Configuration¶

Configure the server with environment variables in your MCP host configuration (env block).

Variables are read when the server process starts.

Variable	Required	Default	Description
`VMCLI_LOG_LEVEL`	No	`WARNING`	Python logging level
`VMCLI_OUTPUT_FORMAT`	No	`json`	Query format: `json`, `yaml`, `toml` (`text` aliases to `json`)
`VMCLI_PATH`	No	Platform default	Absolute path to `vmcli`
`VMCLI_SEARCH_PATHS`	No	Platform default	Colon-separated directories scanned by `vm_list`
`VMCLI_TIMEOUT_SECONDS`	No	`120`	Max seconds per `vmcli` subprocess

Example¶

VS Code: .vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "community-vmware-desktop-hypervisor-mcp": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "community-vmware-desktop-hypervisor-mcp",
      "env": {
        "VMCLI_PATH": "/Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Public/vmcli",
        "VMCLI_SEARCH_PATHS": "/Applications/Virtual Machines:/Users/example/Virtual Machines.localized",
        "VMCLI_OUTPUT_FORMAT": "json",
        "VMCLI_LOG_LEVEL": "INFO"
      }
    }
  }
}

Default Paths¶

Default paths for vmcli.

OS	Platform	Default Path
macOS	VMware Fusion	`/Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Public/vmcli`
Windows	VMware Workstation	`C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Workstation\vmcli.exe`
Linux	VMware Workstation	`/usr/bin/vmcli`

If the default file is missing, set VMCLI_PATH. The server fails at startup with a clear error when vmcli cannot be resolved.

Search Paths¶

When VMCLI_SEARCH_PATHS is unset, macOS also scans:

/Applications/Virtual Machines
~/Virtual Machines.localized
~/Documents/Virtual Machines.localized

Windows and Linux scan common home-directory virtual machine folders.

Set VMCLI_SEARCH_PATHS explicitly when virtual machines reside elsewhere.

Use absolute paths in MCP host env blocks. Tilde (~) is not expanded by the server.

Path Resolution¶

For tools that require a virtual machine:

Absolute path to a .vmx file
Inventory id from vm_list
Inventory display_name from vm_list (case-insensitive)

Exceptions: no vmx_path required:

VM → Create (new VM)
VMTemplate → Deploy (from template path)