Monitor

What BetterDB-inc/monitor does

BetterDB-inc/monitor MCP server gives MCP-compatible clients access to the monitoring data collected by BetterDB Monitor. The monitored systems are Valkey 8.0+ and Redis 6+, with Valkey-specific support for features such as COMMANDLOG and CLUSTER SLOT-STATS when the database version provides them.

The package is intended for operational investigation rather than direct database administration. Through 60 MCP tools, an agent can inspect current and historical metrics, review slow commands, examine command patterns and client activity, identify hot keys, and investigate latency or capacity concerns. The underlying Monitor product also records data that may otherwise disappear after log rotation, including slowlogs, traffic captures, and ACL access history.

How it works

BetterDB-inc/monitor MCP server runs over stdio through the @betterdb/mcp npm package. It communicates with a running BetterDB Monitor deployment, which in turn connects to the target Valkey or Redis instance. The Monitor backend uses a unified wire-compatible adapter and detects whether the database is Valkey or Redis from its INFO response. Available capabilities are also checked by version, so unsupported Valkey-only functions are not assumed for Redis deployments.

The MCP interface complements the Monitor web UI and REST API. BetterDB Monitor can be deployed with Docker, Helm, or the Node.js CLI, and exposes its web service on port 3001 by default. The MCP connection itself is configured separately from the database connection: create a token under Settings → MCP Tokens, then provide that token when configuring the MCP client.

Setup and configuration

Start BetterDB Monitor first and connect it to the Valkey or Redis instance you want to inspect. The README documents Docker, Kubernetes/Helm, and CLI startup options. For a local CLI installation, the documented runner is:

npx -y @betterdb/mcp

The MCP package requires an MCP token from the Monitor application's settings. The supplied material does not specify the client configuration field name or an environment variable for that token, so those details should be taken from the current product documentation. A monitored database may be local, clustered, or hosted by providers such as AWS ElastiCache, MemoryDB, Redis Cloud, and Upstash, subject to the deployment's network access.

Tools and capabilities

The BetterDB-inc/monitor MCP server exposes tools covering the following supported areas:

• Query real-time and historical metrics.
• Review slowlogs, command patterns, and command activity.
• Analyze hot keys and key access frequency.
• Inspect client activity and attribution by client name and pattern.
• Examine cluster topology, slot statistics, CPU, and key distribution where supported.
• Investigate per-thread CPU and I/O metrics.
• Review captured traffic from MONITOR sessions, including filtering, replay, and export capabilities.
• Inspect ACL access history and performance-related signals.

The broader Monitor product also includes anomaly detection, capacity forecasting, webhooks, migration workflows, vector-search observability, and AI traces. The supplied material confirms these product capabilities, but does not map each one to a specific MCP tool, so tool-level availability should be verified before depending on them in an agent workflow.

Limitations and notes

Redis deployments do not provide the Valkey-exclusive COMMANDLOG and CLUSTER SLOT-STATS features. The MCP server depends on a reachable BetterDB Monitor instance rather than connecting directly to the database as a standalone package. A token is required, and the README does not state whether tokens expire, what permissions they carry, or how they are passed in every MCP client.

The project is licensed under an MIT plus commercial licensing model according to the repository badge. Some Monitor features are marked Pro and described as free during early access; the supplied material does not establish whether those features are available through MCP or define the current commercial terms.

Getting started with this BetterDB-inc/monitor MCP server

Always refer to the official documentation for the most accurate and up-to-date information.