Red Hat Lightspeed MCP — Claude Code MCP server: what it does
Gives an AI agent a natural-language path into Red Hat Lightspeed: inventory, Advisor, vulnerabilities, images and planning.
claude mcp add --env LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_ID=<LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_ID> --env LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_SECRET=<LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_SECRET> --transport stdio red-hat-lightspeed-mcp -- docker run -i --rm -e LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_ID -e LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_SECRET ghcr.io/redhatinsights/red-hat-lightspeed-mcpWhat Red Hat Lightspeed MCP does
The server is self-hosted and ships as the container ghcr.io/redhatinsights/red-hat-lightspeed-mcp. It carries tools for each Lightspeed service: Advisor, Inventory, OCP Advisor, Vulnerability, Remediations, Hosted image builder, RHSM, Content sources and Planning. Your agent queries them in plain language instead of calling APIs by hand.
Read operations are on by default. Write tools such as blueprint creation and compose runs stay off until the server is started with --all-tools, and RBAC still caps what the account may do.
Before any of that you need a service account: take LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_ID and LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_SECRET from console.redhat.com. An organization administrator has to grant roles first, and each toolset wants its own — Inventory Hosts viewer, Remediations user and so on. An account with no roles sees nothing. Running the container locally with docker or podman keeps credentials on your machine, so leave that container off the public internet; for a remote deployment your secrets travel to the server and it must be trusted not to leak them.
What it helps with
- list inventory hosts and check their state
- surface vulnerabilities across RHEL systems
- build an image with Hosted image builder
- check OpenShift cluster health through OCP Advisor
- create and inspect activation keys in RHSM
Example prompts for the agent
- Show the inventory hosts that have open vulnerabilities
- Create a blueprint for a RHEL image and run the compose
- What does Advisor report about configuration issues on my systems?
How to install Red Hat Lightspeed MCP
Platform CLI
claude mcp add --env LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_ID=<LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_ID> --env LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_SECRET=<LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_SECRET> --transport stdio red-hat-lightspeed-mcp -- docker run -i --rm -e LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_ID -e LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_SECRET ghcr.io/redhatinsights/red-hat-lightspeed-mcpReplace <…> with your own values
Platform CLI
codex mcp add red-hat-lightspeed-mcp --env LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_ID=<LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_ID> --env LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_SECRET=<LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_SECRET> -- docker run -i --rm -e LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_ID -e LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_SECRET ghcr.io/redhatinsights/red-hat-lightspeed-mcpReplace <…> with your own values
Config file
{
"mcpServers": {
"red-hat-lightspeed-mcp": {
"command": "docker",
"args": [
"run",
"-i",
"--rm",
"-e",
"LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_ID",
"-e",
"LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_SECRET",
"ghcr.io/redhatinsights/red-hat-lightspeed-mcp"
],
"env": {
"LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_ID": "<LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_ID>",
"LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_SECRET": "<LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_SECRET>"
}
}
}
}Replace <…> with your own values
Config file
{
"servers": {
"red-hat-lightspeed-mcp": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "docker",
"args": [
"run",
"-i",
"--rm",
"-e",
"LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_ID",
"-e",
"LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_SECRET",
"ghcr.io/redhatinsights/red-hat-lightspeed-mcp"
],
"env": {
"LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_ID": "<LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_ID>",
"LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_SECRET": "<LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_SECRET>"
}
}
}
}Replace <…> with your own values
Platform CLI
gemini mcp add -e LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_ID=<LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_ID> -e LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_SECRET=<LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_SECRET> red-hat-lightspeed-mcp docker run -i --rm -e LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_ID -e LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_SECRET ghcr.io/redhatinsights/red-hat-lightspeed-mcpReplace <…> with your own values
Step by step, with commands for each platform: How to add an MCP server to Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, VS Code, Gemini CLI and more
Questions about Red Hat Lightspeed MCP
How do I install Red Hat Lightspeed MCP in Claude Code?
Run `claude mcp add --env LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_ID=<LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_ID> --env LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_SECRET=<LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_SECRET> --transport stdio red-hat-lightspeed-mcp -- docker run -i --rm -e LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_ID -e LIGHTSPEED_CLIENT_SECRET ghcr.io/redhatinsights/red-hat-lightspeed-mcp`.
What does Red Hat Lightspeed MCP do?
It links an LLM agent to Red Hat Lightspeed services so you can ask about hosts, advisories, vulnerabilities, images and plans in ordinary sentences.
Does it allow write operations?
Only when the server runs with --all-tools. The default set is read-only, and RBAC roles decide what else the service account can touch.
