Docker Hub MCP Server

Apache-2.0

dockercontainersdocker-hubregistrydevopsimages

Summary

Docker's official MCP server for Docker Hub — let an agent search images, read tags and metadata, and manage your repositories in natural language.

Features

Search Docker Hub images and repositories with live data
Read tags, metadata and repository details
Manage your own repositories with a Docker Personal Access Token
Tools generated from Docker Hub's OpenAPI specification
stdio and HTTP transports; HTTP is authenticated and fails closed by default
DNS-rebinding and CSRF protection via Host/Origin allow-lists
Works with Ask Gordon in Docker Desktop and the Docker CLI

Installation

Set up this MCP server in your favorite AI agent — copy a ready-made configuration below.

Any MCP-compatible agent

Most agents (Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code, and more) read a standard mcpServers configuration.

Open your agent's MCP configuration file.
Merge the snippet below into it, filling in the environment variables with your own values.
Restart the agent — the "Docker Hub MCP Server" tools will be available.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "docker-hub": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "/FULL/PATH/TO/hub-mcp/dist/index.js",
        "--transport=stdio"
      ],
      "env": {
        "HUB_PAT_TOKEN": "<your_docker_hub_pat>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

Add the server with a single CLI command.

claude mcp add docker-hub -e HUB_PAT_TOKEN=<your_docker_hub_pat> -- node /FULL/PATH/TO/hub-mcp/dist/index.js --transport=stdio

Claude Desktop

Add the server to claude_desktop_config.json (Settings → Developer → Edit Config).

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "docker-hub": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "/FULL/PATH/TO/hub-mcp/dist/index.js",
        "--transport=stdio"
      ],
      "env": {
        "HUB_PAT_TOKEN": "<your_docker_hub_pat>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Description

LLMs recommend container images badly. Docker Hub holds millions of repositories with wildly varying quality, maintenance and provenance, and a model working from training data alone will confidently suggest an image that is unofficial, abandoned, or wrong for the architecture. This server gives the agent the live catalogue instead.

What it exposes

Tools are generated from Docker Hub's OpenAPI specification, covering image and repository search, tag listings, image metadata and repository management. Unauthenticated it can query public Docker Hub content; supply a Docker Personal Access Token and it can also manage repositories belonging to that account.

Transports, and a security posture worth noting

It runs over stdio for local clients, or http when you need to reach it over a network. The HTTP transport is deliberately locked down and fails closed: it binds to loopback unless you pass --host, refuses to start without either a bearer token (MCP_AUTH_TOKEN) or an explicit opt-out, and rejects requests whose Host or browser Origin headers are not allow-listed. That matters because in HTTP mode every tool call is dispatched with the operator's Docker Hub PAT — anyone who can reach the port can act as that identity.

Setup

Clone the repository, npm install && npm run build, then point your client at dist/index.js. It is not published to npm, so there is no npx one-liner. It also plugs into Ask Gordon, the assistant built into Docker Desktop and the Docker CLI, via a gordon-mcp.yml file.

Requires Docker and Node.js 22 or newer.