Render MCP Server

The Render MCP server lets AI coding tools manage Render services, databases, deploys, logs, and metrics directly. This skill covers setup, authentication, workspace selection, the tool catalog, and troubleshooting.

Action skills (render-deploy, render-debug, render-monitor) use MCP tools for their workflows. If MCP is not connected, set it up using this skill first.

When to Use

• list_services() fails or MCP tools are unavailable
• First-time Render MCP setup for any AI tool
• User asks how to connect their AI tool to Render
• Switching workspaces or troubleshooting auth errors
• Discovering which MCP tools exist and what they do

Connection Details

Property	Value
URL	https://mcp.render.com/mcp
Transport	HTTP (streamable)
Auth	Bearer token (Render API key)
API key page	https://dashboard.render.com/u/*/settings#api-keys
Docs	https://render.com/docs/mcp-server

Setup by Tool

Cursor

1. Get an API key from the Render Dashboard

2. Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "render": {
      "url": "https://mcp.render.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer <YOUR_API_KEY>"
      }
    }
  }
}

3. Restart Cursor, then verify with list_services()

Claude Code

1. Get an API key from the Render Dashboard

2. Add the MCP server:

claude mcp add --transport http render https://mcp.render.com/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_KEY>"

3. Restart Claude Code, then verify with list_services()

Codex

1. Get an API key from the Render Dashboard

2. Set the key in your shell:

export RENDER_API_KEY="<YOUR_API_KEY>"

3. Add the MCP server:

codex mcp add render --url https://mcp.render.com/mcp --bearer-token-env-var RENDER_API_KEY

4. Restart Codex, then verify with list_services()

Other Tools

For tools not listed above, use the generic HTTP MCP configuration:

• URL: https://mcp.render.com/mcp
• Auth header: Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_KEY>
• Transport: HTTP (streamable HTTP, not SSE)

See Render MCP docs for tool-specific instructions.

Workspace Selection

After MCP is connected, set the active workspace:

Set my Render workspace to [WORKSPACE_NAME]

Or programmatically:

get_selected_workspace()   # Check current
list_workspaces()          # List available

All MCP operations run against the active workspace.

Tool Catalog

Service management

Tool	Purpose
list_services()	List all services and datastores
get_service(serviceId)	Get service details
create_web_service(...)	Create a web service from Git repo
create_static_site(...)	Create a static site from Git repo
update_service(serviceId, ...)	Update service configuration
restart_service(serviceId)	Restart a service

Deploys

Tool	Purpose
list_deploys(serviceId, limit)	List deploys for a service
trigger_deploy(serviceId)	Trigger a new deploy

Logs

Tool	Purpose
list_logs(resource, level, type, text, statusCode, limit)	Query logs with filters

Key filters: level (error, warn, info), type (build, deploy), text (search string), statusCode (HTTP codes).

Metrics

Tool	Purpose
get_metrics(resourceId, metricTypes, ...)	Get service or database metrics

Metric types: cpu_usage, memory_usage, cpu_limit, memory_limit, http_latency, http_request_count, active_connections.

Optional: httpLatencyQuantile (0.5, 0.95, 0.99), httpPath (filter by endpoint).

Databases

Tool	Purpose
list_postgres_instances()	List Postgres databases
get_postgres(postgresId)	Get database details
query_render_postgres(postgresId, sql)	Run SQL query

Key Value

Tool	Purpose
list_key_value()	List Key Value instances
get_key_value(keyValueId)	Get Key Value details

Environment Variables

Tool	Purpose
update_environment_variables(serviceId, envVars)	Set env vars on a service

Workspace

Tool	Purpose
list_workspaces()	List available workspaces
get_selected_workspace()	Get the active workspace

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Fix
Wrong URL (using SSE endpoint)	Use https://mcp.render.com/mcp (not /sse)
Expired or invalid API key	Generate a new key from Dashboard > Account Settings > API Keys
Wrong workspace selected	Run list_workspaces() and switch to the correct one
Using MCP to create image-backed services	Not supported — use Dashboard or API for prebuilt Docker images
Missing Bearer prefix in auth header	Header must be Authorization: Bearer <key>

Troubleshooting

See references/troubleshooting.md for connection errors, auth failures, timeout issues, and tool-specific quirks.

References

Document	Contents
references/troubleshooting.md	Connection errors, auth failures, tool-specific issues, timeout handling

Related Skills

• render-deploy — Deploy flows using MCP tools
• render-debug — Debug failures using MCP logs and metrics
• render-monitor — Monitor health using MCP metrics
• render-cli — CLI alternative when MCP is unavailable