> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.mcp-use.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Self-Hosting

> Deploy your own MCP Inspector instance with Docker.

Run the Inspector on your own infrastructure when you need full control over your debugging environment.

The official Docker image is published at [`mcpuse/inspector`](https://hub.docker.com/r/mcpuse/inspector) on Docker Hub.

## Quick start

```bash theme={null}
docker run -d -p 127.0.0.1:8080:8080 --name mcp-inspector mcpuse/inspector:latest
```

Then open `http://localhost:8080` to access your self-hosted Inspector.

<Warning>
  Anyone who can reach the Inspector can use it to connect to and call your MCP servers. The examples bind to `127.0.0.1` so the Inspector is only reachable from the host itself. If you need remote access, put it behind a reverse proxy with authentication and TLS, or restrict access with firewall rules — don't publish port 8080 on all interfaces.
</Warning>

## Deployment options

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Docker Run">
    ```bash theme={null}
    docker run -d \
      --name mcp-inspector \
      -p 127.0.0.1:8080:8080 \
      mcpuse/inspector:latest
    ```
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Docker Compose">
    ```yaml theme={null}
    services:
      mcp-inspector:
        image: mcpuse/inspector:latest
        ports:
          - "127.0.0.1:8080:8080"
        restart: unless-stopped
        healthcheck:
          test: ["CMD", "wget", "-q", "--spider", "http://localhost:8080/inspector"]
          interval: 30s
          timeout: 10s
          retries: 3
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

<Note>
  The image is based on `node:20-alpine`, which ships `wget` (BusyBox) but not `curl` — use `wget` in healthchecks.
</Note>

## Ports

The container always listens on port `8080` — the image's start command pins it with `--port 8080`, so a `PORT` environment variable has no effect. To serve on a different host port, remap it with Docker instead:

```bash theme={null}
docker run -d -p 127.0.0.1:3001:8080 mcpuse/inspector:latest
```

`NODE_ENV=production` is already set in the image; no environment variables are required.

## Air-gapped installation

For hosts without registry access, transfer the image as a tarball:

```bash theme={null}
# On a connected host
docker pull mcpuse/inspector:latest
docker save mcpuse/inspector:latest -o mcp-inspector.tar

# On the air-gapped host
docker load -i mcp-inspector.tar
```

<Note>
  When connecting from a self-hosted Inspector to an MCP server on another host, the browser must be able to reach the server directly, or you can use the proxy connection mode. See [Connection settings](/inspector/connection-settings) for when to use each.
</Note>

## Alternatives

Self-hosting is one of three ways to run the Inspector:

| Option      | Command                                                | Best for                           |
| ----------- | ------------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------- |
| Hosted      | [inspector.mcp-use.com](https://inspector.mcp-use.com) | Quick testing, no install          |
| Local CLI   | `npx @mcp-use/inspector`                               | Local development                  |
| Self-hosted | `docker run mcpuse/inspector:latest`                   | Production, enterprise, air-gapped |

Servers built with `mcp-use` also auto-mount the Inspector at `/inspector` — see the [Inspector overview](/inspector/index).