Render MCP Server

The Render MCP server lets AI coding tools manage Render services, databases, deploys, logs, and metrics directly. This skill covers setup, authentication, workspace selection, the tool catalog, and troubleshooting.

Action skills (render-deploy, render-debug, render-monitor) use MCP tools for their workflows. If MCP is not connected, set it up using this skill first.

When to Use

list_services() fails or MCP tools are unavailable
First-time Render MCP setup for any AI tool
User asks how to connect their AI tool to Render
Switching workspaces or troubleshooting auth errors
Discovering which MCP tools exist and what they do

Connection Details

Property	Value
URL	`https://mcp.render.com/mcp`
Transport	HTTP (streamable)
Auth	OAuth when installed via the Render plugin (pre-registered client id); bearer token (API key) for manual setup
API key page	`https://dashboard.render.com/u/*/settings#api-keys` (manual setup)
Docs	`https://render.com/docs/mcp-server`

Setup by Tool

Render plugin (recommended)

The Render plugin for Cursor, Codex, and Claude Code bundles this MCP server with a pre-registered OAuth client id, so no API key is needed. After installing or updating the plugin, reload the tool (restart Cursor or Claude Code, or start a new Codex thread) so it loads the plugin-provided MCP server, then complete the Render OAuth prompt the first time MCP tools are used. Verify with list_services().

The manual, API-key setups below are for tools without the plugin or for custom MCP configurations.

Cursor

Get an API key from the Render Dashboard
Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "render": {
      "url": "https://mcp.render.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer <YOUR_API_KEY>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Cursor, then verify with list_services()

Claude Code

Get an API key from the Render Dashboard
Add the MCP server:

claude mcp add --transport http render https://mcp.render.com/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_KEY>"

Restart Claude Code, then verify with list_services()

Codex

Get an API key from the Render Dashboard
Set the key in your shell:

export RENDER_API_KEY="<YOUR_API_KEY>"

Add the MCP server:

codex mcp add render --url https://mcp.render.com/mcp --bearer-token-env-var RENDER_API_KEY

Restart Codex, then verify with list_services()

Other Tools

For tools not listed above, use the generic HTTP MCP configuration:

URL: https://mcp.render.com/mcp
Auth header: Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_KEY>
Transport: HTTP (streamable HTTP, not SSE)

See Render MCP docs for tool-specific instructions.

Workspace Selection

After MCP is connected, set the active workspace:

Set my Render workspace to [WORKSPACE_NAME]

Or programmatically:

get_selected_workspace()   # Check current
list_workspaces()          # List available

All MCP operations run against the active workspace.

Tool Catalog

Service management

Tool	Purpose
`list_services()`	List all services and datastores
`get_service(serviceId)`	Get service details
`create_web_service(...)`	Create a web service from Git repo
`create_static_site(...)`	Create a static site from Git repo
`update_service(serviceId, ...)`	Update service configuration
`restart_service(serviceId)`	Restart a service

Deploys

Tool	Purpose
`list_deploys(serviceId, limit)`	List deploys for a service
`trigger_deploy(serviceId)`	Trigger a new deploy

Logs

Tool	Purpose
`list_logs(resource, level, type, text, statusCode, limit)`	Query logs with filters

Key filters: level (error, warn, info), type (build, deploy), text (search string), statusCode (HTTP codes).

Metrics

Tool	Purpose
`get_metrics(resourceId, metricTypes, ...)`	Get service or database metrics

Metric types: cpu_usage, memory_usage, cpu_limit, memory_limit, http_latency, http_request_count, active_connections.

Optional: httpLatencyQuantile (0.5, 0.95, 0.99), httpPath (filter by endpoint).

Databases

Tool	Purpose
`list_postgres_instances()`	List Postgres databases
`get_postgres(postgresId)`	Get database details
`query_render_postgres(postgresId, sql)`	Run SQL query

Key Value

Tool	Purpose
`list_key_value()`	List Key Value instances
`get_key_value(keyValueId)`	Get Key Value details

Environment Variables

Tool	Purpose
`update_environment_variables(serviceId, envVars)`	Set env vars on a service

Workspace

Tool	Purpose
`list_workspaces()`	List available workspaces
`get_selected_workspace()`	Get the active workspace

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Fix
Wrong URL (using SSE endpoint)	Use `https://mcp.render.com/mcp` (not `/sse`)
Plugin installed but MCP tools unavailable	Reload the tool (restart, or start a new thread) so it loads the plugin's MCP server
OAuth prompt does not appear	Reinstall or update the Render plugin, then reload the tool
Expired or invalid API key	Generate a new key from Dashboard > Account Settings > API Keys
Wrong workspace selected	Run `list_workspaces()` and switch to the correct one
Using MCP to create image-backed services	Not supported — use Dashboard or API for prebuilt Docker images
Missing `Bearer` prefix in auth header	Header must be `Authorization: Bearer <key>`

Troubleshooting

See references/troubleshooting.md for connection errors, auth failures, timeout issues, and tool-specific quirks.

References

Document	Contents
`references/troubleshooting.md`	Connection errors, auth failures, tool-specific issues, timeout handling

Related Skills

render-deploy — Deploy flows using MCP tools
render-debug — Debug failures using MCP logs and metrics
render-monitor — Monitor health using MCP metrics
render-cli — CLI alternative when MCP is unavailable

render-mcp