Quickstart · Tools · HTTP · Security · Troubleshooting · Docs
mcp-otx is an MCP server that gives AI agents access to AlienVault OTX (Open Threat Exchange, now LevelBlue). Hand your agent an IP, domain, file hash, URL or CVE, or a malware family or adversary to research, and get back what the OTX community knows: pulses, reputation, passive DNS, whois, sandbox analysis and related indicators.
Highlights
- Full API coverage. 29 tools across pulses, indicators, users, subscriptions and URL submissions, plus resource templates for pulses and indicators.
- One-call indicator enrichment. Every OTX indicator type (IPv4, IPv6, domain, hostname, file hash, URL, CVE) and detail section: reputation, geo, passive DNS, malware, whois, URL lists, HTTP scans, sandbox analysis.
- Read-only by default. The 9 tools that change your OTX account only appear with
--read-write. - Context-sized output. Large OTX objects are summarized and capped, with the API's total counts kept, so one lookup doesn't fill the model's context.
- Safe HTTP. stdio for desktop clients, plus streamable HTTP with bearer-token auth. The server refuses to listen on a network-facing address without a token.
- Tested. Unit tests against a mocked OTX API run in CI on Python 3.10 to 3.13.
How it works
flowchart LR
A["AI agent<br/>(Claude, Codex, Gemini, VS Code)"] -->|"MCP over stdio or HTTP"| S["mcp-otx"]
S -->|"HTTPS + X-OTX-API-KEY"| O["OTX DirectConnect API"]
O -->|"JSON"| S
S -->|"summarized, capped JSON"| A
Quickstart
Requirements: Python 3.10 or newer, uv (or pip), and an OTX API key.
# Claude Code
claude mcp add --transport stdio --env OTX_API_KEY=your-key otx -- uvx otx-mcp
# Codex CLI
codex mcp add otx --env OTX_API_KEY=your-key -- uvx otx-mcp
# Gemini CLI
gemini mcp add -e OTX_API_KEY=your-key otx uvx otx-mcp
With pip: pip install otx-mcp, then use the command otx-mcp. For Claude Desktop, VS Code, Cline, Docker and running from source, see Connect a client.
Then ask your agent: "What does OTX know about 8.8.8.8, and are there recent pulses about Emotet?" More prompts are in example workflows.
Tools
20 read tools, plus 9 write tools with --read-write. Full parameters and real sample output are in the tool reference.
| Area | Read tools | Write tools (--read-write) |
|---|---|---|
| Search | search_pulses, search_users |
|
| Pulses | get_pulse_details, get_pulse_indicators, get_related_pulses, search_related_pulses, list_pulse_activity, list_subscribed_pulses, get_subscribed_pulse_ids, get_pulse_events |
create_pulse, subscribe_pulse, unsubscribe_pulse |
| Indicators | get_indicator_details, validate_indicator, list_indicator_types, export_indicators |
|
| Users | get_user, get_current_user, list_user_pulses, list_my_pulses |
subscribe_user, unsubscribe_user, follow_user, unfollow_user |
| Submissions | list_submitted_urls, list_submitted_files |
submit_url, submit_urls |
Resource templates: otx://pulse/{pulse_id} and otx://indicator/{type}/{value}.
HTTP transport
stdio is the default. For remote or web clients, run streamable HTTP:
OTX_API_KEY=your-key uvx otx-mcp --transport streamable-http
# → http://127.0.0.1:8000/mcp
To listen on a network-facing address, set a bearer token. Clients must then send Authorization: Bearer <token>:
OTX_API_KEY=your-key OTX_MCP_BEARER_TOKEN=a-long-random-secret \
uvx otx-mcp --transport streamable-http --host 0.0.0.0
docker build -t mcp-otx .
docker run --rm -p 127.0.0.1:8000:8000 -e OTX_API_KEY=your-key \
-e OTX_MCP_BEARER_TOKEN=a-long-random-secret \
-e OTX_MCP_TRANSPORT=streamable-http -e OTX_MCP_HOST=0.0.0.0 mcp-otx
OTX is slow on some endpoints (passive DNS and subscriptions can take 20 to 60 s), so give remote clients a long read timeout (120 s works).
Configuration
| Variable | CLI flag | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
OTX_API_KEY |
(required) | Your OTX API key. Also read from .env |
|
OTX_API_BASE |
https://otx.alienvault.com/api/v1 |
API root (for testing) | |
OTX_MCP_TRANSPORT |
--transport |
stdio |
stdio, streamable-http or sse |
OTX_MCP_HOST |
--host |
127.0.0.1 |
HTTP bind address |
OTX_MCP_PORT |
--port |
8000 |
HTTP port |
OTX_MCP_READ_WRITE |
--read-write |
off | 1 exposes the account-changing tools |
OTX_MCP_BEARER_TOKEN |
off | Require Authorization: Bearer <token> on HTTP |
|
--allow-remote |
off | Allow a network-facing bind without a token (not recommended) | |
--json-response |
off | Plain JSON instead of SSE streams (streamable HTTP) | |
--stateless-http |
off | A new session per request (streamable HTTP) |
Security
- Read-only by default. Pulse creation, subscriptions, follows and URL submissions need
--read-write. Editing or deleting pulses isn't exposed as a tool at all. - Untrusted content. Pulse and indicator descriptions are written by the OTX community. The server tells the model to treat them as data, not instructions.
- The API key is sent only to the OTX API, in a header.
Details are in the security model. Report vulnerabilities privately; see SECURITY.md.
Troubleshooting
- 403 "Authentication required": the API key is wrong.
get_current_usershows which account a key belongs to. - A write tool is missing: start the server with
--read-write. - Timeouts: passive DNS and subscription calls can take up to 60 s. Raise your client's tool timeout.
More in the troubleshooting guide.
Development
git clone https://github.com/w0h1v/mcp-otx && cd mcp-otx
uv venv && uv pip install -e ".[dev]"
.venv/bin/python -m pytest # mocked OTX API, no key or network
See CONTRIBUTING.md and the changelog.
License
MIT. See LICENSE.
Metadata
Release files for otx-mcp 1.2.0
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Source distribution (sdist)
| File | Size | Uploaded | |
|---|---|---|---|
| otx_mcp-1.2.0.tar.gz | 51.7 kB | Details |
Built distribution (wheel)
| File | Interpreter | ABI | Platform | Reset |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| otx_mcp-1.2.0-py3-none-any.whl | Python 3 | none | any | Details |
Total release size: 77.5 kB
Release files / otx_mcp-1.2.0.tar.gz
| Download URL | otx_mcp-1.2.0.tar.gz |
|---|---|
| Size | 51.7 kB |
| Tags | Source |
|
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| Tags | Python 3 |
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| Uploaded via |
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|
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