DNSFilter MCP

DNSFilter + AI - for ChatGPT, Claude, GitHub Copilot, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Gemini, and any agent that speaks MCP

Unofficial. Community-built Claude Code Skill and MCP server for the DNSFilter API. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by DNSFilter, Inc.

[DNSFilter demo - animated preview]

_{▶ Watch the 30-second demo - demo data is simulated; every command shown exists in the real CLI.}

Every DNSFilter API operation, plus one-command answers to 'why is this site blocked for this client' and 'which clients are behind on the roaming agent'. Works with the AI you already use - ChatGPT (Plus/Pro+), Claude Desktop, Codex, Claude Code, Claude Cowork, and GitHub Copilot - plus Microsoft 365 Copilot / Copilot Studio and Google Gemini via the remote path. Free, open source, runs on your laptop. Built for MSP owners. No code required.

Works with your agent

The six agents MSP owners actually use (self-serve, works today):

For ChatGPT, run dnsfilter-mcp --transport http with DNSFILTER_MCP_HTTP_TOKEN set, on an HTTPS host; every request sends that token. See mcp-install.md.

Also for the Microsoft and Google stacks

Big install base, but an honest heads-up: these are the remote / enterprise path, not the local binary you just installed.

Skill-native agents (also covered): Hermes and OpenClaw read this skill's SKILL.md directly and speak MCP - see their install sections below. Also works with Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, Continue.dev, and Zed via MCP. Full per-tool wire-up: docs/which-agent.md.

Run more than one agent? Install across all 51+ supported agents in one command: npx skills add Servosity/msp-skills@latest (requires Node.js, then run the per-skill installer for the CLI/MCP binaries). See docs/which-agent.md.

Install in 60 seconds

Fastest for Claude Desktop - one-click .mcpb

Download DNSFilter MCP (.mcpb) - then open Claude Desktop > Settings > Extensions and select the file. One click, no JSON, no shell. (Browse every DNSFilter release on the releases page.)

Prefer the Claude Code plugin? Add the marketplace once, then install - works immediately, no directory listing required:

/plugin marketplace add Servosity/msp-skills/plugin install dnsfilter@msp-skills

Path A - paste one prompt into your AI agent (recommended)

Copy this into Claude Code, Codex CLI, or Claude Cowork:

Install the DNSFilter Skill and MCP server from Servosity/msp-skills in this agent workspace. If this workspace uses a POSIX shell (macOS, Linux, WSL, or Bash), run bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Servosity/msp-skills/main/skills/dnsfilter/install.sh). If it uses Windows PowerShell, run iwr -useb https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Servosity/msp-skills/main/skills/dnsfilter/install.ps1 | iex. Then authenticate per the README and run dnsfilter-cli --help to explore.

The same prompt works in any agent that can run shell.

Path B - run the installer yourself

Windows (PowerShell):

iwr -useb https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Servosity/msp-skills/main/skills/dnsfilter/install.ps1 | iex

macOS / Linux:

bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Servosity/msp-skills/main/skills/dnsfilter/install.sh)

The installer drops both dnsfilter-cli (the CLI) and dnsfilter-mcp (the MCP server) into your user bin path. Claude Code, Codex, and Cowork discover the Skill via SKILL.md in this directory.

Verify:

dnsfilter-cli --version

Upgrade to the latest version

The installer always fetches the current release - re-run it to upgrade:

macOS / Linux:

bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Servosity/msp-skills/main/skills/dnsfilter/install.sh)

Windows (PowerShell):

iwr -useb https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Servosity/msp-skills/main/skills/dnsfilter/install.ps1 | iex

Claude Desktop .mcpb users: download the latest .mcpb (top of this section) and re-select it in Settings > Extensions. Claude Code plugin users: /plugin update dnsfilter@msp-skills.

Add to Claude Desktop, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Microsoft 365 Copilot, or another MCP client

After the installer runs, see mcp-install.md and docs/which-agent.md for the per-agent wire-up - one section per agent, including the GitHub Copilot servers key and the remote Microsoft 365 Copilot / Copilot Studio path. Claude Desktop's Settings > Extensions panel is the simplest path; the MCP config block (for users who prefer editing JSON) is documented in mcp-install.md.

Install for Hermes

From the Hermes CLI:

hermes skills install servosity/msp-skills/skills/dnsfilter --force

Inside a Hermes chat session:

/skills install servosity/msp-skills/skills/dnsfilter --force

Hermes speaks MCP natively, so it can also use the dnsfilter-mcp server directly - same install path, same env vars.

