⚠️ Warning! This project is in its very early stages of development. Expect frequent changes and potential breaking updates as we iterate on features and architecture.

AI Assistant for Rancher

Architecture

The system is composed of a UI Extension for user interaction, a ReAct Agent for intelligent decision-making, and an MCP Server that acts as the intermediary between the agent and the Rancher API.

ReAct Agent

The ReAct Agent is the orchestrator of the system’s intelligence. It leverages a Large Language Model (LLM) as its reasoning engine, while the agent itself provides the structure, coordination, and secure execution of actions.

🧠 LLM (Reasoning Engine)

• Interprets user inputs expressed in natural language.
• Performs the reasoning: breaks down complex requests into smaller steps.
• Decides what should happen next (keep reasoning vs. take action).
• Synthesizes outputs from tools into clear, human-readable responses.

⚙️ Agent (Orchestrator)

• Wraps the LLM with the ReAct (Reason + Act)
• Decides when to let the LLM keep reasoning or when to act on its instructions.
• Calls external tools (via the MCP Server) as directed by the LLM.
• Ensures secure interactions by passing the user’s Rancher token to the MCP server for authentication and authorization.

MCP Server

The MCP Server acts as a secure, controlled gateway between the ReAct Agent and the Rancher and Kubernetes APIs. Its functions include:

• Exposing Tools: It provides a set of well-defined, safe tools (API endpoints) that the ReAct Agent can call. These tools abstract away the complexity of direct Rancher/Kubernetes API interactions.
• Interaction with Rancher: It translates tool calls from the agent into the appropriate API requests to the Rancher management server, retrieving or modifying resources as needed.

UI Extension

The UI Extension provides the user-facing chat interface within the Rancher dashboard. It is designed to be a seamless part of the Rancher experience and is responsible for:

• User Input: It captures user queries and sends them to the ReAct Agent.
• Displaying Responses: It receives responses from the ReAct Agent and presents them in a chat-like format.

How It Works (Flow)

1. User Request → Agent → LLM
   The user submits a natural language query through the UI Extension.
2. LLM Reasoning
   The LLM interprets the request, reasons about the problem, and proposes a plan.
3. Agent Acting
   If the plan requires external operations, the agent calls the appropriate MCP Server tools.
4. LLM Response Formulation
   The LLM takes the tool outputs and crafts a coherent, human-readable response.
5. Response → User
   The answer is returned to the user through the UI Extension.

graph TD
    subgraph "A. User Interaction"
        User[User / Analyst / DevOps]
    end
    subgraph "B. Rancher AI Assistant (Processing)"
        Agent(Agent)
        LLM(LLM local or online)
        MCPServer(MCP Server)
    end
    subgraph "C. Infrastructure"
        Kubernetes(Clusters)
    end
    %% Step 1: User sends intent
    User -- "1. Query " --> Agent
    %% Step 2 & 3: Initial Reasoning Loop
    Agent -- "2. Tool Planning Request" --> LLM
    LLM -- "3. Action Plan (e.g., list_pods tool)" --> Agent
    %% Step 4: Action Execution
    Agent -- "4. Execute Tool via MCP" --> MCPServer
    %% Step 5 & 6: Cluster Interaction
    MCPServer -- "5. Secure Action " --> Kubernetes
    Kubernetes -- "6. Raw Results / Status" --> MCPServer
    %% Step 7: Raw results back to Agent
    MCPServer -- "7. Raw Tool Output" --> Agent
    %% Step 8 & 9: Final Interpretation Loop (Crucial step)
    Agent -- "8. Interpret Raw Output" --> LLM
    LLM -- "9. Formatted Final Answer" --> Agent
    %% Step 10: Final Response to User
    Agent -- "10. Final Conversational Response" --> User
    %% Styles
    style User fill:#e0f2f7,stroke:#1e88e5,stroke-width:2px
    style Agent fill:#d4edda,stroke:#28a745,stroke-width:2px
    style LLM fill:#fff3cd,stroke:#ffc107,stroke-width:2px
    style MCPServer fill:#cce5ff,stroke:#007bff,stroke-width:2px
    style Kubernetes fill:#f8d7da,stroke:#dc3545,stroke-width:2px

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Installation Steps

1. Add the Helm Repository First, add the Rancher AI Agent Helm repository to your cluster.

helm repo add rancher-ai https://rancher-sandbox.github.io/rancher-ai-agent

2. Update Your Helm Repositories Fetch the latest list of charts from all your configured repositories.

helm repo update

3. Install the Chart Install the agent chart into a new namespace using the values.yaml file you created.

helm install rancher-ai-agent rancher-ai/agent \
  --namespace cattle-ai-agent-system \
  --create-namespace \
  --devel \
  -f values.yaml
--create-namespace

--devel: Includes pre-release versions of the chart, which is currently required.

-f values.yaml: Applies your custom LLM configuration.

Accessing the UI

Once the agent is installed, you need to install the UI extension

RBAC

To use the AI agent a user needs get permission to the 'llm-config' secret and the 'http:rancher-ai-agent:80' services/proxy.

NOTE: This is a temporary solution. The following GlobalRole can be used to grant permissions to use the AI Agent:

apiVersion: management.cattle.io/v3
displayName: ai
kind: GlobalRole
metadata:
  name: ai-agent
namespacedRules:
  cattle-ai-agent-system:
    - apiGroups:
        - ''
      resourceNames:
        - http:rancher-ai-agent:80
      resources:
        - services/proxy
      verbs:
        - get
    - apiGroups:
        - ''
      resourceNames:
        - llm-config
      resources:
        - secrets
      verbs:
        - get