VMware AVI

VMware AVI (NSX ALB) load balancer plus AKO Kubernetes ops — 28 MCP tools.

Quick Install

Automated & IDE Setup

Copy the AI prompt to install this server into Claude Code, Cursor, or another agent — or use 1-click editor setup below.

Add to Cursor Add to VS Code

Manual Client & Custom JSON ConfigExpand JSON ▾

Client Config & Setup

Choose your client or environment

Target File:~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vmware-avi": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "vmware-avi"
      ]
    }
  }
}

💡 Paste the JSON block into your client's configuration file under mcpServers, then restart the application.

Documentation Overview

VMware AVI

Author: Wei Zhou, VMware by Broadcom — wei-wz.zhou@broadcom.com This is a community-driven project by a VMware engineer, not an official VMware product. For official VMware developer tools see developer.broadcom.com.

English | 中文

AVI (NSX Advanced Load Balancer) management and AKO Kubernetes operations tool — 28 tools across 10 categories.

Dual mode: Traditional AVI Controller management + AKO K8s operations in one skill.

Companion skills handle everything else:

Skill Scope Install
vmware-aiops VM lifecycle, deployment, guest ops, cluster uv tool install vmware-aiops
vmware-monitor Read-only: inventory, health, alarms, events uv tool install vmware-monitor
vmware-storage Datastores, iSCSI, vSAN management uv tool install vmware-storage
vmware-vks Tanzu Namespaces, TKC cluster lifecycle uv tool install vmware-vks
vmware-nsx NSX networking: segments, gateways, NAT uv tool install vmware-nsx-mgmt
vmware-nsx-security DFW firewall rules, security groups uv tool install vmware-nsx-security
vmware-aria Aria Ops: metrics, alerts, capacity uv tool install vmware-aria

Quick Install

bash

# Via uv (recommended)
uv tool install vmware-avi

# Or via pip
pip install vmware-avi

# China mainland mirror
pip install vmware-avi -i https://pypi.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn/simple

# Verify installation
vmware-avi doctor

Offline / Air-Gapped Install (from source)

This project uses the modern PEP 517 build system (hatchling), so there is no setup.py by design — that is expected, not a missing file. If you cloned the source and hit ERROR: File "setup.py" or "setup.cfg" not found ... editable mode currently requires a setuptools-based build, your pip is older than 21.3 and cannot do an editable (-e) install with a non-setuptools backend. Editable mode is a developer convenience, not needed to run the tool — do one of:

bash

# From the source tree — a normal (non-editable) install builds a wheel:
pip install .              # NOT  pip install -e .

# ...or upgrade pip first, and editable works too:
pip install --upgrade pip && pip install -e .

For a truly air-gapped host, build the wheels on a connected machine and copy them over — the target then needs no network:

bash

# On a connected machine, collect this package + its dependencies as wheels:
pip wheel . -w dist        # → dist/*.whl   (or: uv build, for just this package)

# Copy dist/ to the air-gapped host, then install offline:
pip install --no-index --find-links dist vmware-avi

Capabilities Overview

What This Skill Does

Category	Tools	Count
Virtual Service	list, status, enable/disable	3
Pool Member	pool discovery, member list, enable/disable member (drain/restore traffic)	4
SSL Certificate	list, expiry check	2
Analytics	VS metrics overview, request error logs	2
Service Engine	list, health check	2
AKO Pod Ops	status, logs, restart, version info	4
AKO Config	values.yaml view, Helm diff, Helm upgrade	3
Ingress Diagnostics	annotation validation, VS mapping, error diagnosis, fix recommendation	4
Sync Diagnostics	K8s-Controller comparison, inconsistency list, force resync	3
Multi-cluster	cluster list, cross-cluster AKO overview, AMKO status	3

CLI vs MCP: Which Mode to Use

Scenario	Recommended	Why
Local/small models (Ollama, Qwen)	CLI	~2K tokens vs ~8K for MCP
Cloud models (Claude, GPT-4o)	Either	MCP gives structured JSON I/O
Automated pipelines	MCP	Type-safe parameters, structured output
AKO troubleshooting	CLI	Interactive log tailing, Helm diff output

Rule of thumb: Use CLI for cost efficiency and small models. Use MCP for structured automation with large models.

