pihole-mcp-serer

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Pi-hole. This server exposes Pi-hole functionality as tools that can be used by AI assistants.

Features

• ListLocalDNS: Returns all local DNS settings from Pi-hole
• ListQueries: Returns recent DNS query history from Pi-hole
• Multiple Pi-hole Support: Manage up to 4 Pi-holes from a single MCP server
• …more to come…

Dependencies

Docker

• Docker install guide

uv (Optional, for Development)

If you want to run the application locally, use uv. Install it with your package manager of choice.

Environment

Create a .env file in the project root with your Pi-hole credentials:

# Primary Pi-hole (required)
PIHOLE_URL=https://your-pihole.local/
PIHOLE_PASSWORD=your-admin-password
#PIHOLE_NAME=Primary        # optional, defaults to URL if unset

# Secondary Pi-hole (optional)
#PIHOLE2_URL=https://secondary-pihole.local/
#PIHOLE2_PASSWORD=password2
#PIHOLE2_NAME=Secondary     # optional

# Up to 4 Pi-holes:
#PIHOLE3_URL=...
#PIHOLE3_PASSWORD=...
#PIHOLE3_NAME=...

#PIHOLE4_URL=...
#PIHOLE4_PASSWORD=...
#PIHOLE4_NAME=...

Project Structure

The project follows a modular organization for better maintainability:

/
├── main.py                # Main application entry point
├── tools/                 # Pi-hole tools organized by functionality
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── config.py          # Configuration-related tools (DNS settings)
│   └── metrics.py         # Metrics and query-related tools
├── resources/             # MCP resources
│   ├── __init__.py
│   └── common.py          # Common resources (piholes://, version://)
├── docker-compose.yml     # Docker Compose configuration for production
├── docker-compose.dev.yml # Docker Compose for development with volume mounts
└── Dockerfile             # Docker build configuration

This structure separates the code into logical components while maintaining compatibility with all run modes.

Running the Server

There are several ways to run the Pi-hole MCP server:

Using Docker (Recommended for Production)

# Standard deployment
docker-compose up -d

The server will be available at http://localhost:8383

Development Mode with Docker

For development, use the dev compose file which sets up volume mounts for live code changes:

# Development mode with live reloading
docker-compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml up

Local Development

For local development, you can run the server directly with uv:

# Interactive development UI (recommended for development)
uv run mcp dev main.py

This will start an interactive MCP development environment at http://localhost:6274 where you can test tools and resources.

To run the server directly:

# Run the server directly (HTTP/SSE mode)
uv run python main.py

CLI Mode (STDIO)

For integration with MCP clients that use the STDIO protocol (like Claude Desktop):

# Run as an MCP STDIO server
uv run mcp run main.py

Note: The server uses stderr for logging to avoid interfering with the STDIO protocol. Any log messages will appear in the terminal but won’t disrupt the MCP communication.

API

This MCP server exposes the following resources and tools:

Resources

• piholes://: Returns information about all configured Pi-holes

Tools

• list_local_dns: Lists all local DNS settings from Pi-hole(s)
• list_queries: Fetches the recent DNS query history from Pi-hole(s)

Each tool call returns results as a list of dictionaries with the following structure:

[
  {
    "pihole": "Pi-hole Name",
    "data": [...]  # Result data from this Pi-hole
  },
  ...
]

Testing in goose

Goose is a CLI LLM client that’s useful for testing and development. Follow their install instructions here.

The following assumes you’ve completed the initial setup with goose configure.

Configure Extension

1. Type goose configure to open the configuration menu.
2. Select Add Extension
3. Select Remote Extension
4. It will ask for a name. It doesn’t matter what you name it. I called mine pihole-mcp.
5. When it asks “What is the SSE endpoint URI?” enter http://localhost:8383/sse.
6. Enter a timeout.
7. Add a description if you’d like.
8. Select No when it asks about environment variables.

Start a Session

Once the server is installed, start a chat session.

goose session

Try asking it: “What are my local DNS records?”

…or telling it: “Show me my recent DNS queries.”

Claude Desktop

Claude’s desktop client currently only support’s the STDIO protocol, however you can use a proxy to communicate with the SSE endpoint.

Add the following to your claude_desktop_config.json file.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pihole": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-remote",
        "http://localhost:8383/sse"
      ]
    }
  }
}

If you’re connecting to a different host on your local network and using an unsecured connection, you’ll need to explicitly allow it with the --allow-http argument. For example:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pihole": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-remote",
        "http://192.168.1.255:8383/sse",
        "--allow-http"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Afterwards, completely restart the application and try it out.

License

MIT