Grafana MCP server starting using SSE transport

Monitoring and Observability Grafana
1

Hi,
I started to read about grafana mcp , but can’t make it run properly.
Does anyone knows why grafana-mcp is returning 404 and doesn’t log anything ?, looks like it’s not connecting on grafana instance. I tried to enable debug but didn’t help, even if I define a wrong token, looks like grafana mcp daemon does nothing. The same happens using helm chart. Thanks in advance

docker run --rm -p 8000:8000 -e GRAFANA_URL=<http://localhost:3000> -e GRAFANA_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_TOKEN=<token> mcp/grafana

Also tried using env : GRAFANA_API_KEY, nothing happens

time=2025-09-10T03:19:44.992Z level=INFO msg="Starting Grafana MCP server using SSE transport" version=(devel) address=0.0.0.0:8000 basePath=""

2

I did something similar, had some issues with networking inside the docker. but 404 means he’s getting there, it’s just not getting the page the app is looking for.
Are you trying to go directly to the MCP service via http://localhost:8000? I don’t think it has a landing page like this.

3

also, I found after I spent the time setting up the MCP, that most agents when you want to set up the MCP want to run the docker run command as part of the config. I managed with LM studio and Gemini agent, but have since wiped my computer (I have been experimenting too much and filled the computer with junk :slightly_smiling_face:, now I’m planning to use virtualbox )

4

I found my settings.json for gemini agent in a backup:
{
“selectedAuthType”: “oauth-personal”,
“theme”: “Default”,
“preferredEditor”: “vscode”,
“mcpServers”: {
“grafana”: {
“command”: “docker”,
“args”: [
“run”,
“–rm”,
“-i”,
“-e”, “GRAFANA_URL=http://host.docker.internal:3000”,
“-e”, “GRAFANA_API_KEY=glsa_afql5kQ44nbcifOBlm2DjmAFbJbBRVMN_d37cc62c”,
“mcp/grafana”,
“-t”, “stdio”

  ]
}

}

}

5

Yeah, I’m trying to reach http://localhost:8000 but I’m getting

404 page not found

I’ve heard about use the path /sse and then I get

data: /message?sessionId=f7eba5bb-0e54-4b16-8295-89c80fc882b8```


So not sure if I can assume the setup is fine
6

yeah, it’s fine. The real test is seeing if you agent will talk with it