Prometheus MCP vs MCP Victorialogs
A side-by-side look at the Prometheus MCP and MCP Victorialogs MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose Prometheus MCP for monitoring work as a local process; choose MCP Victorialogs for monitoring over a hosted endpoint. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
Which MCP server should you choose?
Choose Prometheus MCP when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Monitoring domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- You have the keys it needs:
PROMETHEUS_URL, PROMETHEUS_TOKEN, PROMETHEUS_USERNAME, PROMETHEUS_PASSWORD, PROMETHEUS_SSL_VERIFY. - You want tools like
prometheus_list_metrics, prometheus_query, prometheus_query_range.
Choose MCP Victorialogs when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Monitoring domain.
- You prefer a remote HTTP/SSE transport.
- You have the keys it needs:
VL_INSTANCE_ENTRYPOINT, VL_INSTANCE_BEARER_TOKEN, VL_INSTANCE_HEADERS, MCP_PASSTHROUGH_HEADERS, VL_DEFAULT_TENANT_ID, MCP_SERVER_MODE. - You want tools like
documentation, facets, field_names.
Feature & specification comparison
Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Monitoring | Monitoring |
| Quality signal | 56/100 · Good | 63/100 · Good |
| Install command | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| Transport | Local subprocess (stdio) | Remote HTTP/SSE |
| Auth | Not declared | Not declared |
| Pricing | Not declared | Not declared |
| Required env vars | PROMETHEUS_URLPROMETHEUS_TOKENPROMETHEUS_USERNAMEPROMETHEUS_PASSWORDPROMETHEUS_SSL_VERIFY | VL_INSTANCE_ENTRYPOINTVL_INSTANCE_BEARER_TOKENVL_INSTANCE_HEADERSMCP_PASSTHROUGH_HEADERSVL_DEFAULT_TENANT_IDMCP_SERVER_MODE |
| Verified owner | Community listing | Community listing |
| GitHub stars | 0 | 104 |
| Directory activity | 5 views 0 installs 0 upvotes | 1 views 0 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | 21 | 13 |
| Full listing | View Prometheus MCP | View MCP Victorialogs |
Tools & capabilities
Prometheus MCP tools 21
prometheus_list_metricsList all metric names known to Prometheus, with optional substring filter. Wraps ``GET /api/v1/label/__name__/values``. Prometheus returns all metric names at once — no pagination. Output is capped at 500 metrics after filtering, with a truncation hint when more exist. Use this first to discover valid metric names before writing PromQL expressions for ``prometheus_query`` or ``prometheus_query_range``. Examples: - Use when: "What metrics does Prometheus have about HTTP requests?" → ``pattern='http'``; read the ``metrics`` list. - Use when: "List all node_exporter metrics" → ``pattern='node_'``. - Use when: Starting a monitoring investigation — list metrics first to discover what's instrumented, then query specific ones. - Don't use when: You already know the exact metric name and want to query its value (call ``prometheus_query`` directly — one fewer round trip). - Don't use when: You want to see current alert state (call ``prometheus_list_alerts``). Returns: dict with ``total_count`` / ``returned_count`` / ``truncated`` / ``pattern`` / ``metrics`` (sorted list).prometheus_queryExecute an instant PromQL query against Prometheus. Wraps ``GET /api/v1/query``. Returns the result type (vector, scalar, matrix, string) and a list of samples each carrying labels, timestamp, and value. For ``vector`` results each element is one time series at the evaluation instant. Examples: - Use when: "Is the payment service up right now?" → ``query='up{job="payment-service"}'``. - Use when: "What is the current HTTP request rate?" → ``query='sum(rate(http_requests_total[5m])) by (job)'``. - Use when: "Show me all metrics for a specific instance" → ``query='{instance="localhost:9090"}'``. - Don't use when: You want to see how a metric changed over time (call ``prometheus_query_range`` with start/end/step). - Don't use when: You don't know the metric name yet (call ``prometheus_list_metrics`` first to discover names). Returns: dict with ``query`` / ``time`` / ``result_type`` / ``result_count`` / ``data`` (list of samples with ``labels``, ``timestamp``, ``value``).prometheus_query_rangeExecute a PromQL range query returning time-series data points. Wraps ``GET /api/v1/query_range``. Returns one series per matching time series, each with labels and a list of ``[timestamp, value]`` pairs. Total points across all series are capped at 5000 with a truncation hint. Prometheus may reject the query with HTTP 422 (bad_data) if the step produces too many data points (> 11,000 per series). Increase the step or narrow the time range if this happens. Note: The Prometheus API does not support filtering by branch or commit in this endpoint — filters are expressed purely in PromQL label matchers. Examples: - Use when: "Show me CPU usage over the last hour with 1-minute resolution" → ``query='rate(node_cpu_seconds_total[5m])'``, ``step='1m'``. - Use when: "Graph HTTP error rate for the last 24 hours" → ``query='rate(http_requests_total{status=~"5.."