VMware Monitor

VMware Monitor

> Author: Wei Zhou, VMware by Broadcom — wei-wz.zhou@broadcom.com > This is a community-driven project by a VMware engineer, not an official VMware product. > For official VMware developer tools see developer.broadcom.com.

English | [中文](README-CN.md)

Read-only VMware vCenter/ESXi monitoring — 11 tools, code-level safety. No destructive operations exist in this codebase.

> Why a separate repository? VMware Monitor is fully independent from VMware-AIops. Safety is enforced at the code level: no power off, delete, create, reconfigure, snapshot-create/revert/delete, clone, or migrate functions exist in this codebase. Not just prompt constraints — zero destructive code paths.

[](https://clawhub.ai/skills/vmware-monitor) [](https://skills.sh/zw008/VMware-Monitor) [](https://github.com/zw008/VMware-Monitor) [](LICENSE)

Companion Skills

| Skill | Scope | Tools | Install | |-------|-------|:-----:|---------| | vmware-aiops ⭐ entry point | VM lifecycle, deployment, guest ops, clusters | 31 | uv tool install vmware-aiops | | vmware-storage | Datastores, iSCSI, vSAN | 11 | uv tool install vmware-storage | | vmware-vks | Tanzu Namespaces, TKC cluster lifecycle | 20 | uv tool install vmware-vks | | vmware-nsx | NSX networking: segments, gateways, NAT, IPAM | 31 | uv tool install vmware-nsx-mgmt | | vmware-nsx-security | DFW microsegmentation, security groups, Traceflow | 20 | uv tool install vmware-nsx-security | | vmware-aria | Aria Ops metrics, alerts, capacity planning | 18 | uv tool install vmware-aria |

Quick Install (Recommended)

Works with Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI, Trae, and 30+ AI agents:

# Via Skills.sh
npx skills add zw008/VMware-Monitor

# Via ClawHub
clawhub install vmware-monitor

PyPI Install (No GitHub Access Required)

# Install via uv (recommended)
uv tool install vmware-monitor

# Or via pip
pip install vmware-monitor

# China mainland mirror (faster)
pip install vmware-monitor -i https://pypi.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn/simple

Claude Code Plugin Install

# Add marketplace
/plugin marketplace add zw008/VMware-Monitor

# Install plugin
/plugin install vmware-monitor

# Use the skill
/vmware-monitor:vmware-monitor

---

Capabilities (Read-Only)

Architecture

User (Natural Language)
  ↓
AI CLI Tool (Claude Code / Gemini / Codex / Aider / Continue / Trae / Kimi)
  ↓ Reads SKILL.md / AGENTS.md / rules
  ↓
vmware-monitor CLI (read-only)
  ↓ pyVmomi (vSphere SOAP API)
  ↓
vCenter Server ──→ ESXi Clusters ──→ VMs
    or
ESXi Standalone ──→ VMs

Version Compatibility

| vSphere / VCF Version | Support | Notes | |----------------|---------|-------| | VCF 9.1 / vSphere 9.1 | ✅ Full | Released 2026-05-12. pyVmomi ` — VCF Python SDK (recommended for VCF 9+, bundles pyVmomi + vSAN SDK), vSphere Automation SDK for Python

• REST APIs: — vSphere Automation API, VCF API
• CLI Tools: — PowerCLI 9.1, ESXCLI, OVF Tool

1. Inventory

| Feature | vCenter | ESXi | Details | |---------|:-------:|:----:|---------| | List VMs | ✅ | ✅ | Name, power state, CPU, memory, guest OS, IP, folder_path (vCenter inventory folder, e.g. /Datacenters/Production/Web Tier); MCP list_virtual_machines supports folder_filter for case-insensitive folder-tree search | | List Hosts | ✅ | ⚠️ Self only | CPU cores, memory, ESXi version, VM count, uptime | | List Datastores | ✅ | ✅ | Capacity, free/used, type (VMFS/NFS), usage % | | List Clusters | ✅ | ❌ | Host count, DRS/HA status | | List Networks | ✅ | ✅ | Network name, associated VM count, accessibility — CLI inventory networks, MCP list_all_networks |

