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Safety Modes

The MCP server uses safety modes to control which tools are available. Each tool has a safety classification, and the server only exposes tools that match or are below the current mode.

Modes

Read-Only (Default)

bnerd mcp-server --read-only

Only tools classified as read are available. No resources can be created, modified, or deleted.

Use cases: Exploring infrastructure, answering questions, generating reports.

Non-Destructive

bnerd mcp-server --non-destructive

Tools classified as read and write (create/update) are available. Delete operations are blocked.

Use cases: Creating DNS records, deploying Helm charts, writing files.

Full Access

bnerd mcp-server --allow-writes

All tools are available, including destructive operations (delete resources, drain nodes, uninstall releases).

Use cases: Trusted automation, cleanup tasks, full infrastructure management.

Warning

Full access mode allows the AI to delete resources, remove DNS records, uninstall Helm releases, and drain Kubernetes nodes. Use only in controlled environments.

Safety Classification

Each tool is tagged with one of three safety levels:

Level Description Examples
Read Query/list operations, no side effects list_dns_zones, kube_list_pods, fs_read_file
Write Create or modify resources create_dns_record, kube_scale, fs_write_file
Destructive Delete or remove resources delete_dns_record, kube_delete, helm_uninstall

Mode Compatibility

Tool safety read-only non-destructive allow-writes
Read Yes Yes Yes
Write No Yes Yes
Destructive No No Yes

Audit Logging

All tool executions are logged to stderr with:

  • Timestamp
  • Tool name
  • Safety level
  • Parameters (sanitized)

This provides an audit trail of all operations performed through the MCP server.