Neon MCP Server

Neon MCP Server is an open-source tool that lets you interact with your Neon Postgres databases in natural language.

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is a new, standardized protocol designed to manage context between large language models (LLMs) and external systems. This repository offers an installer and an MCP Server for Neon.

Neon's MCP server acts as a bridge between natural language requests and the Neon API. Built upon MCP, it translates your requests into the necessary API calls, enabling you to manage tasks such as creating projects and branches, running queries, and performing database migrations seamlessly.

Some of the key features of the Neon MCP server include:

Natural language interaction: Manage Neon databases using intuitive, conversational commands.
Simplified database management: Perform complex actions without writing SQL or directly using the Neon API.
Accessibility for non-developers: Empower users with varying technical backgrounds to interact with Neon databases.
Database migration support: Leverage Neon's branching capabilities for database schema changes initiated via natural language.

For example, in Claude Desktop, or any MCP Client, you can use natural language to accomplish things with Neon, such as:

Let's create a new Postgres database, and call it "my-database". Let's then create a table called users with the following columns: id, name, email, and password.
I want to run a migration on my project called "my-project" that alters the users table to add a new column called "created_at".
Can you give me a summary of all of my Neon projects and what data is in each one?

[!WARNING]
Neon MCP Server Security Considerations
The Neon MCP Server grants powerful database management capabilities through natural language requests. Always review and authorize actions requested by the LLM before execution. Ensure that only authorized users and applications have access to the Neon MCP Server.

The Neon MCP Server is intended for local development and IDE integrations only. We do not recommend using the Neon MCP Server in production environments. It can execute powerful operations that may lead to accidental or unauthorized changes.

For more information, see MCP security guidance →.

Setting up Neon MCP Server

You have two options for connecting your MCP client to Neon:

Remote MCP Server (Preview): Connect to Neon's managed MCP server using OAuth for authentication. This method is more convenient as it eliminates the need to manage API keys. Additionally, you will automatically receive the latest features and improvements as soon as they are released.
Local MCP Server: Run the Neon MCP server locally on your machine, authenticating with a Neon API key.

Prerequisites

An MCP Client application.
A Neon account.
Node.js (>= v18.0.0): Download from nodejs.org.

For Local MCP Server setup, you also need a Neon API key. See Neon API Keys documentation for instructions on generating one.

For development, you'll also need Bun installed.

Option 1. Remote Hosted MCP Server (Preview)

Connect to Neon's managed MCP server using OAuth for authentication. This is the easiest setup, requires no local installation of this server, and doesn't need a Neon API key configured in the client.

Add the following "Neon" entry to your client's MCP server configuration file (e.g., mcp.json, mcp_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Neon": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.neon.tech/mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Save the configuration file.
Restart or refresh your MCP client.
An OAuth window will open in your browser. Follow the prompts to authorize your MCP client to access your Neon account.

With OAuth base authentication, the MCP server will, by default operate on projects under your personal Neon account. To access or manage projects under organization, you must explicitly provide either the org_id or the project_id in your prompt to MCP client.

Remote MCP Server also supports authentication using an API key in the Authorization header if your client supports it.

Quick Setup with API Key

Don't want to manually create an API key?

Run neonctl@latest init to automatically configure Neon's MCP Server with one command:

npx neonctl@latest init

This works with Cursor, VS Code (GitHub Copilot), and Claude Code. It will authenticate via OAuth, create a Neon API key for you, and configure your editor automatically.

Manual API Key Setup

For other IDEs or manual configuration, create a Neon API key in the Neon Console and use this configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Neon": {
      "url": "https://mcp.neon.tech/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer <$NEON_API_KEY>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Provider organization's API key to limit access to projects under the organization only.

Read-Only Mode: Restricts which tools are available, disabling write operations like creating projects, branches, or running migrations. Read-only tools include listing projects, describing schemas, querying data, and viewing performance metrics.

You can enable read-only mode in two ways:

OAuth Scope Selection (Recommended): When connecting via OAuth, uncheck "Full access" during authorization to operate in read-only mode.
Header Override: Add the x-read-only header to your configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Neon": {
      "url": "https://mcp.neon.tech/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer <$NEON_API_KEY>",
        "x-read-only": "true"
      }
    }
  }
}

Note: Read-only mode restricts which tools are available, not the SQL content. The run_sql tool remains available and can execute any SQL including INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE. For true read-only SQL access, use database roles with restricted permissions.

Tools available in read-only mode

list_projects, list_shared_projects, describe_project, list_organizations
describe_branch, list_branch_computes, compare_database_schema
run_sql, run_sql_transaction, get_database_tables, describe_table_schema
list_slow_queries, explain_sql_statement
get_connection_string
search, fetch, load_resource

Tools requiring write access:

create_project, delete_project
create_branch, delete_branch, reset_from_parent
provision_neon_auth, provision_neon_data_api
prepare_database_migration, complete_database_migration
prepare_query_tuning, complete_query_tuning

MCP supports two remote server transports: the deprecated Server-Sent Events (SSE) and the newer, recommended Streamable HTTP. If your LLM client doesn't support Streamable HTTP yet, you can switch the endpoint from https://mcp.neon.tech/mcp to https://mcp.neon.tech/sse to use SSE instead.

Option 2. Local MCP Server

Run the Neon MCP server on your local machine with your Neon API key. This method allows you to manage your Neon projects and databases without relying on a remote MCP server.

