Network Sketcher (Local MCP): MCP server, setup and security

What Network Sketcher (Local MCP) does

According to its repository: “Local-first network design: create Cisco-style network master files, L1/L2/L3 topology diagrams, HTML viewers, device tables and AI context files.”

An MCP server gives an AI agent extra tools it calls during the conversation: the agent reads their description, decides to use them and gets the result back. Network Sketcher (Local MCP) is listed under Design, art and accessibility, a category of 95 servers in the directory, where it ranks #15 by stars.

Topics declared by the repository: ai-agent, cisco, claude-code, cursor, network-automation, network-diagram.

Installing and connecting Network Sketcher (Local MCP)

No package or remote server is declared in the official MCP registry: you install it from source, following the repository README.

Like any MCP server, you declare it in your client's configuration (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Codex…): a name, the command that starts it or its URL, and any environment variables. The client then starts it and lists its tools. Project language: Python. Listed systems: macOS, Windows, Linux.

Security: what to check

An MCP server runs code with the rights you give it, and the model reads its tool descriptions: a malicious or compromised server can hijack the agent. Read the code, or pick a maintained and widely used server, before connecting it.

None of the risk signals we track (system access, secrets, missing licence, abandonment) applies to Network Sketcher (Local MCP). That does not replace reading the code.

Good practice: grant only the rights needed (least privilege), require human approval for irreversible actions, and run the AI agent security check.

Project activity and maintenance

Created on August 8, 2023, the cisco-open/network-sketcher repository has 413 stars and 24 forks, with 0 open issues. It has more stars than 86% of the servers in the directory. It received changes this month. Version published in the registry: 3.1.2 (May 20, 2026).

Stars measure attention, not quality: a recent, heavily promoted project can collect them fast, while a useful but niche server will have few.