Pyroscope

A read-only Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Grafana Pyroscope. Lets AI assistants query continuous profiling data — flamegraphs, hotspot functions, memory allocations, label discovery — directly from any MCP-compatible client.

Note: This server is query-only. Profile ingestion is expected to be handled by your application profilers (Pyroscope SDKs, agents, or exporters).

Tools

Tool	Description
pyroscope_render_profile	Flamegraph + timeline data from /pyroscope/render
pyroscope_label_names	List all label names in a time range
pyroscope_label_values	List values for a given label (e.g. service_name)
pyroscope_profile_types	List available profile types (cpu, memory, goroutines…)
pyroscope_series	Fetch matching label sets for a selector
pyroscope_connect_query	Raw access to any /querier.v1.QuerierService/* endpoint

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+
• A running Pyroscope instance (local, self-hosted, or Grafana Cloud)

Setup

git clone https://github.com/your-org/pyroscope-mcp
cd pyroscope-mcp
npm install
npm run build

Configuration

All settings are provided via environment variables:

Variable	Default	Description
PYROSCOPE_BASE_URL	http://localhost:4040	Pyroscope server URL
PYROSCOPE_AUTH_TOKEN	—	Bearer token (Grafana Cloud or Azure AD)
PYROSCOPE_TENANT_ID	—	Multi-tenant org ID (X-Scope-OrgID header)
PYROSCOPE_TIMEOUT_MS	30000	Request timeout in milliseconds

Copy .env.example to .env and fill in your values:

cp .env.example .env

---

Adding to MCP Clients

VS Code (GitHub Copilot)

Create or edit .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace:

{
  "servers": {
    "pyroscope": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["${workspaceFolder}/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "PYROSCOPE_BASE_URL": "http://localhost:4040"
      }
    }
  }
}

Then open the MCP: List Servers command in VS Code (Cmd+Shift+P) and start the server. Copilot Chat will automatically discover the tools.

For a global (user-level) config instead of per-workspace, add the same block to your VS Code settings.json under "mcp":

{
  "mcp": {
    "servers": {
      "pyroscope": {
        "type": "stdio",
        "command": "node",
        "args": ["/absolute/path/to/pyroscope-mcp/dist/index.js"],
        "env": {
          "PYROSCOPE_BASE_URL": "http://localhost:4040"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

---

Claude Desktop

Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pyroscope": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/pyroscope-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "PYROSCOPE_BASE_URL": "http://localhost:4040",
        "PYROSCOPE_AUTH_TOKEN": ""
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. A hammer icon will appear in the chat input when the server is active.

On Windows, wrap the command:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pyroscope": {
      "command": "cmd",
      "args": ["/c", "node", "C:\\path\\to\\pyroscope-mcp\\dist\\index.js"],
      "env": {
        "PYROSCOPE_BASE_URL": "http://localhost:4040"
      }
    }
  }
}

---

Cursor

Open Cursor Settings → MCP and add a new server entry, or edit ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pyroscope": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/pyroscope-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "PYROSCOPE_BASE_URL": "http://localhost:4040"
      }
    }
  }
}

Reload Cursor. The tools appear automatically in the Composer agent context.

---

Zed

Add to your Zed settings.json (open via Zed → Settings):

{
  "context_servers": {
    "pyroscope": {
      "command": {
        "path": "node",
        "args": ["/absolute/path/to/pyroscope-mcp/dist/index.js"],
        "env": {
          "PYROSCOPE_BASE_URL": "http://localhost:4040"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

---

Any MCP-compatible client (generic stdio config)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pyroscope": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/pyroscope-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "PYROSCOPE_BASE_URL": "http://localhost:4040",
        "PYROSCOPE_AUTH_TOKEN": "your-bearer-token-if-needed",
        "PYROSCOPE_TENANT_ID": "your-org-id-if-needed"
      }
    }
  }
}

---

Example prompts once connected

• "List all services sending profiles in the last hour."
• "Show the hottest CPU functions for media-agent in the last 30 minutes."
• "What is the memory allocation hotspot in api-gateway?"
• "Compare CPU usage between worker-service and data-pipeline."
• "What profile types are available for checkout-api?"

---

Notes

• For multi-tenant Pyroscope, set PYROSCOPE_TENANT_ID or pass tenantId per tool call.
• pyroscope_connect_query gives raw access to advanced endpoints:
  • /querier.v1.QuerierService/SelectMergeStacktraces
  • /querier.v1.QuerierService/SelectSeries
  • /querier.v1.QuerierService/Diff
• For Grafana Cloud Pyroscope, set PYROSCOPE_BASE_URL to your stack URL and PYROSCOPE_AUTH_TOKEN to a service account token.

---

Query smoke test

1. Start Pyroscope locally:

docker run -d --name pyroscope -p 4040:4040 grafana/pyroscope:latest

2. Query label names from the last hour:

NOW_MS=$(($(date +%s)*1000))
START_MS=$((NOW_MS-3600000))
curl -sS -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d "{\"start\":$START_MS,\"end\":$NOW_MS}" \
  http://localhost:4040/querier.v1.QuerierService/LabelNames

3. Query service names from the last hour:

NOW_MS=$(($(date +%s)*1000))
START_MS=$((NOW_MS-3600000))
curl -sS -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d "{\"name\":\"service_name\",\"start\":$START_MS,\"end\":$NOW_MS}" \
  http://localhost:4040/querier.v1.QuerierService/LabelValues