Neon MCP

What it does

Neon MCP is Neon's official MCP server for managing Neon Postgres in natural language. An assistant can create projects and branches, run SQL, inspect schemas, run migrations on a temporary branch and tune slow queries, all by calling the Neon API through one hosted endpoint at https://mcp.neon.tech/mcp. Among the MCP servers for Postgres and MySQL it stands out for its branch-based migrations and its fine-grained access controls.

Key features and tools

Tools are grouped into categories that you can switch on or off with a category query parameter: projects, branches, endpoints, snapshots, schema, querying, neon_auth, data_api, observability, docs, functions, storage and realtime. The most useful ones:

• Projects: list_projects, describe_project, create_project, delete_project, list_organizations
• Branches: list_branches, create_branch, describe_branch, reset_from_parent, delete_branch, restore_snapshot
• SQL: run_sql, run_sql_transaction, get_connection_string, get_database_tables, describe_table_schema, compare_database_schema
• Migrations: prepare_database_migration runs a change on a new temporary branch, and complete_database_migration applies it to the original branch
• Performance: inspect_database (15 predefined read-only diagnostics), list_slow_queries, explain_sql_statement, prepare_query_tuning, complete_query_tuning
• Compute and snapshots: start, suspend and restart compute endpoints, plus snapshot schedules
• Platform features: Neon Auth, the Data API, Functions, Storage buckets and Realtime each have their own tool group
• Observability: query_logs, list_log_fields, list_log_field_values
• Search and docs: search, fetch, list_docs_resources, get_doc_resource, send_feedback

Setup

Neon now ships this as a remote server. The docs state that the local stdio package @neondatabase/mcp-server-neon is deprecated, and npm shows the same notice. Clients that only speak stdio should bridge to the hosted server with mcp-remote.

The remote endpoint uses Streamable HTTP. Three documented setup paths:

1. Quick setup: npx neon@latest init signs you in with OAuth, creates an API key and configures Cursor, VS Code (GitHub Copilot) or Claude Code.
2. Remote with OAuth: npx add-mcp https://mcp.neon.tech/mcp adds the server to detected agents and editors. Add -a claude-code, -a cursor, -a vscode or -a zed to target one client, or -g for a global install. A browser window opens for OAuth on first use, and no API key sits in your config.
3. Remote with API key: send Authorization: Bearer <NEON_API_KEY> as a header. For Claude Code the docs give claude mcp add --transport http neon https://mcp.neon.tech/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_NEON_API_KEY>".

A minimal manual config looks like this:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Neon": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.neon.tech/mcp"
    }
  }
}

With OAuth the server works on projects in your personal account by default. To reach organization projects, give the org_id or project_id in your prompt, or use an organization API key to limit access to that org. If IP Allow is turned on in your project, add the server's static IPs 34.192.103.46 and 23.22.233.166. The older SSE endpoint at /sse is deprecated, and the Neon docs say it stops working on or after 1 October 2026 and then returns 410 Gone, so do not use it in new configs.

Access control and read-only mode

This is where Neon MCP is ahead of most database servers. You can narrow what the agent can do with URL parameters:

With OAuth the parameters become a fixed grant at authorization time, and the consent page also lets you untick Allow writes. In read-only mode run_sql_transaction, get_connection_string, migrations and query tuning are withheld. A pinned roleName means Postgres grants decide what the agent can read or change. You can preview the tools for any configuration at /api/list-tools without signing in.

Use cases

• Spin up a new Postgres database and tables from a prompt in Claude Code or Cursor
• Plan a schema change on a temporary branch, check it, then apply it
• Ask for a summary of every project and the data in each one
• Find slow queries and let the agent suggest and stage index changes
• Give an analyst agent read-only, single-project access pinned to a limited role

Limitations and things to watch

• Not for production. Both the README and docs recommend the server for development work only, and say to review and authorize every action the model requests.
• Powerful write tools. Without readonly=true, the agent can delete projects and branches and run any SQL as the database owner.
• Observability limits. Log tools need the Neon Platform Beta and are only available for projects in the aws-us-east-2 region.
• Telemetry. The hosted server sends product analytics, including your account ID, name and email on sign-in plus tool names, and reports errors to Sentry. NEON_MCP_DISABLE_ANALYTICS=1 only applies if you host the server yourself.
• Deprecated paths. Old configs using the npm package or the /sse URL should move to https://mcp.neon.tech/mcp.

Pros and cons

Pros

• Hosted endpoint with OAuth, so no keys in config files
• Branch-based migrations and query tuning reduce risk to the main branch
• Read-only mode, category filters, project scoping and pinned Postgres roles
• Broad client support documented by Neon
• Open source under the MIT license and actively updated

Cons

• The local stdio package is deprecated, so offline or self-hosted use takes extra work
• Write access is on by default unless you narrow the grant
• Neon recommends it for development, not production
• Collects analytics tied to your account

Who it is for

Neon MCP suits developers who build on Neon and want their coding agent to create databases, branch them and ship schema changes without leaving the editor. Its read-only and role-pinning options also make it a reasonable choice for giving a data agent narrow access to one project. If you are on another Postgres host, look at the alternatives below or browse the database category.

Pricing

As of October 2026 the MCP server is free to use and its code is open source under MIT. You pay only for Neon itself:

• Free: $0 per month with no credit card, up to 100 projects, 100 CU-hours of compute per project and 1 GB of storage per project
• Launch: usage-based, compute from $0.106 per CU-hour and storage at $0.35 per GB-month
• Scale: usage-based, compute from $0.222 per CU-hour and storage at $0.35 per GB-month

Launch and Scale have no monthly minimum.

Alternatives

• Supabase MCP server: connects AI tools to your Supabase projects, another hosted Postgres platform
• PostgreSQL MCP server: the reference server for any Postgres database; note that it is archived
• MongoDB MCP server: MongoDB's official server if your data lives in a document database

Sources

• https://github.com/neondatabase/mcp-server-neon
• https://neon.com/docs/ai/neon-mcp-server
• https://neon.com/docs/ai/connect-mcp-clients-to-neon
• https://www.npmjs.com/package/@neondatabase/mcp-server-neon
• https://neon.com/pricing