--- title: "Grafana docs MCP: review, setup & limitations · Undominated.ai" canonical: https://undominated.ai/mcp-servers/grafana-docs/ description: "Four stdio tools search an in-memory Grafana docs index and GET pages under https://grafana.com/docs." --- # Grafana docs MCP: review, setup & limitations · Undominated.ai > Four stdio tools search an in-memory Grafana docs index and GET pages under https://grafana.com/docs. [← Explore all mcp servers](/mcp-servers/) DOCUMENTATION / Grafana Labs # Grafana docs MCP Four stdio tools search an in-memory Grafana docs index and GET pages under https://grafana.com/docs. [See setup guidance ↓](#setup)[Original source ↗](https://github.com/grafana/mcp-doc-server/tree/8b2f376d90a041cf83a204dd4014d5106351224a) SOURCE REVIEW Reviewed 2026-10-14 Evidence 6 linked sources Publisher Grafana Labs Licence [Apache-2.0 ↗](https://github.com/grafana/mcp-doc-server/blob/8b2f376d90a041cf83a204dd4014d5106351224a/LICENSE) Revision 8b2f376d90a0 [Read what was—and wasn’t—checked ↓](#review) “Package mcp provides the MCP tool adapter for grafanadocs.” [Grafana Labs · upstream description ↗](https://github.com/grafana/mcp-doc-server/blob/8b2f376d90a041cf83a204dd4014d5106351224a/pkg/grafanadocs/mcp/server.go) Our analysis follows below. 01 / THE REASONING ## Why this made the selection. - Register adds search_docs, get_doc, get_doc_outline, and list_products. newReadOnlyTool sets ReadOnlyHint true, DestructiveHint false, and OpenWorldHint false. - main calls ServeStdio. FetchDoc is an HTTP GET. The first URL must use https, the host grafana.com, and a path of /docs or under /docs/. Search is documented as operating on the in-memory index. - The pinned server.go registers four Grafana documentation tools and marks every one of them read-only. - get_doc's parameter text asks for a grafana.com/docs URL and can return one section or a line window instead of the whole page. ### A good fit for - Find version-appropriate Grafana product guidance and retrieve only the needed section. - Inspect a document outline before paging through a long configuration reference. - Searching and paging Grafana documentation from a client that can load this Go server ### Weigh up before choosing - DOCS_INDEX_URL can replace https://grafana.com/llms-full.txt. LoadIndex accepts any https URL and does not lock the index host. Index lines that do not start with https://grafana.com/ are skipped. - A redirect is blocked only when the next host is not grafana.com. That check does not repeat the scheme or /docs test. The server was not started. ReadOnlyHint is the annotation, not a runtime proof. - The index is loaded at process startup; source pages and the index may evolve independently. A search result is not a complete documentation snapshot. - This file does not open a network listener; it only registers tools on an MCP server object. - Limit and offset values that are negative, NaN, or huge are rejected. - The open-world hint is set false, which is an annotation in this file, not a separate allowlist implementation. - A pin does not verify transitive dependencies. - This review did not execute the resource. 02 / THE REVIEW RECORD ## What we actually inspected. Source review has boundaries. A clear record is more useful than a “safe” badge. ### Material inspected - pkg/grafanadocs/mcp/server.go - pkg/grafanadocs/fetch.go - pkg/grafanadocs/index.go - pkg/grafanadocs/search.go - cmd/mcp-doc-server/main.go - LICENSE - 2026-10-14 reread of retained pinned setup/configuration evidence for the specific operational details added in this batch. - README.md - cmd/mcp-doc-server/main.go ### Our findings - The licence is Apache-2.0. The appendix line is Copyright 2025 Grafana Labs. - Search imports no HTTP client. The opened handlers do not create, update, or delete a document. - New README/main inspection establishes a Go installation path and stdio startup, with the index loaded before serving. The four retrieval tools provide section/line bounds without server-side embeddings or LLM generation. - Register adds search_docs, get_doc, get_doc_outline, and list_products, and newReadOnlyTool marks each read-only, not destructive, and not open-world. - get_doc is described as fetching a grafana.com/docs URL and can extract one heading or a line offset and limit. - safeInt rejects negative, non-finite, and oversized paging numbers. This file does not start a listener or register a write tool. ### Not established by this review - The server was not started. - No docs page was fetched. - A redirect was not demonstrated at runtime. - No authenticated session, installation, permission bypass or package-to-source parity test was performed. - The server was not started and its tools were not called. - A pin does not verify transitive dependencies. The review applies to the material and revision named here. A newer upstream release can change its behavior. 