code, as the npm package @ansible/ansible-mcp-server and a container image. It runs locally over stdio and points at one Ansible project directory, set with WORKSPACE_ROOT (the directory it was started in when unset).

Its tools wrap the Ansible command-line tooling: ansible_lint runs ansible-lint on a file and can apply its automatic fixes, ansible_navigator runs a playbook through ansible-navigator and retries without an execution environment when Podman or Docker fails, create_ansible_projects scaffolds a collection or playbook project with ansible-creator, and define_and_build_execution_env writes and schema-checks an execution-environment.yml for ansible-builder. Other tools report the Python, Ansible and tool versions present, create a virtual environment and install collections and Python packages, or install ansible-dev-tools when it is missing. It also serves reference material as tools and resources: the Zen of Ansible, content best-practice guidelines, the execution environment schema, a sample file and its rules.

At version 26.6.0 the server registers 10 tools in server.ts, while the extension's documentation speaks of 11 tools "across multiple branches"; the list below follows the released code. The ansible_lint tool's own description tells the assistant to prefer running ansible-lint in a terminal and to use the tool only when no terminal is available.

What it needs

Node.js 24 or newer for the npm package (engines field), or Docker or Podman for the ghcr.io/ansible/devtools-mcp-server image. Python 3.11 or newer and the Ansible tools it drives (ansible-lint, ansible-navigator, ansible-creator, ansible-builder, from the ansible-dev-tools pip package); the adt_check_env and ade_setup_environment tools can install these with pip. An Ansible project directory to work on. Running playbooks in execution environments needs Podman or Docker.

Limits

Stdio only: the CLI prints that WebSocket mode is not available in this build and exits when started with --ws, although its usage text still shows that form. Every tool is registered with an empty dependency list in server.ts, so a missing ansible-lint or ansible-navigator surfaces as a failed call rather than a check before the call. The setup tool asks for an OS type of linux or darwin and maps distributions to dnf, apt, brew or pacman; Windows is not among them. Tools work inside the single WORKSPACE_ROOT directory.

Who it suits

Suits Ansible authors who want an assistant to lint and fix playbooks, scaffold collections, draft execution environment definitions and run playbooks from the project they already have open, using Red Hat's own tooling rather than generic shell access. It is a local tool with no account or sign-in. Pick something else if you only need the assistant to read Ansible content, since several tools here install packages, change files and run playbooks against whatever inventory the project names, or if you are on Windows without WSL.