}[5m])'``, ``start='2024-01-15T00:00:00Z'``, ``end='2024-01-16T00:00:00Z'``, ``step='5m'``. - Use when: Investigating a past incident — pick the time window of the incident and use a fine step. - Don't use when: You only want the current value (call ``prometheus_query`` — faster and simpler). - Don't use when: You want alert history (call ``prometheus_list_alerts``). Returns: dict with ``query`` / ``start`` / ``end`` / ``step`` / ``result_type`` / ``series_count`` / ``total_points`` / ``truncated`` / ``data`` (list of series with ``labels``, ``point_count``, ``values``).prometheus_list_alertsList all active and pending alerts from Prometheus. Wraps ``GET /api/v1/alerts``. Returns every alert that Prometheus currently tracks, with labels (including ``alertname``, ``severity``), state (``firing`` / ``pending``), the time it became active, and its current value. Also returns a summary grouped by state and a count by severity label. Examples: - Use when: "Are there any firing alerts right now?" → check ``firing_count`` and ``alerts`` where ``state='firing'``. - Use when: "Show me all critical alerts" → filter ``alerts`` by ``labels.severity == 'critical'``. - Use when: Checking system health during an incident — list alerts first to understand what's firing before querying metrics. - Don't use when: You want historical alert data (Prometheus stores only current state; use Alertmanager or a recording rule for history). - Don't use when: You want raw metric values (call ``prometheus_query`` or ``prometheus_query_range``). Returns: dict with ``total_count`` / ``firing_count`` / ``pending_count`` / ``state_summary`` / ``alerts`` (list with ``labels``, ``annotations``, ``state``, ``active_at``, ``value``). Enhanced with correlation information when requested.prometheus_list_targetsList Prometheus scrape targets, summarised by job and health. Wraps ``GET /api/v1/targets``. Returns scrape targets with job name, instance address, health status (``up`` / ``down`` / ``unknown``), last scrape duration in milliseconds, and any last error. Also returns a summary grouped by job and health state. Examples: - Use when: "Which targets are currently down?" → filter ``targets`` where ``health='down'`` and check ``last_error``. - Use when: "How many instances of the 'node-exporter' job are up?" → check ``job_summary`` for the 'node-exporter' entry. - Use when: Investigating a scrape failure — list targets for the affected job to see which instances have errors. - Don't use when: You want metric values from a target (call ``prometheus_query`` with label matchers instead). - Don't use when: You want alert status (call ``prometheus_list_alerts`` instead). Returns: dict with ``state_filter`` / ``total_count`` / ``up_count`` / ``down_count`` / ``unknown_count`` / ``job_summary`` (per-job health counts) / ``targets`` (list with ``job``, ``instance``, ``health``, ``last_scrape_duration_ms``, ``last_error``, ``labels``).prometheus_get_metric_metadataGet metric metadata (HELP text, TYPE, UNIT) from Prometheus. Wraps ``GET /api/v1/metadata``. Returns the metadata that Prometheus scraped from ``HELP``, ``TYPE``, and ``UNIT`` lines in the exposition format. Each metric may have multiple metadata entries if different scrape targets expose different help strings. Use this to understand what a metric measures, its type (counter, gauge, histogram, summary), and unit — essential for writing correct PromQL. For example, knowing a metric is a counter means you should use ``rate()`` or ``increase()``; a gauge can be used directly. Examples: - Use when: "What does http_requests_total measure?" → ``metric='http_requests_total'``; read ``help`` and ``type``. - Use when: "Show me all histogram metrics" → call with no filter; filter results where ``type='histogram'``. - Use when: Starting an investigation — check metric types before writing PromQL to avoid using rate() on a gauge. - Don't use when: You already know the metric type and want to query values (call ``prometheus_query`` directly). Returns: dict with ``metric`` / ``total_count`` / ``returned_count`` / ``truncated`` / ``metadata`` (dict of metric name → list of ``{type, help, unit}``).prometheus_list_label_valuesList all values for a specific label from Prometheus. Wraps ``GET /api/v1/label/{label_name}/values``. Returns all distinct values for the named label across all time series, optionally filtered by a series selector. Use this to discover what entities exist for a given label dimension — for example, which jobs are running, which