Kubeshark MCP Setup Reference

Installing the CLI

Homebrew (macOS):

brew install kubeshark

Linux:

sh <(curl -Ls https://kubeshark.com/install)

From source:

git clone https://github.com/kubeshark/kubeshark
cd kubeshark && make

MCP Configuration

Claude Desktop / Cowork (claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kubeshark": {
      "command": "kubeshark",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code (CLI):

claude mcp add kubeshark -- kubeshark mcp

Without kubectl access (direct URL mode):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kubeshark": {
      "command": "kubeshark",
      "args": ["mcp", "--url", "https://kubeshark.example.com"]
    }
  }
}

# Claude Code equivalent:
claude mcp add kubeshark -- kubeshark mcp --url https://kubeshark.example.com

Verification

• Claude Code: /mcp to check connection status
• Terminal: kubeshark mcp --list-tools
• Cluster: kubectl get pods -l app=kubeshark-hub

Troubleshooting

• Binary not found → Install via Homebrew or the install script above
• Connection refused → Deploy Kubeshark first: kubeshark tap
• No L7 data → Check get_dissection_status and enable_dissection
• Snapshot creation fails → Verify raw capture is enabled in Kubeshark config
• Empty snapshot → Check get_data_boundaries — the requested window may fall outside available data