# Use VPSNine from Claude, Cursor and other AI tools (MCP)

> Connect Claude, Cursor or VS Code to VPSNine with MCP, so an assistant can check and manage your servers with your API token.

Source: https://vpsnine.com/help/mcp · Updated: 2026-10-21

VPSNine has an MCP server, so AI tools that speak the Model Context Protocol (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code and others) can work with your servers: list them, read a server's firewall, take a snapshot, reboot, set reverse DNS, look at invoices, open a support ticket. It uses an [API token](https://vpsnine.com/help/api-tokens), and it can do exactly what that token can do through the [API](https://vpsnine.com/help/developers), nothing more.

There are two ways to connect:

| | Remote (a URL) | Local (a program on your computer) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Address | `https://my.vpsnine.com/mcp` | `vpsnine-mcp.mjs`, run with Node.js 18 or later |
| Install | Nothing | One file, once its download is published |
| Works with | Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code and any client that sends a header | Claude Desktop, and any client that starts a local process |

Both offer the same tools and answer the same way.

## Start with a read-only token

Make a token for the assistant in the panel at [my.vpsnine.com/account/api-tokens](https://my.vpsnine.com/account/api-tokens). Name it after the tool, like `Claude Desktop`, and pick **read only** to start.

[Screenshot: The Create a token form with the name Claude Desktop (read only) and the read only scope chosen] A read-only token lets the assistant look at everything and change nothing.

With a read-only token the assistant only sees the tools that look. When you want it to make changes, make a second token with **read and write** and swap it in. Give the token an expiry, and limit it to your own addresses if your computer's address doesn't change.

## Claude Code

Add the remote server with one command. Replace `vps9_...` with your token:

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http vpsnine https://my.vpsnine.com/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer vps9_..."
```

`claude mcp list` should show `vpsnine` as connected. Then ask, for example, "list my VPSNine servers". Add `--scope user` to use it in every project rather than only the current one.

## Cursor

Add this to `~/.cursor/mcp.json` (every project) or `.cursor/mcp.json` in one project, and keep the token in an environment variable named `VPSNINE_API_TOKEN`:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vpsnine": {
      "url": "https://my.vpsnine.com/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ${env:VPSNINE_API_TOKEN}" }
    }
  }
}
```

## VS Code

Add this to `.vscode/mcp.json` in your project. VS Code asks for the token the first time and stores it encrypted, so it never sits in the file:

```json
{
  "inputs": [
    { "type": "promptString", "id": "vpsnine-token", "description": "VPSNine API token", "password": true }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "vpsnine": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://my.vpsnine.com/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ${input:vpsnine-token}" }
    }
  }
}
```

Open Copilot Chat in agent mode and the VPSNine tools are in its tools list.

## Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop starts MCP servers as local programs, so it uses `vpsnine-mcp.mjs`, a single file that needs [Node.js](https://nodejs.org/) 18 or later and nothing else. Its download opens at launch at `https://vpsnine.com/downloads/mcp/`, with a `SHA256SUMS` file to check it against, like the [vps9 CLI](https://vpsnine.com/help/install-the-vps9-cli). Save it somewhere permanent, then open **Settings**, **Developer**, **Edit Config** and add it to `claude_desktop_config.json`:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vpsnine": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/Users/you/vpsnine/vpsnine-mcp.mjs"],
      "env": { "VPSNINE_API_TOKEN": "vps9_..." }
    }
  }
}
```

On Windows the path looks like `"C:\\Users\\you\\vpsnine\\vpsnine-mcp.mjs"`. Restart Claude Desktop; VPSNine appears under the tools button in a new chat.

The local server takes two more settings. `--read-only` in `args` (or `"VPSNINE_MCP_READ_ONLY": "1"` in `env`) offers only the tools that look, whatever the token allows. `VPSNINE_API_URL` points it at another API address, which you won't normally need.

## What the assistant can do

| Area | Tools |
| --- | --- |
| Account and catalog | `get_account`, `list_ssh_keys`, `add_ssh_key`, `list_images`, `list_apps`, `get_prices`, `get_status` |
| Servers | `list_servers`, `get_server`, `create_server`, `power_server` (start, stop, reboot), `reinstall_server`, `delete_server`, `update_server_details` |
| Snapshots | `list_snapshots`, `create_snapshot`, `revert_snapshot`, `delete_snapshot` |
| Network | `get_firewall`, `set_firewall`, `list_reverse_dns`, `set_reverse_dns`, `clear_reverse_dns` |
| Billing | `get_addons`, `change_addons`, `get_billing_summary`, `list_invoices`, `get_invoice` |
| Support | `list_tickets`, `get_ticket`, `open_ticket`, `reply_to_ticket` |

There are also two ready-made prompts, **check_server** (looks over one server and reports what needs attention) and **review_spending** (what each server costs and where you could save), and each server is readable as a summary at `vpsnine://servers/<id>`. Neither changes anything.

## Safety: what asks before it runs

The assistant acts as your token, so it can't do more than the token allows: a read-only token can't change anything, a [team member's](https://vpsnine.com/help/teams) token is limited by their role, and an address-limited token only works from those addresses. Every tool call is an API request, with the same [rate limits](https://vpsnine.com/help/developers#rate-limits) and a request id you can give support.

On top of that, the tools that cost money or destroy data stop first:

- **create_server** and **change_addons** answer with the price and do nothing. The assistant has to show you the price and call again with `confirm: true`. An order makes an invoice; the server is built once you pay it.
- **reinstall_server**, **delete_server**, **revert_snapshot** and **delete_snapshot** first say what would be lost. To go ahead the assistant has to send `confirm: true` and the server's hostname typed back, and we check the hostname against the server. A wrong one does nothing.

Most AI tools also ask you before each tool call; keep that on for anything that changes your servers. Root passwords can't be set through MCP, so a password never ends up in a chat; new servers use your SSH keys. Every change is in your [activity log](https://vpsnine.com/help/sessions-and-activity), marked as made through the API via MCP.

If a token might have leaked, or you stop using an assistant, revoke its token in the panel. It stops working at once.

## When it doesn't connect

- **401 unauthorized**: the token is wrong, revoked or expired. Check it starts with `vps9_` and that nothing was cut off when you pasted it.
- **403 ip_not_allowed**: the token only works from certain addresses, and this request came from another.
- **Only read tools show up**: the token is read only, or the local server runs with `--read-only`.
- **429 rate_limited**: the assistant made too many calls in a minute. It can try again after the time the error gives.

Anything else comes back with a request id like `req_7d2kq4m5x3n6p2r4s7t2v3w4`. Put it in a [support ticket](https://my.vpsnine.com/support/new) and we can find the request.