Deployment¶

Deployment Options¶

container-manager-mcp supports local stdio, a loopback-only development listener, a least-privilege stdio container, and a remote authenticated HTTPS boundary. Provider endpoint, credential, selector, identity, and trust material are supplied at runtime through AgentConfig; none is stored in this repository.

Installed stdio process¶

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "container-manager": {
      "command": "container-manager-mcp",
      "args": [],
      "env": {"MCP_TOOL_MODE": "intent"}
    }
  }
}

Loopback development listener¶

container-manager-mcp --transport streamable-http --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8000

Do not expose this listener beyond loopback. Network deployments require direct TLS or an explicitly trusted TLS-terminating ingress, configured authentication, exact MCP_ALLOWED_HOSTS, and an exact trusted-proxy CIDR policy.

Least-privilege local container¶

docker run -i --rm \
  --read-only \
  --cap-drop=ALL \
  --security-opt=no-new-privileges \
  --pids-limit=256 \
  --tmpfs /tmp:rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,size=64m \
  -e TRANSPORT=stdio \
  registry.example.invalid/container-manager-mcp@sha256:<digest> container-manager-mcp

The operator projects the selected AgentConfig profile into the process at runtime; the image remains immutable and contains no environment connection profile.

Remote authenticated HTTPS endpoint¶

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "container-manager": {"url": "https://service.example.invalid/mcp"}
  }
}

Store the real remote URL, outbound identity reference, and TLS-profile reference in AgentConfig, not in MCP client JSON or documentation.

This page covers running container-manager-mcp as a long-lived server: the transports, a Docker Compose stack, the companion agent server, putting it behind a Caddy reverse proxy, and giving it a DNS name with Technitium.

container-manager-mcp ships two console scripts: the MCP server (container-manager-mcp) and an A2A graph agent (container-manager-agent). The MCP server is a typed, deterministic tool surface; the agent server adds a conversational Pydantic-AI front end and Agent Web UI.

Run the MCP server¶

The transport is selected with --transport (or the TRANSPORT env var):

stdio (default)streamable-httpsse

container-manager-mcp

For IDE / desktop MCP clients that launch the server as a subprocess.

container-manager-mcp --transport streamable-http --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000

A network server with a /health endpoint and /mcp route.

container-manager-mcp --transport sse --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000

Health check (HTTP transports):

curl -s http://localhost:8000/health        # {"status":"OK"}

Configuration (environment)¶

container-manager-mcp is configured entirely from the environment. The required runtime set:

Var	Default	Meaning
`HOST`	`0.0.0.0`	Bind address for HTTP transports
`PORT`	`8000`	Listen port for HTTP transports
`TRANSPORT`	`stdio`	`stdio`, `streamable-http`, or `sse`
`ENABLE_OTEL`	`True`	Export OpenTelemetry traces / metrics
`EUNOMIA_TYPE`	`none`	Authorization mode: `none`, `embedded`, `remote`

Tool modules are individually togglable (each defaults to True): INFOTOOL, IMAGETOOL, CONTAINERTOOL, VOLUMETOOL, NETWORKTOOL, SWARMTOOL, SYSTEMTOOL, COMPOSETOOL, MISCTOOL. The complete variable set, grouped by area, is documented in .env.example. Copy it to .env and adjust only what you use.

Docker Compose¶

The repo ships docker/mcp.compose.yml. It reads a sibling .env and publishes the HTTP server on :8000:

services:
  container-manager-mcp-mcp:
    image: example/container-manager-mcp@sha256:<digest>
    container_name: container-manager-mcp-mcp
    hostname: container-manager-mcp-mcp
    restart: always
    env_file:
      - ../.env
    environment:
      - PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1
      - HOST=0.0.0.0
      - PORT=8000
      - TRANSPORT=streamable-http
    ports:
      - "8000:8000"
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "python3", "-c", "import urllib.request; urllib.request.urlopen('http://localhost:8000/health')"]
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 3

cp .env.example .env          # then edit values
docker compose -f docker/mcp.compose.yml up -d
docker compose -f docker/mcp.compose.yml logs -f

The server needs access to a container engine. Mount the host Docker socket (/var/run/docker.sock) as shown, or point it at a remote host over SSH via the multi-host inventory.

Agent server¶

The companion agent exposes a Pydantic-AI graph agent over the Agent Control Protocol (ACP) with an optional Agent Web UI. It is launched with the container-manager-agent console script and listens on port 9019 by default, connecting to the MCP server through MCP_URL.

container-manager-agent --provider openai --model-id gpt-4o

The repo ships docker/agent.compose.yml, which runs the MCP server and the agent together and wires the agent to the MCP server by container name:

  container-manager-mcp-agent:
    image: example/container-manager-mcp@sha256:<digest>
    container_name: container-manager-mcp-agent
    restart: always
    depends_on:
      - container-manager-mcp-mcp
    env_file:
      - ../.env
    command: [ "container-manager-agent" ]
    environment:
      - HOST=0.0.0.0
      - PORT=9019
      - MCP_URL=http://container-manager-mcp-mcp:8000/mcp
      - PROVIDER=${PROVIDER:-openai}
      - MODEL_ID=${MODEL_ID:-gpt-4o}
      - ENABLE_WEB_UI=True
    ports:
      - "9019:9019"

docker compose -f docker/agent.compose.yml up -d

Behind a Caddy reverse proxy¶

Expose the HTTP server on a hostname with automatic TLS. Add to your Caddyfile:

# Internal (self-signed) — homelab .example.invalid zone
container-manager-mcp.example.invalid {
    tls internal
    reverse_proxy container-manager-mcp-mcp:8000
}

# Public — automatic Let's Encrypt
container-manager-mcp.example.com {
    reverse_proxy container-manager-mcp-mcp:8000
}

Reload Caddy:

docker compose -f services/caddy/compose.yml exec caddy caddy reload --config /etc/caddy/Caddyfile

DNS with Technitium¶

Point the hostname at the host running Caddy. Via the Technitium API:

curl -s "http://technitium.example.invalid:5380/api/zones/records/add" \
  --data-urlencode "token=$TECHNITIUM_DNS_TOKEN" \
  --data-urlencode "domain=container-manager-mcp.example.invalid" \
  --data-urlencode "zone=arpa" \
  --data-urlencode "type=A" \
  --data-urlencode "ipAddress=192.0.2.10" \
  --data-urlencode "ttl=3600"

…or add an A record container-manager-mcp.example.invalid → <caddy-host-ip> in the Technitium web console (http://technitium.example.invalid:5380). The ecosystem technitium-dns-mcp automates this as a tool.

Register with an MCP client¶

Add to your client's mcp_config.json (multiplexer nickname cnt):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "container-manager-mcp": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "container-manager-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "CONTAINERTOOL": "True",
        "IMAGETOOL": "True",
        "COMPOSETOOL": "True",
        "SWARMTOOL": "True"
      }
    }
  }
}

For a remote HTTP server, point the client at http://container-manager-mcp.example.invalid/mcp instead.