Install for OpenClaw

Tell your OpenClaw agent (copy this):

Install the dnsfilter skill from https://github.com/servosity/msp-skills/tree/main/skills/dnsfilter. The skill defines how its required CLI (dnsfilter-cli) can be installed via the openclaw: frontmatter block.

OpenClaw isn't generally available yet; the frontmatter wiring is pre-shipped and will activate the moment OpenClaw launches.

Authenticate

Create an API token in the DNSFilter dashboard (in your MSP organization, so the cross-client commands see your client orgs) and set it as DNSFILTER_API_KEY. Use the token itself: DNSFilter expects the bare token in the Authorization header, with no Bearer prefix.

macOS / Linux:

DNSFILTER_API_KEY=<value> dnsfilter-cli doctor

On Windows (PowerShell):

$env:DNSFILTER_API_KEY = "<value>"dnsfilter-cli doctor

To save the token instead of setting it each session, pipe it to dnsfilter-cli auth set-token (it reads stdin, so the token never lands in your shell history as an argument):

printf '%s\n' "$DNSFILTER_API_KEY" | dnsfilter-cli auth set-token

On Windows (PowerShell):

$env:DNSFILTER_API_KEY | dnsfilter-cli auth set-token

doctor checks config, paths and API reachability, and sends the token to DNSFilter's GET /v1/current_user, so a rejected token shows up as a Credentials: invalid row, a token that lacks access (HTTP 403) as WARN scope-limited, and a wrong base URL as an API: ERROR row. An answer that was redirected away from the DNSFilter API, or that is not a current-user record, never counts as proof (WARN not verified), and a cache whose last sync was incomplete is not fresh. It exits 0 even then, so scripts should add --fail-on error (or --fail-on warn, which also fails on a 403, an unverified probe or an incomplete sync). It also warns when a stored token starts with Bearer or Token .

What this skill does

Full command reference: guide.md. For the AI-agent operating contract (--agent, --dry-run, when to confirm before mutating), see AGENTS.md.

What makes this different

Most DNSFilter integrations and MCP servers proxy each question into a live API call. That's fine for one record. It dies at scale, when you're asking "which of my 60 client orgs still have Windows roaming clients on the build DNSFilter just pulled" or "why is this site blocked for this one client right now".

This skill syncs DNSFilter into a local SQLite mirror with full-text search, so agents drift, agents stale and lists where answer one local query across every client org, joining roaming clients to their sites, sites to their organizations and policies. agents drift reads DNSFilter's release feed live on every run, so a pulled release does not linger in a stale copy. why-blocked and allow work live: they resolve the client's current policy (scheduled-policy slot included), walk DNSFilter's documented rule order, read the Query Log, and say which rule types the API does not expose, which is the chain a stateless API wrapper leaves the AI to assemble call by call.

It complements the DNSFilter dashboard rather than replacing it: policies, deployments, reporting and the Query Log stay there.

The pain this closes

A blocked-site ticket is a chain, not a lookup: which policy the client's site or roaming client is using right now (scheduled policies switch by the quarter hour), that policy's allow list, block list and categories, and what the Query Log recorded. Then the fix has to land on the policy that actually blocked it, not a shared global one. A DNSFilter Community post, "Policy enforcement & reporting discrepancies with Roaming Client", describes a roaming client on a second site ignoring its category blocks, and reaching a URL that its reports showed as blocked.

Roaming client releases go wrong across the whole book at once. DNSFilter's status page logged the Windows Roaming Client 1.7.15 auto-upgrade incident: auto-upgrade paused, the release pulled from general availability, and uninstall-and-reinstall as the workaround. Its help center documents macOS machines losing connectivity when updating the Roaming Client from 1.x to 2.2. The first question each time is which clients are on the bad build.

• dnsfilter-cli why-blocked "example.com" --org "Acme Dental" - the policy and rule that decided it for that client right now, with recent Query Log hits.
• dnsfilter-cli allow "example.com" --org "Acme Dental" --note "TKT-4821" - the allow planned on the policies that actually blocked it; --confirm writes and reads back.
• dnsfilter-cli unblocks triage - the pending unblock queue across every client, grouped by domain, threats flagged.
• dnsfilter-cli agents drift --bad-version 1.7.15 --agent-type windows - every client org with roaming clients on the pulled build.
• dnsfilter-cli agents stale --older-than 7d - roaming clients that went silent or are unprotected or bypassed.

See pain-point.md for the longer narrative.

Frequently asked questions

Does this work with ChatGPT?

