Integrate Tiger Cloud with your AI Assistant (MCP and CLI)

Install Tiger CLI, set up Tiger MCP, and manage Tiger Cloud resources from Claude, Cursor, and other AI assistants

Tiger MCP gives your AI assistant access to Tiger Cloud so you can manage services and query your data using natural language.

Tiger MCP is built into the Tiger CLI binary. It mirrors CLI functionality and is wired to Tiger Data documentation, so your AI assistant can answer questions with up-to-date guidance. This page walks you through installing Tiger CLI, configuring authentication for Tiger MCP, and managing Tiger Cloud resources from your AI assistant.

Prerequisites

To follow the steps on this page:

Create a target Tiger Cloud account.

Install an AI assistant on your machine with an active API key.

The following AI assistants are automatically configured by Tiger MCP:
Support for additional clients is added over time; if yours isn’t listed, use manual configuration below.

Install and configure Tiger MCP

Tiger MCP is bundled with Tiger CLI.

Install the Tiger CLI
In a terminal, install the CLI using the method for your platform (see Get started with the command line for the latest install command).
Set up API credentials
1. Log in to Tiger Cloud
  
  Run:
  Terminal window
  tiger auth login
  Tiger CLI opens the browser for Console. Log in and click Authorize.
  
  Credential limit
  You can have a maximum of 10 active client credentials. If login fails, open credentials and remove an unused credential.
2. Select a Tiger Cloud project
  
  If you have multiple projects, the CLI will prompt you to choose one (for example, Tiger Project, company-wide project, or department project). If you have only one project, this step is skipped.
  
  Credentials are stored in the system keychain (or credential manager) when possible. If that fails, they are stored in ~/.config/tiger/credentials with restricted permissions (600). Configuration is stored by default in ~/.config/tiger/config.yaml.
3. Confirm the connection
  
  List services to verify authentication:
  Terminal window
  tiger service list
  You’ll see either an empty list with a prompt to create a service, or a table of your services (service ID, name, status, type, region, created).
Install Tiger MCP
Run:
Terminal window
tiger mcp install
Choose the MCP client to integrate with (for example, claude-code, cursor, windsurf, codex, gemini-cli, vscode) and press Enter.
CLI and Tiger MCP commands
The exact list of clients and subcommands (for example, tiger mcp install, tiger mcp list) can change with new CLI releases. If a command fails, run tiger mcp --help.

After this, you can use Tiger MCP from your AI assistant to manage Tiger Cloud.

Manage Tiger Cloud from your AI assistant

Once connected, you can manage services and learn best practices through your assistant.

Start your AI assistant
(For example, claude). It will start the Tiger MCP server and connect to Tiger Cloud.
Confirm Tiger MCP is active
Ask: “Is the Tiger MCP server active?” You should see a summary of available tools (service management, database operations, documentation search, skills for hypertables, and others).
List services
Ask: “Can you list my active services?” to see your Tiger Cloud services.
Manage services in plain language
For example: “Create a new AI service called bob with a replica.” The assistant will use Tiger MCP tools to create the service.
Get best practices
For example: “I need to migrate a database with 25 million rows to Tiger Cloud; what service optimizations should I do before migration?” The assistant can use docs and tools to give tailored advice.

Manually configure Tiger MCP

If your MCP client isn’t supported by tiger mcp install, add Tiger MCP manually. Many clients use a JSON config that starts the server with tiger mcp start:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tiger": {
      "command": "tiger",
      "args": ["mcp", "start"]
    }
  }
}

Config key names (for example, mcpServers) and structure depend on your client. See your AI assistant’s MCP documentation for the exact format and where to place the file.

Tiger MCP tools

Tiger MCP exposes the following tools to your AI assistant. Parameter names and required/optional fields may change with new Tiger MCP versions; use tiger mcp get <tool_name> for current definitions.

Tool	Key parameters	Description
`service_list`	(none)	List services in the current project.
`service_get`	`service_id` (required), `with_password`	Detailed info for one service. Only set `with_password` if the user explicitly asks for the password.
`service_create`	`name`, `addons`, `region`, `cpu_memory`, `replicas`, `wait`, `timeout_minutes`, `set_default`, `with_password`	Create a new service. WARNING: creates billable resources. Addons: `time-series` (TimescaleDB), `ai` (AI/vector).
`service_fork`	`service_id` (required), `fork_strategy` (required: NOW \| LAST_SNAPSHOT \| PITR), `target_time` (for PITR), `name`, `cpu_memory`, `wait`, `timeout_minutes`, `set_default`, `with_password`	Fork a service. WARNING: creates billable resources.
`service_update_password`	`service_id` (required), `password` (required)	Update `tsdbadmin` password; may disconnect existing sessions.
`service_start`	`service_id` (required), `wait`, `timeout_minutes`	Start a stopped service.
`service_stop`	`service_id` (required), `wait`, `timeout_minutes`	Stop a running service.
`service_resize`	`service_id` (required), `cpu_memory` (required), `wait`, `timeout_minutes`	Change CPU/memory. WARNING: affects billing; service may be briefly unavailable.
`service_logs`	`service_id` (required), `tail`, `until`, `node`	Fetch service logs (for example, tail length, time range, node).
`db_execute_query`	`service_id` (required), `query` (required), `parameters`, `timeout_seconds`, `role`, `pooled`	Run a single SQL statement. WARNING: can run destructive SQL (INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE/DDL). Multi-statement not supported.

Tiger CLI commands for Tiger MCP

Use these under the tiger mcp namespace. Subcommands and flags may be updated in new CLI releases.

Command	Description
`tiger mcp install [client]`	Configure Tiger MCP for a client (for example, `claude-code`, `cursor`, `windsurf`, `codex`, `gemini/gemini-cli`, `vscode/code/vs-code`). Flags: `--no-backup`, `--config-path`.
`tiger mcp list`	List Tiger MCP tools, prompts, and resources. Optional: `--output` / `-o` (json, yaml, table).
`tiger mcp get <name>`	Details for one capability (for example, `tiger mcp get service_create` or `tiger mcp get setup-timescaledb-hypertables`). Aliases: `describe`, `show`.
`tiger mcp start`	Start Tiger MCP (same as `tiger mcp start stdio`).
`tiger mcp start stdio`	Start Tiger MCP with stdio transport.
`tiger mcp start http`	Start Tiger MCP with HTTP (for example, if your assistant doesn’t support stdio). Flags: `--port` (default 8080), `--host` (default localhost).

Global flags

When running Tiger CLI (including Tiger MCP commands), you can use:

Flag	Default	Description
`--analytics`	`true`	Enable or disable usage analytics
`--color`	`true`	Enable or disable colored output
`--config-dir`	`~/.config/tiger`	Set the directory that holds `config.yaml`
`--debug`	`false`	Enable or disable debug logging
`--help`, `-h`	-	Print help about the current command. For example, `tiger service --help`
`--password-storage`	`keyring`	Set the password storage method. Options are `keyring`, `pgpass`, or `none`
`--service-id`	-	Set the default service to manage
`--skip-update-check`	`false`	Skip checking if a new version of Tiger CLI is available