How To Install Cloudera NiFi MCP Server

4 minute read

Updated: May 18, 2026

The Cloudera NiFi MCP Server is a standard Model Context Protocol (MCP) server (an open protocol originally from Anthropic but now client-agnostic). The Cloudera NiFi MCP Server simply exposes tools for reading/writing Apache NiFi flows via Knox. Any MCP-compatible client can talk to it. In this post I am going to share how I used MCP Inspector to test the Cloudera NiFi MCP Server against a Cloudera on Cloud deployed NiFi Cluster.

Test with MCP Inspector in Read-Only Mode

Clone and install the NiFI MCP Server:

git clone https://github.com/cloudera/NiFi-MCP-Server.git
cd NiFi-MCP-Server
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .

Set the required environment variables in your local environment:
- NIFI_API_BASE= https:///cdp-proxy/nifi-app/nifi-api
- KNOX_TOKEN= [token]
- NIFI_READONLY true
- KNOX_VERIFY_SSL false
```
NIFI_API_BASE=https://[datahub]-gateway.[env].cloudera.site/[datahub]/cdp-proxy/nifi-app/nifi-api
KNOX_TOKEN=
NIFI_READONLY=true
KNOX_VERIFY_SSL=false
```

Run the MCP Inspector:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector .venv/bin/python -m nifi_mcp_server.server

Connect NiFi MCP Server

Once the browser opens look at the “Command” text box in the left column of the MCP Inspector web page. Notice it is .venv/bin/python and next notice the arguments we supplied -m nifi_mcp_server.server.

Now click Connect and you should see Connected nifi-mcp-server Version 1.27.1. Once your MCP server is successfully Connected, the MCP Inspector acts as a GUI for the NiFi MCP Server’s capabilities.

Listing NiFi MCP Server NiFi Tools

Click on the “Tools” tab located at the top of the main interface.
Click the “List Tools” button.

The Tools panel should display the READ-ONLY NiFi tools the server supports (e.g., list_processors, get_nifi_version, get_processor_details). Later we will take a look at the WRITE NiFi tools.

Running Your First Test (`get_nifi_version`)

Testing the version is the best “smoke test” because it doesn’t require any arguments and confirms the NiFi API connection is alive.

Select the Tool: Click on get_nifi_version from the tool list on the left.
Execute: Click the “Run Tool” button.

You should see:

Tool Result: Success

Followed by the expected JSON output with the NiFi Version:

{
  "result": {
    "version_info": {
      "about": {
        "title": "NiFi",
        "version": "1.28.1.2.2.9.700-181",
        "uri": "https://...../cdp-proxy/nifi-app/nifi-api/",
        "contentViewerUrl": "../nifi-content-viewer/",
        "timezone": "UTC",
        "buildTag": "nifi-1.28.1-RC3",
        "buildRevision": "5b8a56d",
        "buildBranch": "UNKNOWN",
        "buildTimestamp": "06/16/2025 09:34:52 UTC"
      }
    },
    "parsed_version": "1.28.1",
    "is_nifi_2x": false,
    "major_version": 1
  }
}

Running a Parameterized Test

Next lets use get_root_process_group to get the UUID for the root process group. You could also just use any UUID from the NiFi Canvas.

Select the Tool: Click on get_root_process_group from the tool list on the left.
Run: Click “Run Tool” to see the list of processors in that group.
Copy: Save the UUID such as 25d98a86-0182-1000-9624-7b3ffa192883 for use later.

Now that we have our process_group_id, let’s try list_processors:

Input: Paste the process_group_id you got in the previous step.
Run: Click “Run Tool” to see the list of processors in that group.

{
  "result": {
    "permissions": {
      "canRead": true,
      "canWrite": true
    },
    "processGroupFlow": {
      "id": "25d98a86-0182-1000-9624-7b3ffa192883",


  [ truncated ]

Danger! The JSON output is substantial so I have truncated it here. If you have a big NiFi canvas with a lot of process groups on the root canvas you can expect over 10,000 lines of JSON response.

Test with MCP Inspector in Write Mode

Set the env NIFI_READONLY environment variables to false:
- NIFI_READONLY false
Apply the changes:
```
set -a
source .env
set +a
```

Run the MCP Inspector:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector .venv/bin/python -m nifi_mcp_server.server

Listing NiFi MCP Server NiFi Tools in Write Mode

Click on the “Tools” tab located at the top of the main interface.
Click the “List Tools” button.

The Tools panel should now also display the WRITE NiFi tools the server supports (e.g., start_processor, stop_processor, create_processor).

Summary

You’ve now successfully installed and configured the Apache NiFi MCP Server from Cloudera and connected it to your Cloudera Public Cloud NiFi cluster. With the NiFI MCP Server up and running, you can explore processors, process groups, check versions, and manage dataflows — all through natural-language commands via any MCP-compatible AI client. This setup turns your governed NiFi environment into an AI-native data orchestration platform, unlocking true agentic workflows inside any Cloudera secured Nifi environment.

Terminal History

git clone https://github.com/cloudera/NiFi-MCP-Server.git\
cd NiFi-MCP-Server
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .
nano .env
set -a
source .env
set +a
env | grep -E 'NIFI|KNOX'
brew install node
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector uvx git+https://github.com/cloudera/NiFi-MCP-Server@main run-server\
python -m nifi_mcp_server.server
source .venv/bin/activate
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector python3 server.py
echo $NIFI_BASE_URL
cat .env
export $(grep -v '^#' .env | xargs)
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector .venv/bin/python nifi_mcp_server/server.py
.venv/bin/python -m nifi_mcp_server.server
source .venv/bin/activate\
# Check if your variables are actually in the environment\
echo $NIFI_API_BASE\
echo $KNOX_TOKEN
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector .venv/bin/python -m nifi_mcp_server.server
pkill -f nifi_mcp_server
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector $(pwd)/.venv/bin/python -m nifi_mcp_server.server
kill -9 $(lsof -ti:6274,6277)
DANGEROUSLY_OMIT_AUTH=true npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector $(pwd)/.venv/bin/python -m nifi_mcp_server.server
# Make sure you are in the root: NiFi-MCP-Server\
export $(grep -v '^#' .env | xargs)\
.venv/bin/python -m nifi_mcp_server.server

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