Yes, on Plus, Pro, Team, Business, Enterprise, and Education plans (Free tier does not yet expose Developer Mode). ChatGPT connects to remote MCP servers over HTTPS, not local stdio binaries. The DNSFilter MCP server runs locally, but it speaks HTTP natively: start it with dnsfilter-mcp --transport http and DNSFILTER_MCP_HTTP_TOKEN set (it serves http://127.0.0.1:7777/mcp by default and requires that token as a bearer header) and put it behind an HTTPS gateway that ChatGPT can sign in to with OAuth and that adds that bearer header (ChatGPT connectors do not send a fixed one). No bridge package is involved. Step-by-step in mcp-install.md.

Does this work with Codex, Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, Copilot, or Gemini?

Yes - all of them speak MCP. Cross-tool install commands are in the matrix above and the deep-dive in docs/which-agent.md.

Do I need to know how to code?

No. The recommended install is to paste one sentence into Claude Code or Codex - your agent reads SKILL.md and does the install. The fallback is a one-line installer per OS (bash or PowerShell). Neither path requires writing code. You'll enter your DNSFilter credentials once.

Is my DNSFilter data safe?

Your data stays on your machine. The CLI and MCP server are local binaries. The SQLite mirror sits in a directory under your user account. The AI agent only sees what the CLI returns - typically a query result, not raw bulk data. Credentials are read from your environment or your agent's config; never bundled into this repo or transmitted anywhere by MSP Skills. Secret fields DNSFilter returns, such as each site's secret key and API key tokens, are not written to the local mirror.

What DNSFilter API key do I need?

An API token created in the DNSFilter dashboard (see DNSFilter's API Tokens help article). Set DNSFILTER_API_KEY to the token itself: DNSFilter expects the bare token in the Authorization header, with no Bearer prefix. Create it in your MSP organization so the cross-client commands can see your client organizations; a token from a single client organization only sees that client.

Can the AI allow a domain or change a policy by itself?

Only if you let it. allow prints the plan and writes nothing unless you add --confirm with a --note (the ticket number), refuses a domain in a security category unless you add --force, skips policies you cannot edit, that belong to another client, or whose allow list it cannot read, marks an assigned policy it cannot evaluate as review instead of writing to it, and leaves shared global policies alone unless you pass --include-global (when every target needs review, --confirm exits 6); a saved profile can never supply --confirm or --force. Generated commands such as policies update or policies add-whitelist-domain send as soon as they run, so preview them with --dry-run. Over MCP, the generic dnsfilter_execute tool can call any DNSFilter endpoint, deletes included, but it returns a preview first and sends only when the agent repeats the call with confirm: true. For an agent that should only read, set DNSFILTER_MCP_READ_ONLY=1 in the MCP server's environment: write tools, allow and dnsfilter_execute are removed, and API key reads, site secret keys and the roaming client uninstall PIN are withheld. Keep the approval prompt on.

Does why-blocked see every rule DNSFilter applies?

No, and it says so. It evaluates the site or roaming client's current policy (including the scheduled-policy slot and a roaming client inheriting its site's policy) in DNSFilter's documented order: allow list, allow-list-only mode, block list, uncategorized domains, blocked categories. User, collection and LAN-subnet assignments, the org or MSP Universal Allow and Block Lists, and AppAware application rules are not exposed by the policy API, so they are not evaluated; when a Query Log hit names a policy outside the ones it checked, the output flags it.

Why do agents drift, agents stale or lists where say there is nothing to report?

They read the local mirror, so run sync first: dnsfilter-cli sync --full --resources organizations,networks,policies,scheduled-policies,user-agents. agents drift also reads DNSFilter's release feed live on every run, so a pulled release does not linger in a stale copy.

Has it been tested against a live DNSFilter account?

Not yet. It is built from DNSFilter's published OpenAPI spec and tested against a local mock, so it ships as Beta and Awaiting live verification. A few request shapes were inferred from the spec (some list filters sent in the request body, the bulk domain lookup requiring fqdns) and will be confirmed on the first live run; tell us what you see.

What does it cost?

Free. Apache-2.0 licensed. You pay only for whichever AI agent you use (Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, etc.), and that's billed by your AI provider, not by us.

Safety model

The strongest control is the scope you grant the DNSFilter credentials - the CLI can only do what the credentials are permitted to do. Full details, including how to lock it down, are in governance.md.

Status

Beta. Validated against the DNSFilter API surface and being validated with MSPs running it live against their own production tenant in our weekly Build Sessions. RSVP at compoundingteams.com/build-sessions.

Standards. Conforms to the open Agent Skills spec (Anthropic, Dec 2025; 40+ agents). MCP-compatible - works with any MCP-capable agent including Hermes. OpenClaw-ready (frontmatter pre-wired, awaiting OpenClaw launch).

Maintained by Servosity. Apache-2.0 licensed. Built with CLI Printing Press. Last updated: 2026-10-28.