ats-mcp-server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for Apache Traffic Server, enabling AI assistants to manage and monitor ATS instances via traffic_ctl without restarting the server.

Tools

Config (proxy.config.*)

Tool	Description
ats_config_get	Get current value of one or more config records
ats_config_set	Set a config record to a new value
ats_config_describe	Show all known information about a config record
ats_config_match	List config records matching a regex
ats_config_diff	Show records with non-default values
ats_config_defaults	Show default values for all records
ats_config_reload	Reload configuration without restarting
ats_config_status	Show status of the last config reload
ats_config_reset	Reset records to their default values
ats_config_registry	Show registered config files

Metrics (proxy.process.*, proxy.node.*)

Tool	Description
ats_metric_get	Get current value of one or more metrics
ats_metric_match	List metrics matching a regex
ats_metric_describe	Show all known information about a metric
ats_metric_monitor	Poll metrics at a given interval and count

Server

Tool	Description
ats_server_status	Show ATS version, uptime, and internal state
ats_server_drain	Enable (or undo) graceful connection draining
ats_server_debug_enable	Enable runtime debug logging with optional tag filter
ats_server_debug_disable	Disable debug logging

Storage

Tool	Description
ats_storage_status	Show cache storage configuration and status
ats_storage_offline	Mark a cache storage device as offline

Host / HostDB

Tool	Description
ats_host_status	Get status of hosts for parent/next-hop selection
ats_host_down	Mark hosts as down with optional duration and reason
ats_host_up	Mark hosts as available again
ats_hostdb_status	Get HostDB status, optionally filtered by hostname

Plugin

Tool	Description
ats_plugin_msg	Send a tagged message with optional data to plugins

RPC

Tool	Description
ats_rpc_get_api	List all registered JSONRPC 2.0 admin API methods
ats_rpc_invoke	Call an admin JSONRPC method with optional params

Service

Tool	Description
ats_service_start	Start all ATS processes
ats_service_stop	Stop all ATS processes gracefully
ats_service_restart	Restart all ATS processes

Requirements

• Go 1.22+
• Apache Traffic Server with traffic_ctl and trafficserver binaries accessible

Build

go mod tidy
go build -o ats-mcp-server .

Usage

# Binaries on PATH
./ats-mcp-server

# Custom binary paths
./ats-mcp-server \
  -traffic-ctl /opt/ats/bin/traffic_ctl \
  -trafficserver /opt/ats/bin/trafficserver

# With a run-root (required on some ATS installations)
./ats-mcp-server \
  -traffic-ctl /opt/edge/trafficserver/9.1/bin/traffic_ctl \
  -trafficserver /opt/edge/trafficserver/9.1/bin/trafficserver \
  -run-root /opt/edge/trafficserver/9.1/runroot_path.yml

Flags

Flag	Default	Description
-traffic-ctl	traffic_ctl	Path to the traffic_ctl binary
-trafficserver	trafficserver	Path to the trafficserver binary
-run-root	(none)	Optional --run-root path passed to every traffic_ctl invocation

Claude Code Configuration

Add to ~/.claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ats": {
      "command": "/path/to/ats-mcp-server",
      "args": [
        "-run-root", "/opt/edge/trafficserver/9.1/runroot_path.yml"
      ]
    }
  }
}