Metabase MCP Server

Author: Hyeongjun Yu (@hyeongjun-dev)

A Model Context Protocol server that integrates AI assistants with Metabase analytics platform.

Overview

This TypeScript-based MCP server provides seamless integration with the Metabase API, enabling AI assistants to directly interact with your analytics data. Designed for Claude and other MCP-compatible AI assistants, this server acts as a bridge between your analytics platform and conversational AI.

Key Features

• Resource Access: Navigate Metabase resources via intuitive metabase:// URIs
• Two Authentication Methods: Support for both session-based and API key authentication
• Structured Data Access: JSON-formatted responses for easy consumption by AI assistants
• Comprehensive Logging: Detailed logging for easy debugging and monitoring
• Error Handling: Robust error handling with clear error messages

Available Tools

The server exposes the following tools for AI assistants:

• list_dashboards: Retrieve all available dashboards in your Metabase instance
• list_cards: Get all saved questions/cards in Metabase
• list_databases: View all connected database sources
• execute_card: Run saved questions and retrieve results with optional parameters
• get_dashboard_cards: Extract all cards from a specific dashboard
• execute_query: Execute custom SQL queries against any connected database

Configuration

The server supports two authentication methods:

Option 1: Username and Password Authentication

# Required
METABASE_URL=https://your-metabase-instance.com
METABASE_USER_EMAIL=your_email@example.com
METABASE_PASSWORD=your_password

# Optional
LOG_LEVEL=info # Options: debug, info, warn, error, fatal

Option 2: API Key Authentication (Recommended for Production)

# Required
METABASE_URL=https://your-metabase-instance.com
METABASE_API_KEY=your_api_key

# Optional
LOG_LEVEL=info # Options: debug, info, warn, error, fatal

You can set these environment variables directly or use a .env file with dotenv.

Installation

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18.0.0 or higher
• An active Metabase instance with appropriate credentials

Development Setup

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build the project
npm run build

# Start the server
npm start

# For development with auto-rebuild
npm run watch

Claude Desktop Integration

To use with Claude Desktop, add this server configuration:

MacOS: Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Windows: Edit %APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "metabase-mcp-server": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/metabase-mcp-server/build/index.js",
      "env": {
        "METABASE_URL": "https://your-metabase-instance.com",
        "METABASE_USER_EMAIL": "your_email@example.com",
        "METABASE_PASSWORD": "your_password"
        // Or alternatively, use API key authentication
        // "METABASE_API_KEY": "your_api_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Alternatively, you can use the Smithery hosted version via npx with JSON configuration:

API Key Authentication:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "metabase-mcp-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@smithery/cli@latest",
        "run",
        "@hyeongjun-dev/metabase-mcp-server",
        "--config",
        "{"metabaseUrl":"https://your-metabase-instance.com","metabaseApiKey":"your_api_key","metabasePassword":"","metabaseUserEmail":""}"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Username and Password Authentication:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "metabase-mcp-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@smithery/cli@latest",
        "run",
        "@hyeongjun-dev/metabase-mcp-server",
        "--config",
        "{"metabaseUrl":"https://your-metabase-instance.com","metabaseApiKey":"","metabasePassword":"your_password","metabaseUserEmail":"your_email@example.com"}"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Debugging

Since MCP servers communicate over stdio, use the MCP Inspector for debugging:

npm run inspector

The Inspector will provide a browser-based interface for monitoring requests and responses.

Docker Support

A Docker image is available for containerized deployment:

# Build the Docker image
docker build -t metabase-mcp-server .

# Run the container with environment variables
docker run -e METABASE_URL=https://your-metabase.com \
           -e METABASE_API_KEY=your_api_key \
           metabase-mcp-server

Security Considerations

• We recommend using API key authentication for production environments
• Keep your API keys and credentials secure
• Consider using Docker secrets or environment variables instead of hardcoding credentials
• Apply appropriate network security measures to restrict access to your Metabase instance

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.