buildkite-mcp-server 🚀

Model Context Protocol (MCP) server exposing Buildkite data (pipelines, builds, jobs, tests) to AI tooling and editors.

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⚡ TL;DR Quick-start

Create a Buildkite API Token

# Run via Docker with the token from above
docker run -it --rm -e BUILDKITE_API_TOKEN=bkua_xxxxx ghcr.io/buildkite/buildkite-mcp-server stdio

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🗂️ Table of Contents

• Prerequisites
• API Token Scopes
• Installation
• Configuration & Usage
• Features
• Screenshots
• Security
• Contributing
• License

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🛠️ Prerequisites

Requirement	Notes
Docker ≥ 20.x	Recommended path – run in an isolated container
OR Go ≥ 1.24	Needed only for building natively
Buildkite API token	Create at https://buildkite.com/user/api-access-tokens
Internet access to ghcr.io	To pull the pre-built image

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🔑 API Token Scopes

Full functionality

👉 Quick add: Create token with Full functionality

Scope	Purpose
read_clusters	Access cluster & queue information
read_pipelines	Pipeline configuration
read_builds	Builds, jobs & annotations
read_build_logs	Job log output
read_user	Current user info
read_organizations	Organization details
read_artifacts	Build artifacts & metadata
read_suites	Buildkite Test Engine data

Minimum recommended

👉 Quick add: Create token with Basic functionality

Scope	Purpose
read_builds	Builds, jobs & annotations
read_pipelines	Pipeline information
read_user	User identification

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📦 Installation

1. Docker (recommended)

docker pull ghcr.io/buildkite/buildkite-mcp-server

Run:

docker run -it --rm -e BUILDKITE_API_TOKEN=bkua_xxxxx ghcr.io/buildkite/buildkite-mcp-server stdio

2. Pre-built binary

Download the latest release from GitHub Releases. Binaries are fully-static and require no libc.

If you're on macOS, you can use Homebrew:

brew install buildkite/buildkite/buildkite-mcp-server

3. Build from source

go install github.com/buildkite/buildkite-mcp-server@latest
# or
goreleaser build --snapshot --clean
# or
make build    # uses goreleaser (snapshot)

4. Docker Desktop

docker mcp server enable buildkite

View on Docker MCP Hub

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⚙️ Configuration & Usage

Amp

Docker (recommended):

# ~/.config/amp/settings.json
{
  "amp.mcpServers": {
    "buildkite": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "-i", "--rm", "-e", "BUILDKITE_API_TOKEN",
        "ghcr.io/buildkite/buildkite-mcp-server", "stdio"
      ],
      "env": { "BUILDKITE_API_TOKEN": "bkua_xxxxxxxx" }
    }
  }
}

Local binary, with the Job Log Token Threshold flag enabled:

# ~/.config/amp/settings.json
{
  "amp.mcpServers": {
    "buildkite": {
      "command": "buildkite-mcp-server",
      "args": ["stdio"],
      "env": { "BUILDKITE_API_TOKEN": "bkua_xxxxxxxx", "JOB_LOG_TOKEN_THRESHOLD": "2000" }
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

Docker (recommended):

claude mcp add buildkite -- docker run --rm -i -e BUILDKITE_API_TOKEN=bkua_xxxxxxxx ghcr.io/buildkite/buildkite-mcp-server stdio

Local binary:

claude mcp add buildkite --env BUILDKITE_API_TOKEN=bkua_xxxxxxxx -- buildkite-mcp-server stdio

Claude Desktop

Docker (recommended):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "buildkite": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "-i", "--rm", "-e", "BUILDKITE_API_TOKEN",
        "ghcr.io/buildkite/buildkite-mcp-server", "stdio"
      ],
      "env": { "BUILDKITE_API_TOKEN": "bkua_xxxxxxxx" }
    }
  }
}

Local binary, with the Job Log Token Threshold flag enabled:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "buildkite": {
      "command": "buildkite-mcp-server",
      "args": ["stdio"],
      "env": { "BUILDKITE_API_TOKEN": "bkua_xxxxxxxx", "JOB_LOG_TOKEN_THRESHOLD": "2000" }
    }
  }
}

Goose

Docker (recommended):

extensions:
  fetch:
    name: Buildkite
    cmd: docker
    args: ["run", "-i", "--rm", "-e", "BUILDKITE_API_TOKEN", "ghcr.io/buildkite/buildkite-mcp-server", "stdio"]
    enabled: true
    envs: { "BUILDKITE_API_TOKEN": "bkua_xxxxxxxx" }
    type: stdio
    timeout: 300

Local binary, with the Job Log Token Threshold flag enabled:

extensions:
  fetch:
    name: Buildkite
    cmd: buildkite-mcp-server
    args: [stdio]
    enabled: true
    envs: { "BUILDKITE_API_TOKEN": "bkua_xxxxxxxx", "JOB_LOG_TOKEN_THRESHOLD": "2000" }
    type: stdio
    timeout: 300

