Understand MCP
The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard for connecting AI assistants to external tools. Panguard’s MCP server exposes security operations as tools that AI assistants can call on your behalf.Supported AI assistants:
| Assistant | Config Location |
|---|---|
| Claude Desktop | ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) |
| Cursor | .cursor/mcp.json in your project root |
| Windsurf | ~/.windsurf/mcp.json |
Panguard must be installed and authenticated (
panguard login) before the MCP server can function.Add the MCP configuration
Add the Panguard MCP server to your AI assistant’s configuration file:After saving, restart your AI assistant for the changes to take effect.
- Claude Desktop
- Cursor
- Windsurf
Edit
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):Available MCP tools
The Panguard MCP server exposes these tools to your AI assistant:
| Tool | Description | Plan |
|---|---|---|
scan_system | Run a security scan and return findings | Community+ |
guard_status | Check Guard engine status and recent events | Solo+ |
guard_start | Start the Guard engine | Solo+ |
guard_stop | Stop the Guard engine | Solo+ |
get_threats | Query threat intelligence and IoCs | Solo+ |
deploy_honeypot | Deploy a honeypot on a specified service/port | Pro+ |
get_attacker_profiles | Retrieve attacker profiles from Trap | Pro+ |
generate_report | Generate a compliance report | Solo+ |
get_security_score | Get current risk score and grade | Community+ |
list_events | List recent Guard events with filtering | Solo+ |
Tools respect your plan limits. Attempting to use a Pro-only tool on a Solo plan returns an error with an upgrade prompt.
Use natural language for security ops
Once configured, you can interact with Panguard through your AI assistant using natural language:
Run a security scan
Run a security scan
You: “Scan my system for security issues”The assistant calls
scan_system and presents the findings, risk score, and recommendations in a readable format.Check protection status
Check protection status
You: “Is Guard running? Show me recent alerts.”The assistant calls
guard_status followed by list_events to give you a comprehensive status overview.Investigate a threat
Investigate a threat
You: “What do we know about IP 203.0.113.42?”The assistant calls
get_threats and get_attacker_profiles to compile a threat dossier.Generate a compliance report
Generate a compliance report
You: “Generate an ISO 27001 compliance report”The assistant calls
generate_report with the ISO 27001 framework and presents the results.Deploy honeypots
Deploy honeypots
You: “Set up SSH and HTTP honeypots to catch attackers”The assistant calls
deploy_honeypot for each service type and confirms deployment.What to do next
MCP product reference
Full documentation of the MCP server architecture and capabilities.
MCP tools reference
Detailed schema for each MCP tool including parameters and return types.
Run your first scan
Understand scan output before using AI-assisted scanning.
Real-time protection
Set up Guard so the AI assistant can monitor and respond to threats.