instances are scraped, or which namespaces have metrics. This is essential for building targeted PromQL queries during investigation. Examples: - Use when: "What jobs does Prometheus scrape?" → ``label='job'``; read the ``values`` list. - Use when: "What instances are in the 'node-exporter' job?" → ``label='instance'``, ``match='{job="node-exporter"}'``. - Use when: "What namespaces have metrics?" → ``label='namespace'``. - Don't use when: You want metric names (call ``prometheus_list_metrics`` — has substring filtering). - Don't use when: You want current metric values (call ``prometheus_query`` with a PromQL expression). Returns: dict with ``label`` / ``match`` / ``total_count`` / ``returned_count`` / ``truncated`` / ``values`` (sorted list).prometheus_list_rulesList recording and alerting rules from Prometheus. Wraps ``GET /api/v1/rules``. Returns rule groups with their rules, including the PromQL expression, rule type (recording or alerting), and for alerting rules their current state (firing/pending/inactive). Use this to understand the alerting configuration, find recording rules that pre-compute useful aggregations, and investigate which rules are currently firing or have health issues. Examples: - Use when: "What alerting rules are configured?" → ``type='alert'``; inspect rule names and expressions. - Use when: "Are there any recording rules I can use instead of computing aggregations from scratch?" → ``type='record'``; look for rules matching your investigation. - Use when: "Why is this alert firing? What's its PromQL expression?" → call with no filter; find the alert by name; read its ``query``. - Don't use when: You want to see which alerts are currently firing (call ``prometheus_list_alerts`` — shows active alerts with state and value, without the PromQL definition). Returns: dict with ``type_filter`` / ``total_groups`` / ``total_rules`` / ``recording_count`` / ``alerting_count`` / ``groups`` (list of rule groups with ``name``, ``file``, ``rule_count``, ``rules``).alertmanager_list_silencesList all silences from Alertmanager. Wraps ``GET /api/v2/silences``. Returns silences with matchers, status (active/pending/expired), creator, comment, and time bounds. Use this to understand which alerts are currently silenced and why. During incident handoffs, knowing what's silenced is critical — a silenced alert is invisible in Prometheus ``/alerts``. Examples: - Use when: "Is the HighCPU alert silenced?" → search silences for matching matchers. - Use when: "Who silenced alerts for the payment service?" → check ``createdBy`` and ``comment``. - Don't use when: You want active firing alerts (call ``alertmanager_list_alerts``). Returns: dict with ``total_count`` / ``active_count`` / ``pending_count`` / ``expired_count`` / ``silences`` (list with matchers, status, etc.).alertmanager_list_alertsList alerts from Alertmanager with suppression state. Wraps ``GET /api/v2/alerts``. Returns alerts with their status (active/suppressed/unprocessed), silence IDs, and inhibition IDs. Unlike ``prometheus_list_alerts``, this shows WHY an alert is or isn't firing — suppressed alerts include ``silencedBy`` and ``inhibitedBy`` arrays. Examples: - Use when: "Why isn't the HighCPU alert firing?" → check if it's suppressed (silencedBy or inhibitedBy). - Use when: "Show all suppressed alerts" → filter by ``status.state == 'suppressed'``. - Don't use when: You want Prometheus-side alert state (call ``prometheus_list_alerts``). Returns: dict with ``total_count`` / ``active_count`` / ``suppressed_count`` / ``unprocessed_count`` / ``alerts`` (list with status, silencedBy, etc.).alertmanager_get_statusGet Alertmanager cluster status, version, and config. Wraps ``GET /api/v2/status``. Returns cluster state (ready/settling), version info, uptime, and the raw configuration YAML. Examples: - Use when: "Is Alertmanager healthy?" → check ``cluster_status``. - Use when: "What version of Alertmanager is running?" → check ``version_info``. - Don't use when: You want to see active alerts (call ``alertmanager_list_alerts``). Returns: dict with ``cluster_status`` / ``version_info`` / ``uptime`` / ``config_yaml``.alertmanager_list_alert_groupsList alert groups from Alertmanager showing routing topology. Wraps ``GET /api/v2/alerts/groups``. Returns groups with their labels, receiver, and alert count — shows how alerts are grouped for notification. Examples: - Use when: "Why did I get one notification instead of many?" → check which alerts are in the same group. - Use when: "What receiver handles payment alerts?" → find the group and check its receiver. - Don't use when: You want individual alert details (call ``alertmanager_list_alerts``). Returns: dict with ``total_groups`` / ``total_alerts`` / ``groups`` (list with ``labels``, ``receiver``, ``alert_count``).- +9 more on the listing page
