Render MCP Server

Use Render's official Model Context Protocol (MCP) server to manage your Render infrastructure directly from compatible AI apps, such as Cursor and Claude. With natural language prompts, you can spin up new services, query your databases, and more.

See some example prompts below.

How it works

You download the Render MCP server to your local machine, then add it to the configuration of a compatible AI app, such as Cursor. The app automatically spins up the MCP server and uses it to execute supported platform actions in response to relevant prompts.

In the example diagram above:

1. A user prompts Cursor to "List my Render services".
2. Cursor intelligently detects that its Render MCP server supports actions relevant to the prompt.
3. Cursor directs the MCP server to execute the list_services tool, which calls the Render API to fetch the corresponding data.

To explore the implementation of the MCP server itself, see the open-source project:

View source on GitHub

Setup

1. Create an API key

The MCP server uses an API key to authenticate with the Render platform. Create an API key from your Account Settings page:

2. Install the MCP Server

Select an installation method:

3. Configure your AI app

See configuration instructions for some commonly used apps below. If you'll run the MCP server via Docker, select a corresponding "Docker" tab.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "render": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-i",
        "--rm",
        "-e",
        "RENDER_API_KEY",
        "-v",
        "render-mcp-server-config:/config",
        "ghcr.io/render-oss/render-mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "RENDER_API_KEY": "<YOUR_API_KEY>" 
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "render": {
      "command": "/path/to/render-mcp-server-executable", 
      "env": {
        "RENDER_API_KEY": "<YOUR_API_KEY>" 
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "render": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-i",
        "--rm",
        "-e",
        "RENDER_API_KEY",
        "-v",
        "render-mcp-server-config:/config",
        "ghcr.io/render-oss/render-mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "RENDER_API_KEY": "<YOUR_API_KEY>" 
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "render": {
      "command": "/path/to/render-mcp-server-executable", 
      "env": {
        "RENDER_API_KEY": "<YOUR_API_KEY>" 
      }
    }
  }
}

Other apps

For most popular MCP-compatible apps (such as Windsurf or VS Code with GitHub Copilot), configuration usually resembles the instructions above.

• See your app's official documentation for more information.
• Also see the official list of MCP-compatible apps.

Example usage

Your AI app can use the Render MCP server to perform a wide variety of platform actions. Here are some basic example prompts to get you started:

Service creation

Create a new database named user-db with 5 GB storage

Deploy an example Flask web service on Render using https://github.com/render-examples/flask-hello-world

Data analysis

Using my Render database, tell me which items were the most frequently bought together

Query my read replica for daily signup counts for the last 30 days

Troubleshooting

Pull the most recent error-level logs for my API service

Why isn't my site at example.onrender.com working?

Supported actions

The Render MCP server provides a "tool" for each platform action listed below (organized by resource type). Your AI app (the "MCP host") can combine these tools however it needs to perform the tasks you describe.

Limitations

The Render MCP server attempts to minimize exposing sensitive information (like connection strings) to your AI app's context. However, Render does not guarantee that sensitive information will not be exposed. Exercise caution when interacting with secrets in your AI app.

Note the following additional limitations:

• The MCP server supports creation of the following resources:

  • Web services
  • Static sites
  • Render Postgres databases
  • Render Key Value instances

  Other service types (private services, background workers, and cron jobs) are not yet supported.

• The MCP server cannot create free instances.

• The MCP server does not support all configuration options when creating services.

  • For example, you cannot create image-backed services or set up IP allowlists. If there are options you'd like to see supported, please submit an issue on the MCP server's GitHub repository.

• The MCP server does not support modifying or deleting existing Render resources, with one exception:

  • You can modify an existing service's environment variables.
  • To perform other modifications or deletions, use the Render Dashboard or REST API.

• The MCP server does not support triggering deploys, modifying scaling settings, or other operational service controls.