Architecture

Code

User (Natural Language)
  |
AI CLI Tool (Claude Code / Gemini / Codex / Cursor / Trae)
  | reads SKILL.md
  |
vmware-avi CLI
  |--- avisdk (AVI REST API) ---> AVI Controller ---> Virtual Services / Pools / SEs
  |--- kubectl / kubernetes ---> K8s Cluster ---> AKO Pods / Ingress / Services

Configuration

Step 1: Create Config Directory

bash

mkdir -p ~/.vmware-avi
vmware-avi init          # generates config.yaml and .env templates
chmod 600 ~/.vmware-avi/.env

Step 2: Edit config.yaml

yaml

controllers:
  - name: prod-avi
    host: avi-controller.example.com
    username: admin
    api_version: "22.1.4"
    tenant: admin
    port: 443
    verify_ssl: true

default_controller: prod-avi

ako:
  kubeconfig: ~/.kube/config
  default_context: ""
  namespace: avi-system

Step 3: Set Passwords

Create ~/.vmware-avi/.env:

bash

# AVI Controller passwords
# Format: {CONTROLLER_NAME_UPPER}_PASSWORD
PROD_AVI_PASSWORD=your-password-here

Password environment variable naming convention:

Code

{CONTROLLER_NAME_UPPER}_PASSWORD
# Replace hyphens with underscores, UPPERCASE
# Example: controller "prod-avi" -> PROD_AVI_PASSWORD
# Example: controller "staging-alb" -> STAGING_ALB_PASSWORD

Step 4: Verify

bash

vmware-avi doctor    # checks Controller connectivity + kubeconfig + avisdk

CLI Usage

Virtual Service Management

bash

# List all virtual services
vmware-avi vs list [--controller prod-avi]

# Check status of a specific VS
vmware-avi vs status my-webapp-vs

# Enable / disable a VS (disable requires double confirmation)
vmware-avi vs enable my-webapp-vs
vmware-avi vs disable my-webapp-vs

Pool Member Drain / Restore

bash

# List pool members and health status
vmware-avi pool members my-pool

# Graceful drain (disable) — double confirmation required
vmware-avi pool disable my-pool 10.1.1.5

# Restore traffic (enable)
vmware-avi pool enable my-pool 10.1.1.5

SSL Certificate Expiry Check

bash

# List all certificates
vmware-avi ssl list

# Check certificates expiring within 30 days
vmware-avi ssl expiry --days 30

Analytics and Error Logs

bash

# VS analytics: throughput, latency, error rates
vmware-avi analytics my-webapp-vs

# Request error logs
vmware-avi logs my-webapp-vs --since 1h

Service Engine Health

bash

# Name, mgmt IP, operational status, SE group — status sourced from the
# serviceengine-inventory endpoint (config + runtime merged)
vmware-avi se list

# Per-SE operational status + connected-VS counts
vmware-avi se health

AKO Troubleshooting

bash

# Check AKO pod status
vmware-avi ako status [--context my-k8s-context]

# View AKO logs
vmware-avi ako logs [--tail 100] [--since 30m]

# Restart AKO pod (double confirmation)
vmware-avi ako restart

# Show AKO version
vmware-avi ako version

AKO Helm Config Management

The AKO Helm release is discovered automatically (official installs use helm install --generate-name, so the release is not named ako). Upgrades pull the official Broadcom OCI chart oci://projects.packages.broadcom.com/ako/helm-charts/ako with --reuse-values.

bash

# View current AKO Helm values (release auto-discovered)
vmware-avi ako config show

# Show pending changes (diff against the official OCI chart)
vmware-avi ako config diff

# Helm upgrade (double confirmation + --dry-run default)
vmware-avi ako config upgrade

Ingress Diagnostics

bash

# Validate Ingress annotations
vmware-avi ako ingress check <namespace>

# Show Ingress-to-VS mapping
vmware-avi ako ingress map

# Diagnose why an Ingress has no VS
vmware-avi ako ingress diagnose <ingress-name>

Sync Diagnostics

bash

# Check K8s-Controller sync status
vmware-avi ako sync status

# Show inconsistencies between K8s and Controller
vmware-avi ako sync diff

# Force AKO resync (double confirmation)
vmware-avi ako sync force

Multi-cluster AKO

bash

# List clusters with AKO deployed
vmware-avi ako clusters

# Cross-cluster AKO status overview
vmware-avi ako cluster-overview

# AMKO GSLB status
vmware-avi ako amko status

MCP Server

The MCP server exposes all 28 tools via the Model Context Protocol. Works with any MCP-compatible client.