2. Health & Monitoring

| Feature | vCenter | ESXi | Details | |---------|:-------:|:----:|---------| | Active Alarms | ✅ | ✅ | Severity, alarm name, entity, timestamp | | Event/Log Query | ✅ | ✅ | Filter by time range, severity; 50+ event types | | Hardware Sensors | ✅ | ✅ | Per-sensor type (temperature/voltage/fan...), reading, unit, and health status (green/yellow/red) — CLI health sensors, MCP get_host_sensors | | Host Services | ✅ | ✅ | hostd, vpxa running/stopped status — CLI health services, MCP get_host_services |

Monitored Event Types:

| Category | Events | |----------|--------| | VM Failures | VmFailedToPowerOnEvent, VmDiskFailedEvent, VmFailoverFailed | | Host Issues | HostConnectionLostEvent, HostShutdownEvent, HostIpChangedEvent | | Storage | DatastoreCapacityIncreasedEvent, SCSI high latency | | HA/DRS | DasHostFailedEvent, DrsVmMigratedEvent, DrsSoftRuleViolationEvent | | Auth | UserLoginSessionEvent, BadUsernameSessionEvent |

3. VM Info & Snapshot List (Read-Only)

| Feature | Details | |---------|---------| | VM Info | Name, power state, guest OS, CPU, memory, IP, VMware Tools, disks, NICs, folder_path | | Snapshot List | List existing snapshots with name and creation time (no create/revert/delete) — CLI vm snapshot-list, MCP tool vm_list_snapshots |

4. Scheduled Scanning & Notifications

| Feature | Details | |---------|---------| | Daemon | APScheduler-based, configurable interval (default 15 min) | | Multi-target Scan | Sequentially scan all configured vCenter/ESXi targets | | Scan Content | Alarms + Events + Host logs (hostd, vmkernel, vpxd) | | Log Analysis | Regex pattern matching: error, fail, critical, panic, timeout | | Structured Log | JSONL output to ~/.vmware-monitor/scan.log | | Webhook | Slack, Discord, or any HTTP endpoint | | Daemon Management | daemon start/stop/status, PID file, graceful shutdown |

5. Safety Features

| Feature | Details | |---------|---------| | Code-Level Isolation | Independent repository — zero destructive functions in codebase | | Audit Trail | All queries logged to ~/.vmware-monitor/audit.log (JSONL) | | Password Protection | .env file loading with permission check (warn if not 600) | | SSL Self-signed Support | disableSslCertValidation — only for ESXi with self-signed certs in isolated labs; production should use CA-signed certificates | | Prompt Injection Protection | vSphere event messages and host logs are truncated, sanitized, and wrapped in boundary markers | | Webhook Data Scope | Sends monitoring summaries to user-configured URLs only — no third-party services by default | | Production Recommended | AI agents can misinterpret context and execute unintended destructive operations — real-world incidents have shown AI-driven tools deleting production databases and entire environments. VMware-Monitor eliminates this risk: no destructive code paths exist. Use VMware-AIops only in dev/lab environments |

What's NOT Included (By Design)

These operations do not exist in this repository:

• ❌ Power on/off, reset, suspend VMs
• ❌ Create, delete, reconfigure VMs
• ❌ Create, revert, delete snapshots
• ❌ Clone or migrate VMs
• ❌ _double_confirm, _show_state_preview, _validate_vm_params

For these operations, use the full VMware-AIops repository.

---

Common Workflows

Daily Health Check

1. Check alarms: vmware-monitor health alarms --target prod-vcenter
2. Review recent events: vmware-monitor health events --hours 24 --severity warning
3. List hosts: vmware-monitor inventory hosts — check connection state and memory usage

Investigate a Specific VM

1. Find the VM: vmware-monitor inventory vms --power-state poweredOff
2. Get details: vmware-monitor vm info problem-vm
3. Check related events: vmware-monitor health events --hours 48

Set Up Continuous Monitoring

1. Configure webhook in ~/.vmware-monitor/config.yaml
2. Start daemon: vmware-monitor daemon start
3. Daemon scans every 15 min, sends alerts to Slack/Discord

---

Troubleshooting

Alarms returns empty but vCenter shows alarms

The get_alarms tool queries triggered alarms at the root folder level. Some alarms are entity-specific — try checking events instead: vmware-monitor health events --hours 1 --severity info.