VS Code

{
  "inputs": [
    {
      "id": "BUILDKITE_API_TOKEN",
      "type": "promptString",
      "description": "Enter your Buildkite Access Token",
      "password": true
    }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "buildkite": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "-i", "--rm", "-e", "BUILDKITE_API_TOKEN",
        "ghcr.io/buildkite/buildkite-mcp-server", "stdio"
      ],
      "env": { "BUILDKITE_API_TOKEN": "${input:BUILDKITE_API_TOKEN}" }
    }
  }
}

Windsurf

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "buildkite": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "-i", "--rm", "-e", "BUILDKITE_API_TOKEN",
        "ghcr.io/buildkite/buildkite-mcp-server", "stdio"
      ],
      "env": { "BUILDKITE_API_TOKEN": "bkua_xxxxxxxx" }
    }
  }
}

Local binary, with the Job Log Token Threshold flag enabled:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "buildkite": {
      "command": "buildkite-mcp-server",
      "args": ["stdio"],
      "env": { "BUILDKITE_API_TOKEN": "bkua_xxxxxxxx", "JOB_LOG_TOKEN_THRESHOLD": "2000" }
    }
  }
}

Zed

There is a Zed editor extension available in the official extension gallery. During installation it will ask for an API token which will be added to your settings.

Or you can manually configure:

// ~/.config/zed/settings.json
{
  "context_servers": {
    "mcp-server-buildkite": {
      "settings": {
        "buildkite_api_token": "your-buildkite-token-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

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🔧 Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Default	Usage
BUILDKITE_API_TOKEN	Your Buildkite API access token	Required	Authentication for all API requests
JOB_LOG_TOKEN_THRESHOLD	Token threshold for job logs	0 (disabled)	Local installations only - Downloads logs to temp directory when exceeded

Job Log Token Threshold

The JOB_LOG_TOKEN_THRESHOLD environment variable controls when large job logs are downloaded to your local temporary directory instead of being returned directly.

⚠️ Important: This setting should only be used with local installations as it:

• Downloads job logs to your system's temporary directory
• Reads log files from disk instead of returning them in the response
• May consume local disk space for large log files

When the threshold is exceeded, the get_job_logs tool will:

1. Download the log content to a temporary file
2. Return the file path and metadata instead of raw log content
3. Include the reason for file-based delivery in the response

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🛠️ Tools & Features

Tool	Description
get_cluster	Get detailed information about a specific cluster including its name, description, default queue, and configuration
list_clusters	List all clusters in an organization with their names, descriptions, default queues, and creation details
get_cluster_queue	Get detailed information about a specific queue including its key, description, dispatch status, and hosted agent configuration
list_cluster_queues	List all queues in a cluster with their keys, descriptions, dispatch status, and agent configuration
get_pipeline	Get detailed information about a specific pipeline including its configuration, steps, environment variables, and build statistics
list_pipelines	List all pipelines in an organization with their basic details, build counts, and current status
create_pipeline	Set up a new CI/CD pipeline in Buildkite with YAML configuration, repository connection, and cluster assignment
update_pipeline	Modify an existing Buildkite pipeline's configuration, repository, settings, or metadata
list_builds	List all builds for a pipeline with their status, commit information, and metadata
get_build	Get detailed information about a specific build including its jobs, timing, and execution details
get_build_test_engine_runs	Get test engine runs data for a specific build in Buildkite. This can be used to look up Test Runs.
create_build	Trigger a new build on a Buildkite pipeline for a specific commit and branch, with optional environment variables, metadata, and author information
current_user	Get details about the user account that owns the API token, including name, email, avatar, and account creation date
user_token_organization	Get the organization associated with the user token used for this request
get_jobs	Get all jobs for a specific build including their state, timing, commands, and execution details
list_artifacts	List all artifacts for a build across all jobs, including file details, paths, sizes, MIME types, and download URLs
get_artifact	Get detailed information about a specific artifact including its metadata, file size, SHA-1 hash, and download URL
list_annotations	List all annotations for a build, including their context, style (success/info/warning/error), rendered HTML content, and creation timestamps
list_test_runs	List all test runs for a test suite in Buildkite Test Engine
get_test_run	Get a specific test run in Buildkite Test Engine
get_failed_executions	Get failed test executions for a specific test run in Buildkite Test Engine. Optionally get the expanded failure details such as full error messages and stack traces.
get_test	Get a specific test in Buildkite Test Engine. This provides additional metadata for failed test executions
search_logs	Search log entries using regex patterns with optional context lines
tail_logs	Show the last N entries from the log file
get_logs_info	Get metadata and statistics about the Parquet log file
read_logs	Read log entries from the file, optionally starting from a specific row number
access_token	Get information about the current API access token including its scopes and UUID

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📸 Screenshots

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Library Usage

The exported Go API of this module should be considered unstable, and subject to breaking changes as we evolve this project.

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🔒 Security

To ensure the MCP server is run in a secure environment, we recommend running it in a container.

This image is built from cgr.dev/chainguard/static and runs as an unprivileged user.

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🤝 Contributing

Development guidelines are in DEVELOPMENT.md.

Run the test suite:

go test ./...

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📝 License

MIT © Buildkite

SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT