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Managing Your Servers with AI Assistants (MCP)

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Once connected, you can ask your assistant to check on your servers, change settings, make backups, and manage who has access. This works through MCP, and this article walks you through setting it up.

What is MCP?

MCP is short for Model Context Protocol. It's an open standard that lets AI assistants/agents use tools from other services. Nodecraft runs an MCP server that gives your assistant the same controls you have in the Control Panel, so instead of clicking through pages you can say something like "restart my Minecraft server and tell me who's online."

Your assistant/agent acts as you. It can only see the servers you can see, and it can only do what your account is allowed to do.

What can my assistant do?

  • Servers: list your servers, check their status and live usage, and start, stop, restart or wake them. Rename a server, change its hostname, timezone or streamer mode, or create and deploy a new one.

  • Files and settings: browse, search, read and edit files, extract and compress archives, and change game settings without digging through config files.

  • Backups: create, list and restore backups.

  • Console and players: send console commands, read recent console output, and see who's online.

  • User permissions: see who has access to a server, grant or remove permissions, and copy someone's access to your other servers.

  • Everything else: databases, automated tasks, custom ports, sharing your Nodecraft Lite server, usage and billing details, support tickets, and searching this knowledgebase.

Before you start

  • You'll need a Nodecraft account. If you don't have one, you can register for free at nodecraft.com/register.

  • You'll need an AI assistant that supports remote MCP servers. Most popular assistants do, though some only offer it on paid plans.

  • If you were added to someone else's server as a sub-user, your assistant only gets the permissions the owner gave you. See How to Add Sub-Users to an Instance.

Connecting your assistant

Every assistant uses the same server address:

https://mcp.nodecraft.com/mcp

Each app adds it in a slightly different place. Skip to the section below that's most relevant to you, or paste this prompt into your assistant and it'll set things up or tell you exactly where to click:

Read https://nodecraft.com/support/knowledgebase/advanced/managing-your-servers-with-ai-assistants-mcp.md and connect yourself to the Nodecraft MCP server. If you can't add it yourself, give me the exact steps for adding myself.

Claude (web, desktop, and mobile)

  1. Open Claude and go to Settings → Connectors.

  2. Click Add custom connector.

  3. Enter Nodecraft as the name and https://mcp.nodecraft.com/mcp as the URL, then click Add.

  4. Click Connect next to Nodecraft and sign in (see below).

On Claude Team and Enterprise plans, an organization owner may need to add the connector first. Once it's added, each member connects their own Nodecraft account.

Claude Code

Run this in your terminal:

claude mcp add --transport http nodecraft https://mcp.nodecraft.com/mcp --scope user

Then start Claude Code, type /mcp, select nodecraft, and choose Authenticate to sign in.

ChatGPT

  1. Open ChatGPT's Settings and go to the apps and connectors section.

  2. Create a new connector, name it Nodecraft, and use https://mcp.nodecraft.com/mcp as the server URL with OAuth authentication.

  3. Save it, then sign in when ChatGPT asks.

Other assistants

Any assistant that supports remote MCP servers over Streamable HTTP with OAuth sign-in will work. Add https://mcp.nodecraft.com/mcp as the server URL. You don't need a client ID or secret, since your assistant registers itself automatically.

Signing in

  1. A Nodecraft page opens asking whether to allow your app to manage your Nodecraft account. It lists what the app will have access to: Account Info, Instances and Billing Info. Check that the app name is the one you're connecting, then click Continue.

  2. Sign in to your Nodecraft account if you aren't already.

  3. Approve the MCP (AI assistants) access request.

  4. You're sent back to your app, and Nodecraft is ready to use.

Billing access lets your assistant look up your services and usage, and give you a link to upgrade. It can never see your full payment details, and it can't pay for anything. You'll always open the link and check out yourself.

Things to try

  • "Is my Minecraft server online, and who's playing right now?"

  • "Set max players on my Valheim server to 20, then restart it."

  • "Back up my Palworld server, then list its recent backups."

  • "Give my friend Alex console access to my server, but not file access."

  • "Why did my server crash? Check the latest console output."

  • "Schedule a restart every night at 4am."

Confirmations sand Limits

Confirmations

Actions that are hard to undo, like restoring a backup, deleting files, stopping a server, or removing someone's access, need your confirmation first. Depending on your app, that's either a pop-up from the app itself or the assistant asking you in the chat. Read what it's about to do before you approve it.

Restoring a backup deletes and replaces all of the files currently on your server, just like it does in the Control Panel. If you aren't sure, ask your assistant to make a new backup first.

Limits

To keep things running smoothly, there's a limit on how often your assistant can use Nodecraft each minute, with a lower limit for making changes. Your assistant knows about these limits and paces itself. If it does hit one, it waits a moment and tries again.

What it can't do

  • Pay for anything, or see your full payment details.

  • Access servers you don't own or haven't been given access to.

  • Go beyond the permissions a server's owner gave you as a sub-user.

Disconnecting

To disconnect, remove the Nodecraft connector from your app's settings. If you don't use the connection for 14 days, you'll be signed out automatically and will need to sign in again next time.

Troubleshooting

"This app's registration with Nodecraft has expired or was removed"

Your app's connection was cleaned up after a long time unused. Remove Nodecraft from your app's connectors, then add it again with the same URL.

"Too many sign-in requests"

Too many sign-in attempts came from your network in a short time. Wait a minute, then try signing in again.

"Connect to https://mcp.nodecraft.com instead"

The server address in your app is slightly off. Edit the connector and use https://mcp.nodecraft.com/mcp exactly.

My assistant says it doesn't have permission

You're a sub-user on that server, and the owner hasn't given you that permission. Ask them to add it under Manage Instance -> User Permissions.

My assistant keeps asking me to sign in again

Connections that go unused for 14 days are signed out automatically. Sessions may be signed out sooner than this sometimes too. Simply sign in again from your app and you're good to go.

Need Help?

If you have questions or run into any issues, our support team is here to help! Reach out using the support widget on our website or visit our support center for further assistance.