Amazon recently introduced an innovative open-source tool called the Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server for Amazon EKS, designed to transform how developers build and manage Kubernetes-native applications with the help of AI.
What is the MCP Server?
The MCP Server acts as a context bridge between Kubernetes clusters (especially EKS) and modern AI coding assistants like:
- Amazon Q Developer CLI
- Cline
- Cursor (VS Code extension)
It provides real-time access to cluster context and APIs, enabling large language models (LLMs) to understand your deployment environment, Kubernetes objects, and infrastructure configurations.
Why It Matters
Traditional code assistants rely only on static code analysis. With MCP, developers now benefit from live, contextual information like:
- Current running pods, services, and deployments
- Configuration of namespaces and secrets
- Events and logs related to application issues
- Helm chart structures and Kustomize overlays
This enables context-aware AI responses such as:
- Real-time debugging guidance
- Deployment suggestions
- Helm/Kustomize optimization tips
- Live environment-aware YAML completions
How It Works
The MCP server:
- Runs as a Kubernetes service connected to your EKS cluster.
- Exposes a protocol endpoint (gRPC and HTTP) for AI tools to query.
- Delivers context-specific data securely to authorized AI developer agents.
- Can be deployed via Helm or manually using YAML manifests.
Benefits
- Accelerated development with AI-generated code that fits your live infrastructure
- Improved troubleshooting with AI visibility into live logs, events, and cluster state
- Tighter DevOps collaboration, as AI can help codify best practices directly in the tools devs use
Security and Privacy
The MCP server respects RBAC and IAM permissions, ensuring no unauthorized data is exposed. All requests made by AI assistants are scoped to what the developer or tool has access to.
Get Started
To deploy the MCP server to your EKS cluster:
helm repo add eks-mcp https://aws.github.io/eks-mcp
helm install mcp-server eks-mcp/mcp-server