Cisco NSO
Exposes Cisco Network Services Orchestrator (NSO) operations and data as MCP tools and resources, enabling AI-powered network automation through natural language. It supports tasks like retrieving device configurations, checking sync status, and mana
What is Cisco NSO?
Cisco NSO is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that allows AI assistants like Claude, Cursor, and VS Code to exposes cisco network services orchestrator (nso) operations and data as mcp tools and resources, enabling ai-powered network automation through natural language. it supports tasks like retrieving dev...
Exposes Cisco Network Services Orchestrator (NSO) operations and data as MCP tools and resources, enabling AI-powered network automation through natural language. It supports tasks like retrieving device configurations, checking sync status, and mana
This server falls under the Cloud Services category on MCPgee, the world's largest MCP server directory with 33,000+ servers.
Features
- Exposes Cisco Network Services Orchestrator (NSO) operations
Use Cases
Maintainer
Works with
Installation
Manual Installation
npx cisco-nsoConfiguration
Configuration Details
claude_desktop_config.json
Performance
Response Metrics
Resource Usage
How to Set Up and Use Cisco NSO
The Cisco NSO MCP server exposes Cisco Network Services Orchestrator operations as structured MCP tools and resources, enabling AI assistants to automate network management through natural language. It wraps NSO's RESTCONF API to provide tools for retrieving device configurations, checking sync status, syncing from devices, querying service types, and accessing an environment summary resource covering device counts, OS distributions, and group memberships. Network engineers who manage large device fleets with NSO can use this server to ask questions about their network state and trigger orchestration actions without writing RESTCONF calls by hand.
Prerequisites
- Python 3.12 or higher
- A running Cisco NSO instance with the RESTCONF API enabled and accessible
- NSO credentials with sufficient privileges to read device configs and trigger syncs
- uv or pip for installation
- An MCP-compatible client such as Claude Desktop or Windsurf Cascade
Install the package
Install cisco-nso-mcp-server from PyPI using pip, or use uvx to run it directly without a permanent install.
pip install cisco-nso-mcp-server
# or run directly
uvx cisco-nso-mcp-server --nso-address 127.0.0.1 --nso-port 8080Identify your NSO connection parameters
Gather the NSO server address, port, username, and password. Optionally determine whether to use HTTPS and whether to verify the TLS certificate.
Run the server to verify connectivity
Start the server passing connection parameters as arguments or environment variables to confirm it can reach NSO before wiring it into a client.
cisco-nso-mcp-server \
--nso-address 127.0.0.1 \
--nso-port 8080 \
--nso-username admin \
--nso-password adminConfigure your MCP client
Add the server entry to your MCP client configuration, providing NSO credentials via environment variables or command-line arguments.
Access network data through natural language
Connected tools include get_device_config, get_device_state, check_device_sync, sync_from_device, get_services, get_service_types, get_device_groups, and get_device_ned_ids. The environment resource at https://resources.cisco-nso-mcp.io/environment provides an overview of the entire NSO inventory.
Cisco NSO Examples
Client configuration
Add the Cisco NSO MCP server to claude_desktop_config.json using uvx for zero-install execution with credentials passed as args.
{
"mcpServers": {
"cisco-nso": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"cisco-nso-mcp-server",
"--nso-address=127.0.0.1",
"--nso-port=8080",
"--nso-username=admin",
"--nso-password=admin"
],
"env": {
"LOG_FILE": "/tmp/nso-mcp.log"
}
}
}
}Prompts to try
Example prompts that use the NSO MCP tools to query and manage network devices.
- "Show me the full configuration of device core-router-01"
- "Is device edge-switch-05 in sync with NSO? If not, sync it from the device"
- "List all device groups and their members"
- "What NED IDs are installed in this NSO instance?"
- "Show me all services of type l3vpn currently provisioned"Troubleshooting Cisco NSO
Connection refused or timeout when starting the server
Verify NSO_ADDRESS and NSO_PORT point to the correct host and that the RESTCONF API is enabled in NSO (it must be explicitly enabled in ncs.conf). Also check that your network allows traffic to port 8080 or whichever port NSO is configured on.
Authentication errors returned by NSO
Confirm NSO_USERNAME and NSO_PASSWORD are correct and that the user account has RESTCONF access. NSO has separate AAA rules for RESTCONF — the user must be in a group authorized to access /api/running/devices.
HTTPS certificate verification fails for secure NSO instances
Pass --no-nso-verify for development environments with self-signed certificates, or supply --nso-ca-bundle pointing to your internal CA bundle file to trust the NSO server certificate properly.
Frequently Asked Questions about Cisco NSO
What is Cisco NSO?
Cisco NSO is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that exposes cisco network services orchestrator (nso) operations and data as mcp tools and resources, enabling ai-powered network automation through natural language. it supports tasks like retrieving device configurations, checking sync status, and mana It connects AI assistants to external tools and data sources through a standardized interface.
How do I install Cisco NSO?
Follow the installation instructions on the Cisco NSO GitHub repository. Clone the repo, install dependencies, and add the server config to your AI client.
Which AI clients work with Cisco NSO?
Cisco NSO works with all major MCP-compatible AI clients including Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code (GitHub Copilot), Windsurf, and Cline.
Is Cisco NSO free to use?
Yes, Cisco NSO is open source and available under the MIT license. You can use it freely in both personal and commercial projects.
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