Trivy MCP Server

Trivy MCP Server Plugin

The Trivy MCP Server plugin brings the power of Aqua Security’s Trivy vulnerability scanner into the Model Context Protocol ecosystem, enabling AI assistants to perform security analyses directly from within IDEs and other MCP‑enabled environments. By exposing Trivy’s scanning capabilities as a protocol server, developers can query security status in natural language and receive structured responses that the assistant can interpret, transform, or act upon.

This server solves a common pain point for developers who need real‑time security insights without leaving their coding workflow. Traditional vulnerability scanning tools require manual execution, result parsing, and context switching between terminals and editors. With Trivy MCP, the scanner runs as a background service that listens for AI‑initiated queries. A developer can simply ask, “Are there any vulnerabilities in this project?” and receive a concise report—complete with severity levels, affected packages, and remediation guidance—directly in the editor or assistant interface. This eliminates repetitive command‑line operations, reduces context loss, and accelerates the feedback loop between coding and security compliance.

Key capabilities include:

• Natural Language Scanning: The server interprets plain‑English questions, mapping them to Trivy scan commands and returning human‑readable results.
• Multi‑mode scanning: It supports filesystem scans for local codebases, container image vulnerability checks, and remote repository analyses—all triggered by a single query.
• Aqua Platform integration: Optional connectivity to Aqua’s cloud services adds policy enforcement and advanced analytics, allowing teams to enforce compliance standards automatically.
• Transport flexibility: Whether the client communicates via standard I/O streams or Server‑Sent Events, the server adapts to provide real‑time updates without blocking.
• IDE integration: Out‑of‑the‑box support for VS Code, Cursor, JetBrains IDEs, and Claude Desktop means developers can invoke scans from familiar interfaces without additional configuration.

In practice, Trivy MCP is invaluable for continuous security integration in dev‑ops pipelines. During code reviews, an assistant can surface hidden vulnerabilities before merge requests are approved. In CI/CD workflows, the server can be queried automatically to gate deployments based on vulnerability thresholds. Security teams benefit from a single, consistent API that feeds both human‑friendly reports and machine‑readable data for downstream tooling. By embedding Trivy’s comprehensive scanning directly into the AI assistant’s context, teams achieve faster feedback, higher code quality, and stronger security posture—all without leaving their preferred development environment.