Alibaba Cloud RDS
A server that provides management and connectivity for Alibaba Cloud RDS database services via OpenAPI, enabling users to create, query, and modify RDS instances through MCP integration.
What is Alibaba Cloud RDS?
Alibaba Cloud RDS is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that allows AI assistants like Claude, Cursor, and VS Code to server that provides management and connectivity for alibaba cloud rds database services via openapi, enabling users to create, query, and modify rds instances through mcp integration.
A server that provides management and connectivity for Alibaba Cloud RDS database services via OpenAPI, enabling users to create, query, and modify RDS instances through MCP integration.
This server falls under the Cloud Services category on MCPgee, the world's largest MCP server directory with 33,000+ servers.
Features
- A server that provides management and connectivity for Aliba
Use Cases
Maintainer
Works with
Installation
Manual Installation
npx alibaba-cloud-rds-openapi-mcp-serverConfiguration
Configuration Details
claude_desktop_config.json
Performance
Response Metrics
Resource Usage
How to Set Up and Use Alibaba Cloud RDS
Alibaba Cloud RDS OpenAPI MCP Server gives AI agents full natural language access to Alibaba Cloud Relational Database Service through the official OpenAPI, covering instance creation and modification, account and whitelist management, monitoring, and SQL analysis including slow log review and read-only query execution. It supports multiple toolset modes — standard RDS operations, read-only access, or full access — so teams can apply least-privilege principles depending on the use case. Cloud architects, DBAs, and SREs use it to manage and troubleshoot Alibaba Cloud databases through Claude without context-switching to the console.
Prerequisites
- Python 3.12 or later and the uv package manager installed
- An Alibaba Cloud account with a RAM user that has RDS OpenAPI permissions
- Alibaba Cloud Access Key ID and Access Key Secret
- An MCP-compatible client such as Claude Desktop or Cline
Install uv and Python 3.12
The server requires Python 3.12 managed by uv. Install uv, then install the correct Python version.
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
uv python install 3.12Clone and install the server
Clone the official repository and install the Python dependencies.
git clone https://github.com/aliyun/alibabacloud-rds-openapi-mcp-server.git
cd alibabacloud-rds-openapi-mcp-server
uv pip install -e .Prepare Alibaba Cloud credentials
Retrieve your Access Key ID and Secret from the Alibaba Cloud console under Security > Access Key Management. Ensure the associated RAM user has AliyunRDSFullAccess or the minimum required RDS policies.
Choose your toolset access level
Set MCP_TOOLSETS to control which operations are available: 'rds' for standard management, 'rds_custom_read' for read-only SQL execution, or 'rds_custom_all' for full access including write SQL.
Configure your MCP client and restart
Add the server configuration to your MCP client config file with your credentials as environment variables, then restart the client.
Verify with a simple RDS query
Ask Claude to describe your RDS instances or run a basic monitoring query to confirm the server is connected and credentials are valid.
Alibaba Cloud RDS Examples
Client configuration
Add this to claude_desktop_config.json. Replace the directory path and credentials with your actual values.
{
"mcpServers": {
"alibaba-cloud-rds": {
"command": "uv",
"args": [
"--directory",
"/absolute/path/to/alibabacloud-rds-openapi-mcp-server/src",
"run",
"server.py"
],
"env": {
"ALIBABA_CLOUD_ACCESS_KEY_ID": "your-access-key-id",
"ALIBABA_CLOUD_ACCESS_KEY_SECRET": "your-access-key-secret",
"MCP_TOOLSETS": "rds"
}
}
}
}Prompts to try
Use these prompts after connecting to manage and inspect your Alibaba Cloud RDS resources.
- "List all my RDS instances and show their engine type, version, and current status"
- "Analyze slow query logs for instance rm-xxx from the past 6 hours"
- "Create a read-only account named 'reporting' on my production RDS instance"
- "Show current CPU and IOPS monitoring metrics for instance rm-xxx"
- "Run EXPLAIN SELECT * FROM orders WHERE created_at > '2024-01-01' on my instance"Troubleshooting Alibaba Cloud RDS
InvalidAccessKeyId error on startup or first query
Double-check ALIBABA_CLOUD_ACCESS_KEY_ID and ALIBABA_CLOUD_ACCESS_KEY_SECRET in your config. Ensure the key is Active (not disabled) in the Alibaba Cloud console under Access Key Management.
Forbidden: insufficient permissions for RDS API
Attach AliyunRDSFullAccess or specific RDS read policies to the RAM user in the Alibaba Cloud RAM console. For read-only usage, use MCP_TOOLSETS=rds_custom_read and grant only DescribeDBInstances and related read permissions.
Cannot connect to RDS instance for SQL execution
SQL tool execution requires the MCP server to have network access to the RDS instance endpoint. Ensure the machine running the server is on an allowed IP in the RDS instance's IP whitelist, and that the VPC routing allows the connection.
Frequently Asked Questions about Alibaba Cloud RDS
What is Alibaba Cloud RDS?
Alibaba Cloud RDS is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that server that provides management and connectivity for alibaba cloud rds database services via openapi, enabling users to create, query, and modify rds instances through mcp integration. It connects AI assistants to external tools and data sources through a standardized interface.
How do I install Alibaba Cloud RDS?
Follow the installation instructions on the Alibaba Cloud RDS GitHub repository. Clone the repo, install dependencies, and add the server config to your AI client.
Which AI clients work with Alibaba Cloud RDS?
Alibaba Cloud RDS works with all major MCP-compatible AI clients including Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code (GitHub Copilot), Windsurf, and Cline.
Is Alibaba Cloud RDS free to use?
Yes, Alibaba Cloud RDS is open source and available under the Apache 2.0 license. You can use it freely in both personal and commercial projects.
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Quick Config Preview
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