After uv tool install vmware-avi, start the MCP server with one command (v1.5.15+):

bash

# Recommended — single command, no network re-resolve
vmware-avi mcp

# With custom config path
VMWARE_AVI_CONFIG=/path/to/config.yaml vmware-avi mcp

Claude Desktop Config

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vmware-avi": {
      "command": "vmware-avi",
      "args": ["mcp"],
      "env": {
        "VMWARE_AVI_CONFIG": "~/.vmware-avi/config.yaml"
      }
    }
  }
}

Alternative: uvx (no install) or legacy entry point

bash

# Run without installing (requires PyPI access each launch)
uvx --from vmware-avi vmware-avi mcp

Read the full README →View source on GitHub →

Related MCP Servers

View all in Cloud Platforms View all alternatives

Reviews

No reviews yet — be the first to share how this listing worked for you.

Frequently Asked Questions about VMware AVI

Add the following block to your claude_desktop_config.json under mcpServers: "mcpServers": { "vmware-avi": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "VMware AVI"] } }

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Technical Specs & Signals

CategoryCloud Platforms

27Quality signal: Emerging · 27/100How this signal is calculated ▾

Server availabilityNot measured

Not scored for repo-hosted servers — we can't reach the running server, only its GitHub page. Hosted MCP endpoints are health-checked live.

Verified ownership8/20

Documentation & tools11/30

Adoption & activity1/15

Community engagement0/10

A guidance signal from public completeness & health data — not a user rating. New listings start lower and rise as they add docs, get verified, and grow adoption. Signals we can't observe for a listing are skipped, not counted against it.

★ Featured

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MCP & Agent Skills for Automated Documentation, and codebase conventions + context

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More in ☁️ Cloud Platforms →Best MCP servers for Cloud Platforms →Alternatives to VMware AVI →Install in Claude Desktop Install in Cursor Install in VS Code

VMware AVI

VMware AVI (NSX ALB) load balancer plus AKO Kubernetes ops — 28 MCP tools.

Quick Install

Automated & IDE Setup

Copy the AI prompt to install this server into Claude Code, Cursor, or another agent — or use 1-click editor setup below.

Add to Cursor Add to VS Code

Manual Client & Custom JSON ConfigExpand JSON ▾

Client Config & Setup

Choose your client or environment

Target File:~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vmware-avi": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "vmware-avi"
      ]
    }
  }
}

💡 Paste the JSON block into your client's configuration file under mcpServers, then restart the application.

Documentation Overview

VMware AVI

Author: Wei Zhou, VMware by Broadcom — wei-wz.zhou@broadcom.com This is a community-driven project by a VMware engineer, not an official VMware product. For official VMware developer tools see developer.broadcom.com.

English | 中文

AVI (NSX Advanced Load Balancer) management and AKO Kubernetes operations tool — 28 tools across 10 categories.

Dual mode: Traditional AVI Controller management + AKO K8s operations in one skill.

Companion skills handle everything else:

Skill Scope Install
vmware-aiops VM lifecycle, deployment, guest ops, cluster uv tool install vmware-aiops
vmware-monitor Read-only: inventory, health, alarms, events uv tool install vmware-monitor
vmware-storage Datastores, iSCSI, vSAN management uv tool install vmware-storage
vmware-vks Tanzu Namespaces, TKC cluster lifecycle uv tool install vmware-vks
vmware-nsx NSX networking: segments, gateways, NAT uv tool install vmware-nsx-mgmt
vmware-nsx-security DFW firewall rules, security groups uv tool install vmware-nsx-security
vmware-aria Aria Ops: metrics, alerts, capacity uv tool install vmware-aria

Quick Install

bash

# Via uv (recommended)
uv tool install vmware-avi

# Or via pip
pip install vmware-avi

# China mainland mirror
pip install vmware-avi -i https://pypi.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn/simple

# Verify installation
vmware-avi doctor

Offline / Air-Gapped Install (from source)

bash

# From the source tree — a normal (non-editable) install builds a wheel:
pip install .              # NOT  pip install -e .