Add the following JSON configuration within the mcpServers section of your client's mcp_config file, replacing <YOUR_NEON_API_KEY> with your actual Neon API key:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "neon": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@neondatabase/mcp-server-neon",
        "start",
        "<YOUR_NEON_API_KEY>"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Troubleshooting

If your client does not use JSON for configuration of MCP servers (such as older versions of Cursor), you can use the following command when prompted:

npx -y @neondatabase/mcp-server-neon start <YOUR_NEON_API_KEY>

Troubleshooting on Windows

If you are using Windows and encounter issues while adding the MCP server, you might need to use the Command Prompt (cmd) or Windows Subsystem for Linux (wsl) to run the necessary commands. Your configuration setup may resemble the following:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "neon": {
      "command": "cmd",
      "args": [
        "/c",
        "npx",
        "-y",
        "@neondatabase/mcp-server-neon",
        "start",
        "<YOUR_NEON_API_KEY>"
      ]
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "neon": {
      "command": "wsl",
      "args": [
        "npx",
        "-y",
        "@neondatabase/mcp-server-neon",
        "start",
        "<YOUR_NEON_API_KEY>"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Guides

Features

Supported Tools

The Neon MCP Server provides the following actions, which are exposed as "tools" to MCP Clients. You can use these tools to interact with your Neon projects and databases using natural language commands.

Project Management:

list_projects: Lists the first 10 Neon projects in your account, providing a summary of each project. If you can't find a specific project, increase the limit by passing a higher value to the limit parameter.
list_shared_projects: Lists Neon projects shared with the current user. Supports a search parameter and limiting the number of projects returned (default: 10).
describe_project: Fetches detailed information about a specific Neon project, including its ID, name, and associated branches and databases.
create_project: Creates a new Neon project in your Neon account. A project acts as a container for branches, databases, roles, and computes.
delete_project: Deletes an existing Neon project and all its associated resources.
list_organizations: Lists all organizations that the current user has access to. Optionally filter by organization name or ID using the search parameter.

Branch Management:

create_branch: Creates a new branch within a specified Neon project. Leverages Neon's branching feature for development, testing, or migrations.
delete_branch: Deletes an existing branch from a Neon project.
describe_branch: Retrieves details about a specific branch, such as its name, ID, and parent branch.
list_branch_computes: Lists compute endpoints for a project or specific branch, including compute ID, type, size, last active time, and autoscaling information.
compare_database_schema: Shows the schema diff between the child branch and its parent
reset_from_parent: Resets the current branch to its parent's state, discarding local changes. Automatically preserves to backup if branch has children, or optionally preserve on request with a custom name.

SQL Query Execution:

get_connection_string: Returns your database connection string.
run_sql: Executes a single SQL query against a specified Neon database. Supports both read and write operations.
run_sql_transaction: Executes a series of SQL queries within a single transaction against a Neon database.
get_database_tables: Lists all tables within a specified Neon database.
describe_table_schema: Retrieves the schema definition of a specific table, detailing columns, data types, and constraints.

Database Migrations (Schema Changes):

prepare_database_migration: Initiates a database migration process. Critically, it creates a temporary branch to apply and test the migration safely before affecting the main branch.
complete_database_migration: Finalizes and applies a prepared database migration to the main branch. This action merges changes from the temporary migration branch and cleans up temporary resources.

Query Performance Optimization:

list_slow_queries: Identifies performance bottlenecks by finding the slowest queries in a database. Requires the pg_stat_statements extension.
explain_sql_statement: Provides detailed execution plans for SQL queries to help identify performance bottlenecks.
prepare_query_tuning: Analyzes query performance and suggests optimizations, like index creation. Creates a temporary branch for safely testing these optimizations.
complete_query_tuning: Finalizes query tuning by either applying optimizations to the main branch or discarding them. Cleans up the temporary tuning branch.

Neon Auth:

provision_neon_auth: Provisions Neon Auth for a Neon project. It allows developers to easily set up authentication infrastructure by creating an integration with an Auth provider.

Neon Data API:

provision_neon_data_api: Provisions the Neon Data API for HTTP-based database access with optional JWT authentication via Neon Auth or external JWKS providers.

Search and Discovery:

search: Searches across organizations, projects, and branches matching a query. Returns IDs, titles, and direct links to the Neon Console.
fetch: Fetches detailed information about a specific organization, project, or branch using an ID (typically from the search tool).

Documentation and Resources:

load_resource: Loads comprehensive Neon documentation and usage guidelines, including the "neon-get-started" guide for setup, configuration, and best practices.

Migrations

Migrations are a way to manage changes to your database schema over time. With the Neon MCP server, LLMs are empowered to do migrations safely with separate "Start" (prepare_database_migration) and "Commit" (complete_database_migration) commands.

The "Start" command accepts a migration and runs it in a new temporary branch. Upon returning, this command hints to the LLM that it should test the migration on this branch. The LLM can then run the "Commit" command to apply the migration to the original branch.

Development

This project uses Bun as the package manager and runtime.

Project Structure

The MCP server code lives in the landing/ directory, which is a Next.js application deployed to Vercel. The same codebase also produces the CLI published to npm as @neondatabase/mcp-server-neon.

cd landing
bun install

Local Development

# Start the Next.js dev server (for the remote MCP server)
bun run dev

# Build the CLI for local testing
bun run build:cli

# Run the CLI locally
bun run start:cli $NEON_API_KEY

Linting and Type Checking

bun run lint
bun run typecheck

Testing with Claude Desktop

Build the CLI: bun run build:cli
Configure Claude Desktop to use your local build
Restart Claude Desktop after each rebuild