documentation/docs/mcp/vmware-aiops-mcp.md
import Tabs from '@theme/Tabs'; import TabItem from '@theme/TabItem'; import CLIExtensionInstructions from '@site/src/components/CLIExtensionInstructions'; import GooseDesktopInstaller from '@site/src/components/GooseDesktopInstaller';
This tutorial covers how to add vmware-aiops as a goose extension, enabling natural language management of VMware vCenter and ESXi infrastructure. With this extension, goose can list VMs, check health, power on/off machines, deploy from templates, run commands inside VMs, and orchestrate multi-step operations with automatic rollback.
:::tip Quick Install
<Tabs groupId="interface">
<TabItem value="ui" label="goose Desktop" default>
Install vmware-aiops first:
sh uv tool install vmware-aiops vmware-aiops mcp-config install --agent goose
</TabItem>
<TabItem value="cli" label="goose CLI">
sh uv tool install vmware-aiops vmware-aiops mcp-config install --agent goose
</TabItem>
</Tabs>
:::
:::info Prerequisites You need uv and a running VMware vCenter Server or ESXi host. VMware Tools must be running inside guest VMs for Guest Operations features. :::
Step 1: Install and configure credentials
uv tool install vmware-aiops
mkdir -p ~/.vmware-aiops
cat > ~/.vmware-aiops/config.yaml << 'EOF'
targets:
my-vcenter:
host: vcenter.example.com
username: [email protected]
password_env: VMWARE_PASSWORD
verify_ssl: false
EOF
echo "VMWARE_PASSWORD=your_password" > ~/.vmware-aiops/.env
chmod 600 ~/.vmware-aiops/.env
Step 2: Verify connectivity
vmware-aiops doctor
Step 3: Add to goose
<Tabs groupId="interface"> <TabItem value="ui" label="goose Desktop" default> <GooseDesktopInstaller extensionId="vmware-aiops" extensionName="VMware AIops" description="Natural language VMware vCenter/ESXi monitoring and operations" type="stdio" command="uvx" args={["--from", "vmware-aiops", "vmware-aiops-mcp"]} timeout={300} envVars={[ { name: "VMWARE_AIOPS_CONFIG", label: "Path to config.yaml (e.g. /Users/you/.vmware-aiops/config.yaml)" } ]} /> </TabItem> <TabItem value="cli" label="goose CLI"> <CLIExtensionInstructions name="vmware-aiops" description="Natural language VMware vCenter/ESXi monitoring and operations" type="stdio" command="uvx --from vmware-aiops vmware-aiops-mcp" timeout={300} envVars={[ { key: "VMWARE_AIOPS_CONFIG", value: "/Users/you/.vmware-aiops/config.yaml" } ]} infoNote={ <> Set <code>VMWARE_AIOPS_CONFIG</code> to the absolute path of your config.yaml. See the <a href="https://github.com/zw008/VMware-AIops" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">vmware-aiops repository</a> for full setup instructions. </> } /> </TabItem> </Tabs>In this example, I'll use goose to perform a daily health check across my vCenter environment and remediate a disk space issue on a VM — all via natural language.
Check the health of my vCenter environment. Show any active alarms and
powered-off VMs that haven't been used recently. If datastore usage is
above 85%, tell me which VMs are using the most space.
I'll start with a full health check of your vCenter environment.
--- get_alarms ---
Found 2 active alarms:
- esxi-03: CPU ready > 5% (Warning) — sustained for 2 hours
- datastore02: 87% capacity used (Critical) ← needs attention
--- list_virtual_machines (power_state=poweredOff) ---
4 powered-off VMs found:
- vm-test-old (last powered on: 21 days ago)
- vm-dev-unused (last powered on: 14 days ago)
- vm-staging-v1 (last powered on: 8 days ago)
- vm-backup-runner (last powered on: 3 days ago)
--- browse_datastore (datastore02) ---
Largest consumers on datastore02:
1. vm-db-prod: 320 GB (snapshots not cleaned up)
2. vm-web-cluster: 180 GB
3. vm-test-old: 95 GB (powered off)
Recommendation: Delete vm-test-old (powered off 21 days, 95 GB) to free
space immediately. Also, vm-db-prod has stale snapshots — consolidating
them would recover ~120 GB.
Shall I create a plan to remove vm-test-old and consolidate vm-db-prod snapshots?
Yes, go ahead.
--- vm_create_plan ---
Plan created:
Step 1: Power off check for vm-test-old (already off ✓)
Step 2: Delete vm-test-old
Step 3: Consolidate snapshots on vm-db-prod
⚠️ Step 2 is irreversible. Step 3 is safe (read-only snapshot merge).
--- vm_apply_plan ---
Step 1/3: Verified vm-test-old is powered off ✓
Step 2/3: Deleted vm-test-old — freed 95 GB ✓
Step 3/3: Consolidated vm-db-prod snapshots — freed 118 GB ✓
datastore02 is now at 64% capacity. All alarms should clear within 5 minutes.