--- title: MCP Easy Mode | daily.dev description: The Octopus Easy Mode MCP server is a community project that exposes Octopus runbooks directly as MCP tools, allowing AI agents to execute complex DevOps... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/mcp-easy-mode-5jisfwuvx twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: MCP Easy Mode | daily.dev og:description: The Octopus Easy Mode MCP server is a community project that exposes Octopus runbooks directly as MCP tools, allowing AI agents to execute complex DevOps... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/mcp-easy-mode-5jisfwuvx og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/5JiSFWUVx.png og:image:alt: MCP Easy Mode og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # MCP Easy Mode **[OctopusDeploy](https://daily.dev/sources/octopusdeploy)** · 15 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary The Octopus Easy Mode MCP server is a community project that exposes Octopus runbooks directly as MCP tools, allowing AI agents to execute complex DevOps processes without needing to know the underlying Octopus structure. This approach reduces token usage compared to general-purpose MCP servers, since the LLM delegates execution to Octopus rather than reasoning through each step. The post walks through setup via Docker, creating runbooks with parameters and manual intervention (elicitation), practical examples like provisioning EC2 instances and restarting Kubernetes pods, and governance features like audit logs and centralized credential management. A token usage comparison shows significant cost savings versus the standard Octopus MCP server. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How does exposing Octopus runbooks as MCP tools reduce LLM token usage compared to a general-purpose MCP server? Running the same runbook through the Easy Mode MCP server dropped Claude Opus 5 cache read tokens from 157.8k to 29.0k and cache write from 12.7k to 5.0k, cutting cost from about $0.1956 to $0.0497 per call. This happens because the LLM only needs to know a tool exists rather than reasoning through which space, project, and runbook IDs to query and chain together. _Teams weighing MCP token costs against reliability can track efficiency approaches like this one on daily.dev._ ### How do you let an MCP client run a runbook without the end user knowing it is backed by Octopus? The Octopus Easy Mode MCP server exposes runbooks directly as MCP tools, so a client can call something like "Get the current time from the easymode mcp server" without ever mentioning Octopus or runbooks. The server creates a new snapshot of the runbook, executes it, and returns the result, hiding the underlying implementation entirely from the prompt. _Developers building agentic workflows around internal tools can follow patterns like this via daily.dev._ ### How does elicitation work in the Octopus Easy Mode MCP server for runbooks that need manual intervention steps? Elicitation is supported by mapping manual intervention steps in a runbook to MCP client prompts, so a runbook with an "Ask for Name" intervention step asks the user for input mid-execution, tested successfully with Visual Studio Code and GitHub Copilot Chat. For clients that don't support elicitation, setting EASY_MODE_MCP_AUTO_POPULATE_INTERVENTION_NOTES to True auto-populates the notes so the runbook runs unattended. _Anyone automating manual approval steps with AI agents can compare implementations like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [End-to-end Kubernetes deployments with the Octopus Deploy MCP server](https://daily.dev/posts/end-to-end-kubernetes-deployments-with-the-octopus-deploy-mcp-server-pbapacun0) · OctopusDeploy · 3 upvotes · 0 comments - [10 MCP servers for devops](https://daily.dev/posts/10-mcp-servers-for-devops-7az0pjz6n) · InfoWorld · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [10 MCP Servers to Optimize Developer Workflows](https://daily.dev/posts/10-mcp-servers-to-optimize-developer-workflows-lhcgudgfj) · Nordic APIs · 33 upvotes · 0 comments - [Using MCP Servers with Docker: Tools to Multi-Agent](https://daily.dev/posts/using-mcp-servers-with-docker-tools-to-multi-agent-6opq24s9m) · Docker · 2 upvotes · 1 comments --- Tags: [#ai-agents](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-agents), [#docker](https://daily.dev/tags/docker), [#mcp](https://daily.dev/tags/mcp), [#octopus-deploy](https://daily.dev/tags/octopus-deploy) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/mcp-easy-mode-5jisfwuvx) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"MCP Easy Mode","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/mcp-easy-mode-5jisfwuvx","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/mcp-easy-mode-5jisfwuvx"},"datePublished":"2026-08-05T07:36:00.591Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T06:29:04.076Z","description":"The Octopus Easy Mode MCP server is a community project that exposes Octopus runbooks directly as MCP tools, allowing AI agents to execute complex DevOps...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/338b2b77277598c0a320d5284270b72c?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/338b2b77277598c0a320d5284270b72c?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"OctopusDeploy","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"OctopusDeploy","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/71110ae886d64eac9f3a01496feb2bd8","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/octopusdeploy"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/mcp-easy-mode-5jisfwuvx","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"ai-agents,docker,mcp,octopus-deploy","timeRequired":"PT15M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"OctopusDeploy","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/octopusdeploy"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"MCP Easy Mode"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/mcp-easy-mode-5jisfwuvx#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How does exposing Octopus runbooks as MCP tools reduce LLM token usage compared to a general-purpose MCP server?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Running the same runbook through the Easy Mode MCP server dropped Claude Opus 5 cache read tokens from 157.8k to 29.0k and cache write from 12.7k to 5.0k, cutting cost from about $0.1956 to $0.0497 per call. This happens because the LLM only needs to know a tool exists rather than reasoning through which space, project, and runbook IDs to query and chain together. Teams weighing MCP token costs against reliability can track efficiency approaches like this one on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"How do you let an MCP client run a runbook without the end user knowing it is backed by Octopus?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The Octopus Easy Mode MCP server exposes runbooks directly as MCP tools, so a client can call something like \"Get the current time from the easymode mcp server\" without ever mentioning Octopus or runbooks. The server creates a new snapshot of the runbook, executes it, and returns the result, hiding the underlying implementation entirely from the prompt. Developers building agentic workflows around internal tools can follow patterns like this via daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"How does elicitation work in the Octopus Easy Mode MCP server for runbooks that need manual intervention steps?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Elicitation is supported by mapping manual intervention steps in a runbook to MCP client prompts, so a runbook with an \"Ask for Name\" intervention step asks the user for input mid-execution, tested successfully with Visual Studio Code and GitHub Copilot Chat. For clients that don't support elicitation, setting EASY_MODE_MCP_AUTO_POPULATE_INTERVENTION_NOTES to True auto-populates the notes so the runbook runs unattended. Anyone automating manual approval steps with AI agents can compare implementations like this on daily.dev."}}]} ```