"Connection refused" error

1. Run vmware-monitor doctor to diagnose
2. Verify target hostname/IP and port (443) in config.yaml
3. For self-signed certs: set disableSslCertValidation: true

Events returns too many results

Use severity filter: --severity warning (default) filters out info-level events. Use --hours 4 to narrow the time range.

VM info shows "guest_os: unknown"

VMware Tools not installed or not running in the guest. Install/start VMware Tools for guest OS detection, IP address, and guest family info.

Doctor passes but commands fail with timeout

vCenter may be under heavy load. Try targeting a specific ESXi host directly instead of vCenter, or increase connection timeout in config.yaml.

---

Supported AI Platforms

| Platform | Status | Config File | AI Model | |----------|--------|-------------|----------| | Claude Code | ✅ Native Skill | skills/vmware-monitor/SKILL.md | Anthropic Claude | | Gemini CLI | ✅ Extension | gemini-extension/GEMINI.md | Google Gemini | | OpenAI Codex CLI | ✅ Skill + AGENTS.md | codex-skill/AGENTS.md | OpenAI GPT | | Aider | ✅ Conventions | codex-skill/AGENTS.md | Any (cloud + local) | | Continue CLI | ✅ Rules | codex-skill/AGENTS.md | Any (cloud + local) | | Trae IDE | ✅ Rules | trae-rules/project_rules.md | Claude/DeepSeek/GPT-4o | | Kimi Code CLI | ✅ Skill | kimi-skill/SKILL.md | Moonshot Kimi | | MCP Server | ✅ MCP Protocol | mcp_server/ | Any MCP client | | Python CLI | ✅ Standalone | N/A | N/A |

Platform Comparison

| Feature | Claude Code | Gemini CLI | Codex CLI | Aider | Continue | Trae IDE | Kimi CLI | |---------|-------------|------------|-----------|-------|----------|----------|----------| | Cloud AI | Anthropic | Google | OpenAI | Any | Any | Multi | Moonshot | | Local models | — | — | — | Ollama | Ollama | — | — | | Skill system | SKILL.md | Extension | SKILL.md | — | Rules | Rules | SKILL.md | | MCP support | Native | Native | Via Skills | Third-party | Native | — | — | | Free tier | — | 60 req/min | — | Self-hosted | Self-hosted | — | — |

MCP Server Integrations

The vmware-monitor MCP server works with any MCP-compatible agent or tool. Ready-to-use configuration templates are in [examples/mcp-configs/](examples/mcp-configs/). All 11 tools are read-only — code-level enforced safety.

| Agent / Tool | Local Model Support | Config Template | Integration Guide | |-------------|:-------------------:|-----------------|-------------------| | Goose | ✅ Ollama, LM Studio | [goose.json](examples/mcp-configs/goose.json) | [Guide](docs/integrations/goose.md) | | LocalCowork | ✅ Fully offline | [localcowork.json](examples/mcp-configs/localcowork.json) | [Guide](docs/integrations/localcowork.md) | | mcp-agent | ✅ Ollama, vLLM | [mcp-agent.yaml](examples/mcp-configs/mcp-agent.yaml) | [Guide](docs/integrations/mcp-agent.md) | | VS Code Copilot | — | [vscode-copilot.json](examples/mcp-configs/vscode-copilot.json) | [Guide](docs/integrations/vscode-copilot.md) | | Cursor | — | [cursor.json](examples/mcp-configs/cursor.json) | — | | Continue | ✅ Ollama | [continue.yaml](examples/mcp-configs/continue.yaml) | [Guide](docs/integrations/continue.md) | | Claude Code | — | [claude-code.json](examples/mcp-configs/claude-code.json) | — |

Fully local operation (no cloud API required):

# Aider + Ollama + vmware-monitor (via AGENTS.md)
aider --conventions codex-skill/AGENTS.md --model ollama/qwen2.5-coder:32b

# Any MCP agent + local model + vmware-monitor MCP server
# See examples/mcp-configs/ for your agent's config format

---

Installation

Step 0: Prerequisites

# Python 3.10+ required
python3 --version

# Node.js 18+ required for Gemini CLI and Codex CLI
node --version

Step 1: Clone & Install Python Backend

git clone https://github.com/zw008/VMware-Monitor.git
cd VMware-Monitor
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .

