generated: '2026-08-19'
method: searched
source: https://github.com/CiscoDevNet/mcp_server_cisco_aci_community
name: Community MCP Server for Cisco ACI
status: published
official: false
official_note: >-
  The repository lives in the CiscoDevNet GitHub organization, but its own README states plainly: "This is a
  community based project and is not officially supported by any Cisco Business or Technical entity." Treated
  as community, not first-party.
description: >-
  A stand-alone FastMCP server that sits between an MCP client and a customer's Cisco APIC controller,
  exposing ACI policy and fabric operations as MCP tools. It authenticates to the APIC with cookie-based
  aaaLogin session auth, re-authenticates transparently on HTTP 403, and calls the same
  /api/node/class/... and /api/node/mo/... REST endpoints a human would.
deployment:
  mode: local-stdio
  endpoint: null
  install: "git clone https://github.com/CiscoDevNet/mcp_server_cisco_aci_community && ./setup.sh  # then: cd scripts && python3 server.py"
  package: https://github.com/CiscoDevNet/mcp_server_cisco_aci_community
  auth: api-key
  auth_note: >-
    Not an MCP-layer auth scheme. The server reads APIC_URL, USERNAME and PASSWORD from scripts/.env and
    performs an APIC aaaLogin, so the operator supplies controller credentials at install time. There is no
    OAuth, no token issuance, and no anonymous mode.
  verified: searched
  verified_note: >-
    Established by reading the published repository (README.md, AGENTS.md and scripts/server.py) on
    2026-08-19. No live tools/list handshake was possible — the server is stdio-only and requires a reachable
    APIC, so there is no hosted endpoint to POST to.
  transports:
  - stdio
  requirements:
  - Python 3.13+
  - Reachable Cisco APIC (on-premises or DevNet sandbox)
  - An APIC user with read and/or write privileges
  dependencies:
  - fastmcp
  - httpx
  - python-dotenv
  - pydantic
  - requests
  clients_documented:
  - VS Code / GitHub Copilot Chat (mcp.json, type stdio)
  - Claude Desktop
  - N8N
repository:
  url: https://github.com/CiscoDevNet/mcp_server_cisco_aci_community
  created: '2026-05-07'
  last_push: '2026-07-08'
  releases: 0
  license: NOASSERTION
  entrypoint: scripts/server.py
  agents_md: AGENTS.md
  security_md: SECURITY.md
tools:
  count_registered: 47
  count_claimed: 50
  discrepancy_note: >-
    The README and AGENTS.md both advertise "50 ACI operations". scripts/server.py registers 47 functions
    with the @mcp.tool() decorator (counted 2026-08-19 from the published source). The gap is recorded rather
    than smoothed over: an agent planning against the documented count will find three tools that do not
    exist. The full tool-to-REST binding is in mcp/cisco-aci-tool-crosswalk.yml.
  schema_source: >-
    Python type hints on the decorated functions in scripts/server.py. There is no published JSON inputSchema
    document; the schemas are generated at runtime by FastMCP from those hints.
  categories:
  - name: Connection & test
    count: 1
  - name: Core infrastructure (read)
    count: 12
  - name: Fabric & infrastructure (read)
    count: 8
  - name: Core policy (create)
    count: 13
  - name: L3 networking
    count: 6
  - name: Advanced / composite
    count: 7
write_operations: true
write_note: >-
  This server is not read-only. It exposes tenant, EPG and contract deletion (aci_tenant_delete,
  aci_epg_delete, aci_contract_delete) and composite provisioning tools (aci_create_3tier_app,
  aci_create_web_app_stack) that write many managed objects in one call, against a production data-center
  fabric, using whatever privileges the configured APIC account holds.
alternatives_checked:
- what: Cisco-hosted remote MCP endpoint for ACI
  result: none found
  detail: >-
    No mcp.cisco.com or developer.cisco.com MCP endpoint was found for ACI on 2026-08-19, and no MCP URL is
    advertised in Cisco's llms.txt or on the DevNet ACI developer center.