Windsurf

Windsurf is an AI-native IDE by Codeium. It uses a standard mcpServers configuration almost identical to Claude Desktop.

Important — set IONOS_MCP_LOAD_MODE=lazy for Windsurf. Windsurf applies a 100-tool limit across all connected MCP servers and a 20 tool-call limit per prompt. The MCP server's default eager mode exposes 110 product tools and exceeds the Windsurf limit; Windsurf would truncate the visible tool list. Setting IONOS_MCP_LOAD_MODE=lazy (shown in the JSON example below) keeps the startup catalog at 39 tools: the 37 always-on product tools (Cloud DNS, Billing, Certificate Manager, Activity Log) plus the 2 loader sentinels. Call ionos_load_compute_tools or ionos_load_objectstorage_tools on demand when you need those products.

Prerequisites

• Windsurf installed. For more information, see windsurf.com
• The ionoscloud-mcp binary built and available. For more information, see Quick Start
• An IONOS CLOUD API token. For least-privilege access, see Authentication to scope the token to only the tools you need.

Add the MCP server

Open or create the Windsurf MCP configuration file:

• macOS / Linux: ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json
• Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.codeium\windsurf\mcp_config.json

Add the following entry to the mcpServers object:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ionoscloud": {
      "command": "/usr/local/bin/ionoscloud-mcp",
      "env": {
        "IONOS_TOKEN": "your-api-token",
        "IONOS_MCP_LOAD_MODE": "lazy"
      }
    }
  }
}

To also enable Object Storage tools:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ionoscloud": {
      "command": "/usr/local/bin/ionoscloud-mcp",
      "env": {
        "IONOS_TOKEN": "your-api-token",
        "IONOS_S3_ACCESS_KEY": "your-access-key",
        "IONOS_S3_SECRET_KEY": "your-secret-key",
        "IONOS_MCP_LOAD_MODE": "lazy"
      }
    }
  }
}

Windsurf also supports environment variable interpolation; you can reference system env vars instead of hardcoding values:

"IONOS_TOKEN": "${env:IONOS_TOKEN}"

Verify the connection

1

Reload Windsurf

Save the config file and reload the Windsurf window (Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + P → Reload Window).

2

Confirm tools are loaded

Open Cascade (the Windsurf AI panel) and check the tool count indicator, or type: List my IONOS CLOUD data centers.

Result: Windsurf responds with a list of your data centers.

Note: In lazy mode (recommended for Windsurf, as above), Compute Engine and Object Storage tools are loaded on demand. Ask your AI assistant to load the Compute tools or load the Object Storage tools; the server registers them and Windsurf refreshes the catalog. For more information, see Selective Tool Loading.

For full Windsurf MCP documentation including team admin controls, see docs.windsurf.com/windsurf/cascade/mcp.