SonarQube MCP Server: Tools, Setup and Security

The SonarQube MCP Server lets an AI agent pull issues, quality gate status, security hotspots, coverage and metrics from SonarQube Cloud or SonarQube Server. It can also analyze code in the agent's context. SonarSource publishes it as a container image and source-available project.

Checked against: SonarQube MCP Server README on 28 October 2026. eSEOspace did not install or test this server.

At a glance

What it can do

By default, the server loads these toolsets: analysis, ide, issues, projects, quality-gates, rules, duplications, measures, security-hotspots, dependency-risks, coverage and cag. Others such as sources, languages, portfolios, system, webhooks and architecture are opt-in.

Tool names in the README include:

• Issues: search_sonar_issues_in_projects, change_sonar_issue_status
• Security hotspots: search_security_hotspots, show_security_hotspot, change_security_hotspot_status
• Quality gates: get_project_quality_gate_status, list_quality_gates
• Projects: search_my_sonarqube_projects, list_branches, list_pull_requests
• Measures and coverage: get_component_measures, search_files_by_coverage, get_file_coverage_details
• Analysis: analyze_file_list, run_advanced_code_analysis, and the deprecated analyze_code_snippet
• Dependency risks: search_dependency_risks (needs SonarQube Advanced Security; Server 2025.4 Enterprise or higher)
• System (Server only): get_system_health, get_system_logs, get_system_info

Some tools, including the "Vortex" context and analysis tools, need extra organization entitlements and run only in stdio mode.

How to connect it

Sonar offers a configuration generator that builds a client config for you. For Claude Code with SonarQube Cloud, the README gives:

claude mcp add sonarqube \
  --env SONARQUBE_TOKEN=$SONAR_TOKEN \
  --env SONARQUBE_ORG=$SONAR_ORG \
  -- docker run --init --pull=always -i --rm -e SONARQUBE_TOKEN -e SONARQUBE_ORG sonarsource/sonarqube-mcp

For SonarQube Cloud US, add --env SONARQUBE_URL=https://sonarqube.us. For SonarQube Server, set SONARQUBE_URL to your server and use a USER token. Project tokens and global tokens will not work properly.

For team deployments, set SONARQUBE_TRANSPORT=http or https to serve Streamable HTTP at /mcp. Sonar recommends HTTPS for multi-user production deployments.

Security notes

• Read-only mode. SONARQUBE_READ_ONLY=true disables write tools such as changing issue or hotspot status. Over HTTP, clients can tighten this per request but cannot lift a server-level restriction.
• Fewer toolsets. Sonar notes that every enabled tool loads into the agent's context, so trimming toolsets cuts tokens and exposure.
• Token hygiene. The README warns that your token "is a sensitive credential." Avoid putting it in command-line arguments that land in shell history, and never commit it.
• OAuth scopes. On the hosted Cloud service, mcp:tools:read and mcp:tools:write scopes separately control read and write tools.
• Open endpoints. In HTTP mode, /health and /info respond without authentication.

The MCP project's security best practices also cover risks such as token passthrough, confused deputy attacks and scope minimization.

Read excessive permissions and secrets and credential leakage, and see the MCP Security Center.

Alternatives

• Snyk MCP server for security scans of code, dependencies and containers.
• GitHub MCP Server, with its code_quality and code_security toolsets.
• JetBrains MCP server for inspections and problems straight from your IDE.

Next step

Turn on read-only mode first, so the agent can explain issues and quality gates without changing their status. Our guide on how to choose MCP servers covers what to check next, and the MCP server directory has more developer tools.

Frequently asked questions