Step 2: Configure

mkdir -p ~/.vmware-monitor
cp config.example.yaml ~/.vmware-monitor/config.yaml
# Edit config.yaml with your vCenter/ESXi targets

Set passwords via .env file (recommended):

cp .env.example ~/.vmware-monitor/.env
chmod 600 ~/.vmware-monitor/.env
# Edit and fill in your passwords

> Security note: Prefer .env file over command-line export to avoid passwords appearing in shell history. config.yaml stores only hostnames, ports, and a reference to the .env file — it does not contain passwords or tokens. All secrets are stored exclusively in .env (chmod 600). Webhook notifications are disabled by default; when enabled, payloads contain no credentials, IPs, or PII — only aggregated alert metadata sent to user-configured URLs only. We recommend using a least-privilege read-only vCenter service account.

Password environment variable naming convention:

VMWARE_{TARGET_NAME_UPPER}_PASSWORD
# Replace hyphens with underscores, UPPERCASE
# Example: target "home-esxi" → VMWARE_HOME_ESXI_PASSWORD
# Example: target "prod-vcenter" → VMWARE_PROD_VCENTER_PASSWORD

Step 3: Connect Your AI Tool

Choose one (or more) of the following:

---

Option A: Claude Code (Marketplace)

Method 1: Marketplace (recommended)

In Claude Code, run:

/plugin marketplace add zw008/VMware-Monitor
/plugin install vmware-monitor

Then use:

/vmware-monitor:vmware-monitor
> Show me all VMs on esxi-lab.example.com

Method 2: Local install

# Clone and symlink
git clone https://github.com/zw008/VMware-Monitor.git
ln -sf $(pwd)/VMware-Monitor ~/.claude/plugins/marketplaces/vmware-monitor

# Register marketplace
python3 -c "
import json, pathlib
f = pathlib.Path.home() / '.claude/plugins/known_marketplaces.json'
d = json.loads(f.read_text()) if f.exists() else {}
d['vmware-monitor'] = {
    'source': {'source': 'github', 'repo': 'zw008/VMware-Monitor'},
    'installLocation': str(pathlib.Path.home() / '.claude/plugins/marketplaces/vmware-monitor')
}
f.write_text(json.dumps(d, indent=2))
"

# Enable plugin
python3 -c "
import json, pathlib
f = pathlib.Path.home() / '.claude/settings.json'
d = json.loads(f.read_text()) if f.exists() else {}
d.setdefault('enabledPlugins', {})['vmware-monitor@vmware-monitor'] = True
f.write_text(json.dumps(d, indent=2))
"

Restart Claude Code, then:

/vmware-monitor:vmware-monitor

---

Option B: Gemini CLI

# Install Gemini CLI
npm install -g @google/gemini-cli

# Install the extension from the cloned repo
gemini extensions install ./gemini-extension

# Or install directly from GitHub
# gemini extensions install https://github.com/zw008/VMware-Monitor

Then start Gemini CLI:

gemini
> Show me all VMs on my ESXi host

---

Option C: OpenAI Codex CLI

# Install Codex CLI
npm i -g @openai/codex
# Or on macOS:
# brew install --cask codex

# Copy skill to Codex skills directory
mkdir -p ~/.codex/skills/vmware-monitor
cp codex-skill/SKILL.md ~/.codex/skills/vmware-monitor/SKILL.md

# Copy AGENTS.md to project root
cp codex-skill/AGENTS.md ./AGENTS.md

Then start Codex CLI:

codex --enable skills
> List all VMs on my ESXi

---

Option D: Aider (supports local models)

# Install Aider
pip install aider-chat

# Inst

…

## Source & license

This open-source MCP server is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

- **Author:** [zw008](https://github.com/zw008)
- **Source:** [zw008/VMware-Monitor](https://github.com/zw008/VMware-Monitor)
- **License:** MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.