# ...or upgrade pip first, and editable works too:
pip install --upgrade pip && pip install -e .

For a truly air-gapped host, build the wheels on a connected machine and copy them over — the target then needs no network:

bash

# On a connected machine, collect this package + its dependencies as wheels:
pip wheel . -w dist        # → dist/*.whl   (or: uv build, for just this package)

# Copy dist/ to the air-gapped host, then install offline:
pip install --no-index --find-links dist vmware-avi

Capabilities Overview

What This Skill Does

Category	Tools	Count
Virtual Service	list, status, enable/disable	3
Pool Member	pool discovery, member list, enable/disable member (drain/restore traffic)	4
SSL Certificate	list, expiry check	2
Analytics	VS metrics overview, request error logs	2
Service Engine	list, health check	2
AKO Pod Ops	status, logs, restart, version info	4
AKO Config	values.yaml view, Helm diff, Helm upgrade	3
Ingress Diagnostics	annotation validation, VS mapping, error diagnosis, fix recommendation	4
Sync Diagnostics	K8s-Controller comparison, inconsistency list, force resync	3
Multi-cluster	cluster list, cross-cluster AKO overview, AMKO status	3

CLI vs MCP: Which Mode to Use

Scenario	Recommended	Why
Local/small models (Ollama, Qwen)	CLI	~2K tokens vs ~8K for MCP
Cloud models (Claude, GPT-4o)	Either	MCP gives structured JSON I/O
Automated pipelines	MCP	Type-safe parameters, structured output
AKO troubleshooting	CLI	Interactive log tailing, Helm diff output

Rule of thumb: Use CLI for cost efficiency and small models. Use MCP for structured automation with large models.

Architecture

Code

User (Natural Language)
  |
AI CLI Tool (Claude Code / Gemini / Codex / Cursor / Trae)
  | reads SKILL.md
  |
vmware-avi CLI
  |--- avisdk (AVI REST API) ---> AVI Controller ---> Virtual Services / Pools / SEs
  |--- kubectl / kubernetes ---> K8s Cluster ---> AKO Pods / Ingress / Services

Configuration

Step 1: Create Config Directory

bash

mkdir -p ~/.vmware-avi
vmware-avi init          # generates config.yaml and .env templates
chmod 600 ~/.vmware-avi/.env

Step 2: Edit config.yaml

yaml

controllers:
  - name: prod-avi
    host: avi-controller.example.com
    username: admin
    api_version: "22.1.4"
    tenant: admin
    port: 443
    verify_ssl: true

default_controller: prod-avi

ako:
  kubeconfig: ~/.kube/config
  default_context: ""
  namespace: avi-system

Step 3: Set Passwords

Create ~/.vmware-avi/.env:

bash

# AVI Controller passwords
# Format: {CONTROLLER_NAME_UPPER}_PASSWORD
PROD_AVI_PASSWORD=your-password-here

Password environment variable naming convention:

Code

{CONTROLLER_NAME_UPPER}_PASSWORD
# Replace hyphens with underscores, UPPERCASE
# Example: controller "prod-avi" -> PROD_AVI_PASSWORD
# Example: controller "staging-alb" -> STAGING_ALB_PASSWORD

Step 4: Verify

bash

vmware-avi doctor    # checks Controller connectivity + kubeconfig + avisdk

CLI Usage

Virtual Service Management

bash

# List all virtual services
vmware-avi vs list [--controller prod-avi]

# Check status of a specific VS
vmware-avi vs status my-webapp-vs

# Enable / disable a VS (disable requires double confirmation)
vmware-avi vs enable my-webapp-vs
vmware-avi vs disable my-webapp-vs

Pool Member Drain / Restore

bash

# List pool members and health status
vmware-avi pool members my-pool

# Graceful drain (disable) — double confirmation required
vmware-avi pool disable my-pool 10.1.1.5

# Restore traffic (enable)
vmware-avi pool enable my-pool 10.1.1.5

SSL Certificate Expiry Check

bash

# List all certificates
vmware-avi ssl list

# Check certificates expiring within 30 days
vmware-avi ssl expiry --days 30

Analytics and Error Logs

bash

# VS analytics: throughput, latency, error rates
vmware-avi analytics my-webapp-vs

# Request error logs
vmware-avi logs my-webapp-vs --since 1h

Service Engine Health

bash

# Name, mgmt IP, operational status, SE group — status sourced from the
# serviceengine-inventory endpoint (config + runtime merged)
vmware-avi se list

