MySQL MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) implementation that enables secure interaction with MySQL databases. This server component facilitates communication between AI applications (hosts/clients) and MySQL databases, making database exploration and analysis safer and more structured through a controlled interface.

Note: MySQL MCP Server supports both standard input/output (STDIO) and Streamable HTTP (SSE) transport modes. The SSE mode is recommended for remote/self-hosted deployments.

Deployment options

• Hosted — Fronteir AI runs the server for you; no local setup required.
• Local — Smithery installs and runs the server on your own machine.

Features

• List available MySQL tables as resources
• Read table contents
• Execute SQL queries with proper error handling
• Multi-database mode (Optional MYSQL_DATABASE)
• SSE/HTTP transport support (MCP_TRANSPORT=sse)
• SSH Tunneling support
• Comprehensive schema information
• Table data sampling
• Secure database access through environment variables
• Comprehensive logging

Installation

Manual Installation

pip install mysql-mcp-server

Installing via Smithery

To install MySQL MCP Server for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install designcomputer/mysql-mcp-server --client claude

Installing via Claude Code CLI

claude mcp add --transport stdio designcomputer-mysql_mcp_server uvx mysql_mcp_server

Installing via Autohand Code CLI

autohand mcp add mysql env MYSQL_HOST=localhost MYSQL_PORT=3306 MYSQL_USER=your_username MYSQL_PASSWORD=your_password MYSQL_DATABASE=your_database uvx mysql_mcp_server

Add --scope project after mcp add to keep the registration in the current workspace. See Autohand Code for current CLI details.

Configuration

Set the following environment variables:

MYSQL_HOST=localhost     # Database host
MYSQL_PORT=3306         # Optional: Database port (defaults to 3306 if not specified)
MYSQL_USER=your_username
MYSQL_PASSWORD=your_password
MYSQL_DATABASE=your_database # Optional: Omit for multi-database mode

# Advanced Configuration
MYSQL_SSL_MODE=DISABLED  # DISABLED, REQUIRED, VERIFY_CA, VERIFY_IDENTITY
MYSQL_CONNECT_TIMEOUT=10 # Timeout in seconds

# Connection behaviour (Optional)
MYSQL_SQL_MODE=TRADITIONAL           # SQL mode applied to the connection (default: TRADITIONAL)

# Compatibility (Optional)
MYSQL_CHARSET=utf8mb4
MYSQL_COLLATION=utf8mb4_unicode_ci
MYSQL_AUTH_PLUGIN=       # e.g., mysql_native_password for older MySQL versions
MYSQL_USE_PURE=false     # Force the pure-Python connector (default: false)
MYSQL_RAISE_ON_WARNINGS=false        # Raise on SQL warnings (default: false)

# SSE Transport (Optional)
MCP_TRANSPORT=stdio      # stdio or sse
MCP_SSE_HOST=0.0.0.0     # Listen on all interfaces (required for Docker/hosting)
PORT=8000                # HTTP port (fallback for MCP_SSE_PORT)
MCP_SSE_ALLOWED_HOSTS=   # Comma-separated allowed Host headers (default: localhost:{port},127.0.0.1:{port})

# SSH Tunneling (Optional)
MYSQL_SSH_ENABLE=false   # Set to true to enable
MYSQL_SSH_HOST=          # SSH jump host
MYSQL_SSH_PORT=22        # SSH port
MYSQL_SSH_USER=          # SSH username
MYSQL_SSH_KEY_PATH=      # Path to SSH private key
MYSQL_SSH_REMOTE_HOST=localhost # Host from the perspective of the jump host
MYSQL_SSH_REMOTE_PORT=3306
MYSQL_LOCAL_PORT=3330

.env file loading

On startup the server automatically loads a .env file via python-dotenv, so for local use you can simply:

cp .env.example .env   # then edit with your credentials

The file is read from the process working directory (and parent directories), which works when you run the server yourself from the project folder.

⚠️ Claude Code / Claude Desktop: these hosts launch the server from their own working directory, so the project's .env will not be found and you'll see Missing required database configuration. Put your MYSQL_* values in the env block of the MCP config (shown in the Usage section below) rather than relying on .env.

Multi-Database Mode

When MYSQL_DATABASE is not set, the server operates in multi-database mode:

• list_resources returns all user databases (system databases are filtered out)
• Use fully qualified table names like mydb.mytable in SQL queries
• Note: Only single SQL statements are supported. Multi-statement queries (e.g., USE db; SELECT ...) are not supported.

Available Tools

execute_sql

Executes any standard SQL query.

• Arguments: query (string)
• Features: Supports SELECT, SHOW, DESCRIBE, and DML (INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE). DML operations are marked with a destructive hint.
• Limitation: Single statements only. Multi-statement queries are not supported.
• Cross-database: Use database.table notation to query any database regardless of the MYSQL_DATABASE setting.

get_schema_info

Provides detailed metadata about database structures.

• Arguments: table_name (optional string)
• Output: Column names, types, nullability, default values, and comments.
• Cross-database: Pass database.table to query a table outside MYSQL_DATABASE; bare names use the configured database.
• Identifier rules: Names must contain only alphanumeric characters, underscores, and $ (dots are allowed as a separator between database and table names).

get_table_sample

Fetches a representative sample of data.

• Arguments: table_name (string), limit (optional integer, max 20)
• Use Case: Quickly understand data formats and content without fetching large result sets.
• Cross-database: Pass database.table to sampl