Quick Start

This guide walks you through installing the MCP server, configuring your API credentials, and connecting it to Claude Desktop.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:

• An IONOS CLOUD account with an API token
• A supported AI client. For more information, see Connect to an AI Client for the 12 clients with dedicated setup guides (plus any other MCP-compatible client)

To generate an API token, log in to the DCD and go to Management > Token Management.

1

Install the MCP server

Option A: Download a pre-built binary (recommended)

Download the latest binary for your platform from the GitHub Releases page:

Platform	File
macOS (Apple Silicon)	ionoscloud-mcp_darwin_arm64
macOS (Intel)	ionoscloud-mcp_darwin_amd64
Linux (x86-64)	ionoscloud-mcp_linux_amd64
Windows (x86-64)	ionoscloud-mcp_windows_amd64.exe

On macOS and Linux, make the binary executable and move it to a permanent location. Replace the filename with the one you downloaded from the table above:

chmod +x ionoscloud-mcp_<platform>_<arch>
mv ionoscloud-mcp_<platform>_<arch> /usr/local/bin/ionoscloud-mcp

For example, on Linux x86-64 use ionoscloud-mcp_linux_amd64; on macOS Intel use ionoscloud-mcp_darwin_amd64.

On Windows, rename the file to ionoscloud-mcp.exe and move it to a folder on your PATH, for example C:\Users\you\bin\. If you reference the binary by full path in the JSON config (as in the examples below), the folder does not need to be on PATH.

macOS Gatekeeper: the released binary is currently unsigned. On first launch macOS may block it with "cannot be verified". Remove the quarantine attribute once:

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /usr/local/bin/ionoscloud-mcp

Option B: Build from source

If you prefer to build from source, you need Go 1.21 or later. Check your Go version:

go version

If the command is not found, download Go from go.dev/dl.

git clone https://github.com/ionos-cloud/ionoscloud-mcp.git
cd ionoscloud-mcp
make build
mv ionoscloud-mcp /usr/local/bin/ionoscloud-mcp

2

Add the MCP server to Claude Desktop

Open the Claude Desktop configuration file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (~ is shorthand for your home folder, for example /Users/yourname)
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (paste %APPDATA%\Claude into File Explorer to open the folder)

If the file does not exist, create it with your text editor and paste the following as the entire file content:

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

Replace your-api-token with your IONOS CLOUD API token. By default, all tools are registered at startup; no extra env var is required. If you need to reduce the startup tool count (for example, on Windsurf), set IONOS_MCP_LOAD_MODE=lazy. For more information, see Selective Tool Loading.

Using Object Storage? Add IONOS_S3_ACCESS_KEY and IONOS_S3_SECRET_KEY to the env block as well. For more information, see Authentication.

3

Restart Claude Desktop

Quit and reopen Claude Desktop. A hammer icon (🔨) appears in the input bar when MCP tools are available.

4

Test the connection

In a new conversation, type:

List my IONOS CLOUD data centers.

Result: Claude calls the list_datacenters tool and returns your data centers with names, locations, and IDs.

Complete configuration reference

Three ready-to-use configurations for the most common setups:

Token only, Compute Engine, Cloud DNS, Billing, Certificate Manager (default eager mode):

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

Token + IONOS CLOUD Object Storage credentials (default eager mode):

{
  "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"
      }
    }
  }
}

Token only, lazy mode (advanced — for Windsurf or cost-conscious clients):

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

Next steps

• Connect to other AI clients
• Configure Object Storage credentials
• Browse the full tool list
• Add the IONOS CLOUD Documentation MCP: the docs site at https://docs.ionos.com/cloud/~gitbook/mcp is a free companion MCP server that gives your AI assistant access to all IONOS CLOUD product documentation alongside your live account data. Add it to your mcpServers config with a url key (no credentials required). For more information, see IONOS CLOUD Documentation MCP.