# Per-SE operational status + connected-VS counts
vmware-avi se health

AKO Troubleshooting

bash

# Check AKO pod status
vmware-avi ako status [--context my-k8s-context]

# View AKO logs
vmware-avi ako logs [--tail 100] [--since 30m]

# Restart AKO pod (double confirmation)
vmware-avi ako restart

# Show AKO version
vmware-avi ako version

AKO Helm Config Management

bash

# View current AKO Helm values (release auto-discovered)
vmware-avi ako config show

# Show pending changes (diff against the official OCI chart)
vmware-avi ako config diff

# Helm upgrade (double confirmation + --dry-run default)
vmware-avi ako config upgrade

Ingress Diagnostics

bash

# Validate Ingress annotations
vmware-avi ako ingress check <namespace>

# Show Ingress-to-VS mapping
vmware-avi ako ingress map

# Diagnose why an Ingress has no VS
vmware-avi ako ingress diagnose <ingress-name>

Sync Diagnostics

bash

# Check K8s-Controller sync status
vmware-avi ako sync status

# Show inconsistencies between K8s and Controller
vmware-avi ako sync diff

# Force AKO resync (double confirmation)
vmware-avi ako sync force

Multi-cluster AKO

bash

# List clusters with AKO deployed
vmware-avi ako clusters

# Cross-cluster AKO status overview
vmware-avi ako cluster-overview

# AMKO GSLB status
vmware-avi ako amko status

MCP Server

The MCP server exposes all 28 tools via the Model Context Protocol. Works with any MCP-compatible client.

After uv tool install vmware-avi, start the MCP server with one command (v1.5.15+):

bash

# Recommended — single command, no network re-resolve
vmware-avi mcp

# With custom config path
VMWARE_AVI_CONFIG=/path/to/config.yaml vmware-avi mcp

Claude Desktop Config

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vmware-avi": {
      "command": "vmware-avi",
      "args": ["mcp"],
      "env": {
        "VMWARE_AVI_CONFIG": "~/.vmware-avi/config.yaml"
      }
    }
  }
}

Alternative: uvx (no install) or legacy entry point

bash

# Run without installing (requires PyPI access each launch)
uvx --from vmware-avi vmware-avi mcp

Read the full README →View source on GitHub →

Related MCP Servers

View all in Cloud Platforms View all alternatives

Reviews

No reviews yet — be the first to share how this listing worked for you.

Frequently Asked Questions about VMware AVI

Add the following block to your claude_desktop_config.json under mcpServers: "mcpServers": { "vmware-avi": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "VMware AVI"] } }

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Technical Specs & Signals

CategoryCloud Platforms

27Quality signal: Emerging · 27/100How this signal is calculated ▾

Server availabilityNot measured

Not scored for repo-hosted servers — we can't reach the running server, only its GitHub page. Hosted MCP endpoints are health-checked live.

Verified ownership8/20

Documentation & tools11/30

Adoption & activity1/15

Community engagement0/10

★ Featured

Moxie Docs MCP

MCP & Agent Skills for Automated Documentation, and codebase conventions + context

Explore Server →

Own this project?

Free dofollow backlink: add your website and place the AllMCPs badge on it — no claim needed. We detect it automatically and keep it verified as long as the badge stays live.

Claim & get free dofollow

Share & Embed

Add our SVG badge (dark/light directory styles) or embeddable widget to your site.

Explore more

More in ☁️ Cloud Platforms →Best MCP servers for Cloud Platforms →Alternatives to VMware AVI →Install in Claude Desktop Install in Cursor Install in VS Code

Skill	Scope	Install
vmware-aiops	VM lifecycle, deployment, guest ops, cluster	`uv tool install vmware-aiops`
vmware-monitor	Read-only: inventory, health, alarms, events	`uv tool install vmware-monitor`
vmware-storage	Datastores, iSCSI, vSAN management	`uv tool install vmware-storage`
vmware-vks	Tanzu Namespaces, TKC cluster lifecycle	`uv tool install vmware-vks`
vmware-nsx	NSX networking: segments, gateways, NAT	`uv tool install vmware-nsx-mgmt`
vmware-nsx-security	DFW firewall rules, security groups	`uv tool install vmware-nsx-security`
vmware-aria	Aria Ops: metrics, alerts, capacity	`uv tool install vmware-aria`