Nautobot Source of Truth

MCP Server

• Repository: aiopnet/mcp-nautobot
• Transport: stdio (Python via MCP SDK) — also supports HTTP on configurable port
• Requires: NAUTOBOT_URL, NAUTOBOT_TOKEN
• Python: 3.13+
• Read-only: All tools are read-only (requires API token with read permissions)

MCP Tools

| Tool | Parameters | What It Does | |------|-----------|--------------| | get_ip_addresses | address?, prefix?, status?, role?, tenant?, vrf?, limit?, offset? | Retrieve IP addresses with filtering — status (active, reserved, deprecated), role (loopback, secondary, anycast), VRF, tenant | | get_prefixes | prefix?, status?, site?, role?, tenant?, vrf?, limit?, offset? | Retrieve network prefixes with filtering by site, role, status, VRF, tenant | | get_ip_address_by_id | ip_id | Retrieve a specific IP address by its Nautobot UUID | | search_ip_addresses | query, limit? | Full-text search across all IP address data — find IPs by any matching field | | test_connection | none | Verify connectivity to the Nautobot API — returns status, URL, and timestamp |

Tool Details

get_ip_addresses

The primary IPAM query tool. Supports rich filtering:

• address — specific IP to search (e.g., 10.0.1.1)
• prefix — network prefix filter (e.g., 10.0.0.0/24) — returns all IPs within the prefix
• status — active, reserved, deprecated
• role — loopback, secondary, anycast, vip, hsrp, vrrp
• tenant — filter by tenant (multi-tenancy support)
• vrf — filter by VRF (routing instance isolation)
• limit — max results (default: 100, max: 1000)
• offset — pagination offset

Returns JSON with count and IP address objects including assignment details.

get_prefixes

Network prefix (subnet) lookup with site awareness:

• prefix — specific prefix (e.g., 10.0.0.0/24)
• site — filter by site/location name
• role — prefix role (production, development, management, etc.)
• status — active, reserved, deprecated, container
• tenant / vrf — multi-tenancy and routing isolation

Returns JSON with prefix objects including utilization data.

search_ip_addresses

Free-text search across all IP address fields. Use this when you don't know exactly what field to filter on:

• Query by partial IP, hostname, description, or any text in the IP record
• Default limit: 50 (max: 500)

Workflow: IPAM Audit

When auditing IP address allocations:

1. Test connection: test_connection — verify Nautobot API is reachable
2. List prefixes: get_prefixes by site — what subnets are allocated per site
3. IP utilization: get_ip_addresses per prefix — how many IPs are active vs reserved
4. Deprecated check: get_ip_addresses(status="deprecated") — stale allocations
5. Report: IPAM utilization summary by site and prefix

Workflow: IP Address Lookup

When investigating "what device uses IP 10.1.2.3?":

1. Search: search_ip_addresses(query="10.1.2.3") — find the IP
2. Details: get_ip_address_by_id — full details including device assignment
3. Prefix context: get_prefixes(prefix="10.1.2.0/24") — what subnet is it in, which site
4. Report: IP ownership, device assignment, subnet, site, VRF, tenant

Workflow: VRF Reconciliation

When validating VRF IP allocations:

1. Get VRF IPs: get_ip_addresses(vrf="PROD-VRF") — all IPs in the VRF
2. Get VRF prefixes: get_prefixes(vrf="PROD-VRF") — all subnets in the VRF
3. Cross-check: verify IPs fall within expected prefix ranges
4. Overlap detection: compare prefixes across VRFs for unintended overlap
5. Report: VRF allocation summary with any anomalies

Workflow: Site IP Summary

When generating an IP summary for a specific site:

1. Site prefixes: get_prefixes(site="Chicago-DC") — all subnets at the site
2. Per-prefix IPs: get_ip_addresses(prefix="10.10.0.0/16") — IPs in each prefix
3. Loopbacks: get_ip_addresses(role="loopback", status="active") — router loopbacks
4. Report: site IPAM dashboard with prefix utilization, loopback inventory, tenant breakdown

Integration with Other Skills

| Skill | How They Work Together | |-------|----------------------| | netbox-reconcile | Nautobot and NetBox are alternative SoTs — use whichever the org runs; both provide IPAM data for reconciliation | | pyats-topology | Nautobot provides intended state (IP assignments); pyATS discovers actual state from devices | | pyats-network | Cross-reference Nautobot IPAM with live device IP configs from pyATS | | pyats-routing | Validate routing table entries against Nautobot IPAM allocations | | radkit-remote-access | Use Nautobot to identify device IPs, then RADKit to access those devices remotely | | aci-fabric-audit | Nautobot IPAM vs ACI endpoint tracker for data center reconciliation | | meraki-network-ops | Nautobot subnet allocations vs Meraki DHCP/VLAN assignments | | aws-network-ops | Nautobot IPAM vs AWS VPC CIDR allocations for hybrid cloud reconciliation | | gait-session-tracking | Record all Nautobot IPAM queries and reconciliation results in GAIT | | servicenow-change-workflow | Reference Nautobot IPAM data when planning change requests |

Nautobot vs NetBox

Both are popular network source-of-truth platforms. NetClaw supports both:

| Feature | NetBox (netbox-reconcile) | Nautobot (nautobot-sot) | |---------|---------------------------|--------------------------| | Origin | DigitalOcean / NetBox Labs | Network to Code (fork of NetBox) | | IPAM | Full IPAM, DCIM, circuits | Full IPAM, DCIM, circuits + Jobs framework | | API style | REST + GraphQL | REST + GraphQL + Jobs API | | MCP tools | Read-only via FastMCP | Read-only via MCP SDK | | Use when | Org uses NetBox | Org uses Nautobot |

If the organization runs both, use both skills for cross-platform reconciliation.

Important Rules

• Read-only — all tools are read operations; no writes to Nautobot
• API token scope — ensure the token has read permissions for IPAM endpoints
• Pagination matters — for large datasets, use limit and offset to page through results (max 1000 per request)
• VRF isolation — IP addresses can be duplicated across VRFs; always filter by VRF when the network uses overlapping address space
• Multi-tenancy — filter by tenant for shared Nautobot instances serving multiple organizations
• Record in GAIT — log all Nautobot IPAM queries and reconciliation results

Environment Variables

• NAUTOBOT_URL — Nautobot instance URL (e.g., https://nautobot.example.com)
• NAUTOBOT_TOKEN — Nautobot API token with read permissions
• MCP_PORT — Server port when running in HTTP mode (default: 8000, optional)
• MCP_HOST — Server bind address (default: 127.0.0.1, optional)