Connect Red Hat Lightspeed (Insights) MCP with VS Code

Updated

Red Hat Lightspeed (formerly Red Hat Insights) delivers proactive analytics, helping teams improve reliability, streamline operations, and reduce manual analysis. At the heart of this capability is the Model Context Protocol (MCP) server now in Developer Preview, which acts as a bridge to connect Red Hat Lightspeed functionality to your favorite AI/LLM client.

If you're using VS Code as your AI-powered development environment, connecting it to the Red Hat Lightspeed MCP server unlocks the ability to interact with services like Advisor, Inventory, Vulnerability, and Image Builder using natural language.

To view our guidance for tooling other than VS Code, please visit Integrate Red Hat Lightspeed with Model Context Protocol

Prerequisites

Important - Before getting started, it is assumed that you have already completed the necessary foundational setup detailed in the This content is not included.prerequisite document.

Specifically, you should have already:

  • Set up your Service Account on console.redhat.com and secure your Client ID (INSIGHTS_CLIENT_ID) and Client Secret (INSIGHTS_CLIENT_SECRET).
  • Assigned the required Roles and Permissions to your service account (e.g., RHEL Advisor viewer).
  • Ensured you have a container runtime like Podman installed and running.

Connecting Red Hat Lightspeed MCP to VS Code

VS Code offers a straightforward integration, allowing you to run the Content from github.com is not included.Red Hat Lightspeed MCP server using Podman directly within your development environment.

Option 1: One-click installation (easiest)

The simplest way to connect is using the pre-configured installation link:

Content from insiders.vscode.dev is not included.ADD TO VSCODE

VS Code will prompt you to set up the connection and run the Insights MCP container (using the quay.io container image).

Option 2: Manual STDIO Installation

If the one-click method isn't suitable, you can manually configure VSCode to run the Red Hat Lightspeed MCP container using a standard input/output (STDIO) stream.

For a manual setup, first you need to create a configuration file that tells VS Code how to launch and communicate with the Red Hat Lightspeed MCP container.

To do so:

  1. In your project directory, create a new folder named .vscode.
  2. Inside the .vscode folder, create a file named mcp.json.
  3. Populate mcp.json with the following content. VS Code will use these inputs to securely prompt you for your credentials when the server starts.
{
  "inputs": [
    {
      "id": "insights_client_id",
      "type": "promptString",
      "description": "Enter the Red Hat Insights Client ID",
      "default": "",
      "password": true
    },
    {
      "id": "insights_client_secret",
      "type": "promptString",
      "description": "Enter the Red Hat Insights Client Secret",
      "default": "",
      "password": true
    }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "insights-mcp": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "podman",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "--env", "INSIGHTS_CLIENT_ID",
        "--env", "INSIGHTS_CLIENT_SECRET",
        "--interactive",
        "--rm",
        "ghcr.io/redhatinsights/insights-mcp:latest"
      ],
      "env": {
        "INSIGHTS_CLIENT_ID": "${input:insights_client_id}",
        "INSIGHTS_CLIENT_SECRET": "${input:insights_client_secret}"
      }
    }
  }
}
  1. Press the start button, which will be visible above "insights-mcp" within the mcp.json file. After pressing the start button, VS Code will prompt for Client Id and Client Secret.
  2. After entering the Client Id and Secret, the MCP server will start working and you can use all the tools available provided by Red Hat Lightspeed MCP.

What's Next?

This release offers early access to powerful, MCP-driven workflows within Red Hat Lightspeed. We strongly encourage your feedback, including bug reports, requests for additional toolsets, and enhancement ideas, through the This content is not included.Red Hat Issue Router - select "MCP" and by contributing to our Content from github.com is not included.GitHub repository. Your input will directly refine and shape the future of Red Hat Lightspeed MCP.

SBR
Product(s)
Article Type