Visual Sentinel MCP Server

Model Context Protocol server for Visual Sentinel, the six-layer website monitoring platform: uptime, performance, SSL, DNS, visual regression, and content change detection.

Connect Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cline, Continue, or any MCP-compatible client to your Visual Sentinel account so an AI assistant can list monitors, create them, fetch incident history, run free DNS / SSL / speed checks, and acknowledge alerts on your behalf.

npm: @visualsentinel/mcp-server
OpenAPI spec: https://github.com/VisualSentinel/openapi
Get an API key: https://visualsentinel.com/settings/api-keys
Hosted API reference: https://visualsentinel.com/docs

What you get

16 tools spanning the public Visual Sentinel API:

Public tools (no API key required)

| Tool | Endpoint | Purpose | |---|---|---| | vs_health | GET /api/health | Service health probe | | vs_dns_check | GET /api/tools/dns-check | Resolve A / AAAA / MX / NS / TXT / CNAME / SOA records | | vs_ssl_check | GET /api/tools/ssl-check | Inspect TLS certificate (issuer, validity, SAN list, chain) | | vs_speed_test | GET /api/tools/speed-test | One-shot performance check (TTFB, total load, transfer size) | | vs_website_check | GET /api/tools/website-check | Quick HTTP health check |

Authenticated tools (require VS_API_KEY)

| Tool | Endpoint | Purpose | |---|---|---| | vs_monitors_list | GET /api/monitors | List monitors with optional status / type filters | | vs_monitors_get | GET /api/monitors/{id} | Fetch a single monitor with current status | | vs_monitors_create | POST /api/monitors | Create a new monitor | | vs_monitors_check_now | POST /api/monitors/{id}/check | Trigger an immediate check | | vs_monitors_uptime | GET /api/monitors/{id}/uptime | Uptime percentage over 24h / 7d / 30d / 90d / 365d | | vs_incidents_list | GET /api/incidents | List incidents, filterable by status or monitor | | vs_incidents_get | GET /api/incidents/{id} | Fetch an incident with full check history | | vs_alerts_list | GET /api/alerts | List alerts by status | | vs_alerts_acknowledge | POST /api/alerts/{id}/acknowledge | Acknowledge an alert | | vs_status_pages_list | GET /api/status-pages | List your public status pages | | vs_servers_list | GET /api/servers | List registered origin servers |

Installation

Claude Desktop

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "visualsentinel": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@visualsentinel/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "VS_API_KEY": "vs_live_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. The 16 tools appear under the tools menu.

Claude Code (CLI)

claude mcp add visualsentinel \
  -- npx -y @visualsentinel/mcp-server

Then export VS_API_KEY in the shell where Claude Code runs.

Cline (VS Code extension)

In Cline's MCP settings, add:

{
  "visualsentinel": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["-y", "@visualsentinel/mcp-server"],
    "env": { "VS_API_KEY": "vs_live_..." }
  }
}

Continue

In ~/.continue/config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": [
    {
      "name": "visualsentinel",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@visualsentinel/mcp-server"],
      "env": { "VS_API_KEY": "vs_live_..." }
    }
  ]
}

Generic MCP client (stdio)

VS_API_KEY=vs_live_xxx npx -y @visualsentinel/mcp-server

The server speaks JSON-RPC over stdio per the MCP specification (2025-06-18).

Configuration

Two environment variables, both optional except in the noted cases:

| Variable | Default | Purpose | |---|---|---| | VS_API_KEY | (none) | Required for the 11 authenticated tools. Public tools work without it. Generate at https://visualsentinel.com/settings/api-keys. | | VS_API_BASE | https://visualsentinel.com | Override only for testing against a local development instance. |

If a tool that needs auth is called without VS_API_KEY, the server returns a clear error rather than silently failing.

VISUALSENTINEL_API_KEY is accepted as an alias for VS_API_KEY for clients that prefer the longer name.

Usage examples

After installation, ask the AI assistant things like:

"What's the SSL certificate situation on visualsentinel.com? When does it expire?"
"List my Visual Sentinel monitors that are currently down."
"Add a new HTTPS monitor for https://shop.example.com checking every minute."
"Show me incidents from the last 24 hours and acknowledge the ones for monitor-id clm123."
"What's the uptime percentage for my landing page over the last 30 days?"
"Run a speed test on https://example.com/checkout."

The assistant chooses the appropriate tool, fills in arguments from the conversation, and shows the JSON response.

Security notes

Your API key never leaves the machine running this MCP server. Requests go directly to https://visualsentinel.com over HTTPS.
Public tools (vs_health, vs_dns_check, vs_ssl_check, vs_speed_test, vs_website_check) work without an API key, but their results are visible to anyone who can read your conversation logs. Treat them like any other shell-out.
Revoke a leaked API key immediately at https://visualsentinel.com/settings/api-keys. Revocation takes effect within seconds.
Tools that mutate state (vs_monitors_create, vs_monitors_check_now, vs_alerts_acknowledge) inherit your API key's role-based permissions. A read-only key cannot create monitors.

Development

git clone https://github.com/VisualSentinel/mcp-server.git
cd mcp-server
npm install
npm run build      # tsup, output to dist/
npm run lint       # tsc --noEmit
npm run dev        # tsup --watch

To smoke-test locally against the production API:

VS_API_KEY=vs_live_... node dist/index.js

The server speaks JSON-RPC on stdin / stdout. Pipe in a tools/list request to see the registered tools.

Versioning

Semantic versioning. Breaking changes to tool names or required arguments get a major bump. Adding new tools or new optional arguments is a minor or patch.

The server's tool surface tracks the public Visual Sentinel API spec at https://github.com/VisualSentinel/openapi. When the upstream API gains a useful endpoint, this repository typically catches up within a release.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.

The Visual Sentinel API service itself is governed by https://visualsentinel.com/terms.

MCP Servers