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Google Kubernetes Engine

Overview​

The Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) MCP server provides read-only observability into GKE clusters and their Kubernetes workloads. Inspect clusters, node pools, operations, and use kube_get to query any Kubernetes resource — the equivalent of kubectl get.

info

Read-only — This server cannot create, update, or delete clusters, node pools, or workloads. For lifecycle management, use the GCP Console, gcloud, or Terraform.

How to Add Google Kubernetes Engine​

  1. 1
    Enable the Kubernetes Engine API
    1. Go to the Google Cloud Console
    2. Select your project — you will need the project ID
    3. Navigate to APIs & Services → Library
    4. Search for Kubernetes Engine API and click Enable
  2. 2
    Have a Running Cluster

    You must have at least one running GKE cluster. The server cannot create clusters. If no clusters exist, list_clusters returns {} rather than an error.

  3. 3
    Add to Civic

    Add the Google Kubernetes Engine server to your Civic environment through the server directory.

  4. 4
    Authorize

    On first use, you will be redirected to Google to authorize the connection.

  5. 5
    Test Connection

    Start with "List all GKE clusters in project my-project across all regions" to verify the connection.

What You Can Do​

Cluster Inspection

List clusters, view details, versions, endpoints, and Autopilot status

Node Pool Management

List and inspect node pools on Standard clusters

Kubernetes Resources

Query any Kubernetes resource — pods, deployments, services, configmaps, and 130+ resource types

Operations Tracking

Monitor in-progress cluster operations with detailed progress metrics

Use Cases​

Cluster Inspection​

  • List Clusters: "List all GKE clusters in project my-project across all regions"
  • Cluster Details: "What's the status of cluster production-cluster in us-central1?"
  • Operations: "Are there any GKE operations currently running?"

Kubernetes Resources​

  • Pods: "Show me all pods that are not Running in the default namespace"
  • Deployments: "Get the full YAML spec for the kube-dns deployment"
  • Services: "List all services in kube-system as JSON"
  • Nodes: "Show me all nodes in wide format — I want to see IPs and OS versions"
  • Discovery: "What GKE-specific resource types are available?"

Available Tools (8)​

Cluster Management​

list_clusters

list_clusters — List all GKE clusters in a project and location. Use - for all locations. Always specify a project ID — projects/- wildcard fails with "Permission denied".

get_cluster

get_cluster — Get full details for a specific cluster including node pool names, release channel, and Autopilot flag.

list_node_pools / get_node_pool

List and inspect node pools. Does not work with Autopilot clusters — use kube_get node instead for Autopilot.

list_operations / get_operation

Track in-progress and recent GKE control-plane operations with detailed progress metrics (e.g. CLUSTER_DEPLOYING: 11/13).

Kubernetes API​

kube_api_resources

kube_api_resources — List all 130+ Kubernetes API resource types available on the cluster, including GKE-specific CRDs. Run this first on unfamiliar clusters.

kube_get

kube_get — Fetch any Kubernetes resource. Supports namespace, name, labelSelector, fieldSelector, and output formats: TABLE, WIDE, YAML, JSON. Equivalent to kubectl get.

note

Project ID required — The server cannot discover project IDs. Use the same project ID from the GCP Console.

Standard vs Autopilot — list_node_pools and get_node_pool only work on Standard clusters. For Autopilot, use kube_get node for node info.

Namespace scoping — For large clusters, always filter by namespace to avoid overwhelming responses. Key GKE namespaces: kube-system, gke-gmp-system, gke-managed-*.

Pairs with Compute Engine — Use the Google Compute Engine server alongside for full GCP infrastructure visibility.

Guardrails​

This server supports all 14 universal guardrails. Server-specific guardrails are coming soon.

tip

Configure guardrails via the Civic UI or ask the Configurator Agent: "Add guardrails to my GKE server."