Scout AP

Scout Monitoring MCP brings Scout APM data directly to your AI assistant, so you can access traces, errors, and performance insights from within your editor or IDE workflow. It lets you query applications, endpoints, traces, and insights to diagnose performance problems and fix issues faster.

How to use

You connect an MCP client to the Scout Monitoring MCP to start querying data. With the Scout MCP available, your AI assistant can list apps, fetch metrics, pull traces, and surface insights like N+1 queries or memory bloat. Use the provided tools to create issues, tickets, or PRs that address performance and error problems directly from your editor or ticketing system.

How to install

Prerequisites you need before starting:

• Docker installed on your machine

• A Scout Monitoring account with an API key (the read-only API key you can generate on the Settings page)

Install and run the Scout Monitoring MCP using the Docker image. The MCP is started by your AI assistant or your local environment, using the following command and environment variable.

Configure an MCP client

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "scout_apm": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": ["run", "--rm", "-i", "--env", "SCOUT_API_KEY", "scoutapp/scout-mcp-local"],
      "env": { "SCOUT_API_KEY": "your_scout_api_key_here" }
    }
  }
}

What you’ll run manually

If you need a quick setup without wizard steps, you can run the MCP server directly with Docker and provide your API key in the environment.

Notes on usage

The MCP client will expose tools to list apps, fetch metrics, retrieve endpoint traces, and pull insights. Use these to build automated workflows, generate issues, create tickets, or drive code fixes based on real performance data.

Security considerations

Keep your Scout API key secure. Do not commit keys to version control. Use environment variable management on your host or a secrets manager for production setups.

Troubleshooting

If the MCP server does not start, verify that the SCOUT_API_KEY environment variable is provided. Check that Docker can pull the scoutapp/scout-mcp-local image and that your API key has the correct scope for read access.

Notes and examples

Examples above show how to start the MCP via Docker. You can adapt the command for your environment or integrate it into your favorite MCP client’s configuration.

Available tools

list_apps

List available Scout APM applications with optional filtering by last active date.

get_app_metrics

Fetch individual metric data for a specific application, such as response_time and throughput.

get_app_endpoints

Retrieve all endpoints for an application with aggregated performance metrics.

get_endpoint_metrics

Get timeseries metrics for a specific endpoint within an application.

get_app_endpoint_traces

Get recent traces for an app filtered to a specific endpoint.

get_app_trace

Retrieve an individual trace with all spans and detailed execution information.

get_app_error_groups

Fetch recent error groups for an app, with optional endpoint filtering.

get_app_insights

Obtain performance insights, including N+1 queries and memory-related issues.