03 / PUT IT TO WORK ## Connect a server deliberately. [Upstream setup instructions ↗](https://github.com/grafana/mcp-doc-server/blob/8b2f376d90a041cf83a204dd4014d5106351224a/README.md) DOCUMENTED COMMAND go install github.com/grafana/mcp-doc-server/cmd/mcp-doc-server@latest Copy command ↗ Copying does not execute this command. It may retrieve a newer version than the reviewed source. - The README’s quick start installs the server with the go install line above, and a docs CLI with a second go install line. Neither was run. - The @latest suffix is not pinned to the reviewed commit. - Point the client’s command at the absolute path of the installed mcp-doc-server binary. The README says go env GOPATH finds it. ### Before you start - A Go toolchain for go install. This review did not build the server. ### Documented configuration example Use the client and authentication context described in the setup guidance. Configuration formats vary between hosts. { "mcpServers": { "grafana-docs": { "command": "/absolute/path/to/bin/mcp-doc-server" } } } Copy configuration ↗ ### Compatibility MCP stdio clients · Cursor · Claude Desktop · Claude Code ### Implementation Go ### Transports stdio ### Stdio server. The four tools search an index or GET a docs page. - HTTP GET for the index URL and for docs pages that pass the first-hop allowlist - No write tool in the opened handlers ### Cost model Apache-2.0 source at no charge. Copyright 2025 Grafana Labs. Docs fetches use the caller's network. 04 / FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE ## The source trail. Our notes are separate from the original resource. Check upstream before adopting a new version. - [Tool registration ↗](https://github.com/grafana/mcp-doc-server/blob/8b2f376d90a041cf83a204dd4014d5106351224a/pkg/grafanadocs/mcp/server.go) Checked 2026-10-14 https://github.com/grafana/mcp-doc-server/blob/8b2f376d90a041cf83a204dd4014d5106351224a/pkg/grafanadocs/mcp/server.go Supports: tool names, stdio annotations, whySelected, summary, install, configExample, access, limitations, bestFor, review, compatibility, transports - [Fetch allowlist ↗](https://github.com/grafana/mcp-doc-server/blob/8b2f376d90a041cf83a204dd4014d5106351224a/pkg/grafanadocs/fetch.go) Checked 2026-10-07 https://github.com/grafana/mcp-doc-server/blob/8b2f376d90a041cf83a204dd4014d5106351224a/pkg/grafanadocs/fetch.go Supports: host allowlist, redirect host check - [Apache-2.0 licence ↗](https://github.com/grafana/mcp-doc-server/blob/8b2f376d90a041cf83a204dd4014d5106351224a/LICENSE) Checked 2026-10-07 https://github.com/grafana/mcp-doc-server/blob/8b2f376d90a041cf83a204dd4014d5106351224a/LICENSE Supports: Redistribution terms, Copyright 2025 Grafana Labs - [Additional pinned implementation/setup ↗](https://github.com/grafana/mcp-doc-server/blob/8b2f376d90a041cf83a204dd4014d5106351224a/README.md) Checked 2026-10-14 https://github.com/grafana/mcp-doc-server/blob/8b2f376d90a041cf83a204dd4014d5106351224a/README.md Supports: summary, install, configExample, access, limitations, bestFor, review, compatibility, transports - [Additional pinned implementation/setup ↗](https://github.com/grafana/mcp-doc-server/blob/8b2f376d90a041cf83a204dd4014d5106351224a/cmd/mcp-doc-server/main.go) Checked 2026-10-14 https://github.com/grafana/mcp-doc-server/blob/8b2f376d90a041cf83a204dd4014d5106351224a/cmd/mcp-doc-server/main.go Supports: summary, install, configExample, access, limitations, bestFor, review, compatibility, transports - [Tool registration ↗](https://github.com/grafana/mcp-doc-server/blob/8b2f376d90a041cf83a204dd4014d5106351224a/pkg/grafanadocs/mcp/server.go) Checked 2026-10-07 https://github.com/grafana/mcp-doc-server/blob/8b2f376d90a041cf83a204dd4014d5106351224a/pkg/grafanadocs/mcp/server.go Supports: tool names, stdio annotations, whySelected KEEP COMPARING ## Other approaches to consider. Related by category or shared topics. These are alternatives to inspect, not a measured quality order. [### Clerk SDK Guidance MCP ↗ Retrieves Clerk SDK snippets and framework-specific authentication patterns through a hosted documentation service.](/mcp-servers/clerk-docs/)[### Twilio API Documentation MCP ↗ Searches public Twilio API specifications and documentation, then retrieves parameter and response schemas for selected operations.](/mcp-servers/twilio-docs/)[### Algolia MCP Server ↗ Algolia's managed MCP offerings: Public MCP exposes application-scoped search and recommendations on selected indices for customer-facing agents; Productivity MCP gives user-scoped, read-only exploration and analytics; DevEx MCP serves version-matched API client snippets to coding agents without touching data.](/mcp-servers/algolia/) [AI Tools ↗](/tools/)[Skills ↗](/skills/)[Agents ↗](/agents/)[MCP Servers ↗](/mcp-servers/)[Workflows ↗](/workflows/) ## Continue your investigation - [Inspect resource evidence](/tools/) - [Choose a host](/agents/) - [Inspect reusable workflows](/skills/) - [Use Undominated data](/api/)