MCP Victorialogs tools 13
documentationSearch documentation resources for the given search query, returning the URIs of the resources that match the search criteria sorted by relevance. This tool can help to get context for any VictoriaLogs related question.facetsThe most frequent values per each log field seen in the logs returned by the given <query> on the given [<start> ... <end>] time range. This tool uses `/select/logsql/facets` endpoint of VictoriaLogs API.field_namesGet field names from results of the given <query> on the given [<start> ... <end>] time range. The response also contains the number of log results per every field name. This tool uses `/select/logsql/field_names` endpoint of VictoriaLogs API.field_valuesGet unique values for the given <fieldName> field from results of the given <query> on the given [<start> ... <end>] time range. The response also contains the number of log results per every field value. This tool uses `/select/logsql/field_values` endpoint of VictoriaLogs API.flagsList of non-default flags (parameters) of the VictoriaLogs instance. This tools uses `/flags` endpoint of VictoriaLogs API.hitsThe number of matching log entries for the given <query> on the given [<start> ... <end>] time range grouped by <step> buckets. The returned results are sorted by time. This tool uses `/select/logsql/hits` endpoint of VictoriaLogs API.queryExecutes LogsQL query expression to search log entries. This tool uses `/select/logsql/query` endpoint of VictoriaLogs API.stats_queryLog stats for the given query at the given timestamp (time) in the format compatible with Prometheus querying API. This tool uses `/select/logsql/stats_query` endpoint of VictoriaLogs API.stats_query_rangeLog stats for the given query on the given [start ... end] time range with the given step interval. The stats is returned in the format compatible with Prometheus querying API. This tool uses `/select/logsql/stats_query_range` endpoint of VictoriaLogs API.stream_field_namesGet log stream field names from results of the given <query> on the given [<start> ... <end>] time range. The response also contains the number of log results per every field name.. This tool uses `/select/logsql/stream_field_names` endpoint of VictoriaLogs API.stream_field_valuesGet unique values for the given <fieldName> field from results of the given <query> on the given [<start> ... <end>] time range. The response also contains the number of log results per every field value. This tool uses `/select/logsql/stream_field_values` endpoint of VictoriaLogs API.stream_idsGet _stream_id values for the log streams from results of the given <query> on the given [<start> ... <end>] time range. The response also contains the number of log results per every _stream_id. This tool uses `/select/logsql/stream_ids` endpoint of VictoriaLogs API.- +1 more on the listing page
Ready-to-paste client configs
Paste either block (or both) into your client config, e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json. We only show a config when the install command is confirmed.
Prometheus MCP
{
"mcpServers": {
"prometheus-mcp": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"prometheus-mcp"
],
"env": {
"PROMETHEUS_URL": "YOUR_PROMETHEUS_URL_HERE",
"PROMETHEUS_TOKEN": "YOUR_PROMETHEUS_TOKEN_HERE",
"PROMETHEUS_USERNAME": "YOUR_PROMETHEUS_USERNAME_HERE",
"PROMETHEUS_PASSWORD": "YOUR_PROMETHEUS_PASSWORD_HERE",
"PROMETHEUS_SSL_VERIFY": "YOUR_PROMETHEUS_SSL_VERIFY_HERE"
}
}
}
}
MCP Victorialogs
{
"mcpServers": {
"mcp-victorialogs": {
"url": "https://play-vmlogs-mcp.victoriametrics.com/mcp"
}
}
}
Frequently asked questions
Prometheus MCP is categorized under Monitoring and uses a local stdio subprocess. MCP Victorialogs belongs to Monitoring and uses a remote HTTP/SSE transport. Pick Prometheus MCP for monitoring work and MCP Victorialogs for monitoring.
Copy the mcpServers block from the config section on this page into your client's config (for example claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json), then fully restart the client.
Prometheus MCP has no declared pricing — check the project's own site. MCP Victorialogs has no declared pricing — check the project's own site. If a server needs environment variables such as API keys, define them under the env key in your client's MCP config.
Yes. MCP clients support multiple servers: add prometheus-mcp and mcp-victorialogs as separate keys in the same mcpServers object, and your assistant will call tools from either one.
On AllMCPs, Prometheus MCP has a quality signal of 56/100 (Good) with 5 views, 0 installs and 0 GitHub stars. MCP Victorialogs has 63/100 (Good) with 1 views, 0 installs and 104 GitHub stars.