What Is AWS Knowledge Base MCP Server?

AWS Knowledge Base MCP Server connects Claude to Amazon Bedrock Knowledge Bases, enabling Claude Code and Claude Desktop to query indexed enterprise documents directly through the MCP protocol. It is maintained by AWS under the aws-samples GitHub organization.

Quick Facts

Field	Value
Package	`@aws/knowledge-bases-for-amazon-bedrock-mcp-server`
Install	`npx @aws/knowledge-bases-for-amazon-bedrock-mcp-server`
Compatible with	Claude Code, Claude Desktop
Status	active
GitHub	https://github.com/aws-samples/amazon-bedrock-samples

What You Can Do With It

Enterprise search: Query documents indexed in a Bedrock Knowledge Base using natural language from inside Claude.
Document retrieval: Fetch specific passages or chunks from your organization’s internal document stores.
RAG pipelines: Pipe retrieved context directly into Claude’s responses without building a separate retrieval layer.
Knowledge management: Surface content from structured knowledge bases maintained in Amazon S3, SharePoint, or other supported Bedrock data sources.

How to Set It Up

Prerequisites:
– An AWS account with an active Amazon Bedrock Knowledge Base already configured
– AWS credentials available in your environment (AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID, AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY, and optionally AWS_SESSION_TOKEN, or an IAM role with Bedrock access)
– The Knowledge Base ID from your AWS console

Install and run:

npx @aws/knowledge-bases-for-amazon-bedrock-mcp-server
**Claude Desktop config** (`claude_desktop_config.json`):

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "aws-knowledge-base": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@aws/knowledge-bases-for-amazon-bedrock-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID": "your-access-key-id",
        "AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY": "your-secret-access-key",
        "AWS_REGION": "us-east-1",
        "KNOWLEDGE_BASE_ID": "your-knowledge-base-id"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Code config (.claude/mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "aws-knowledge-base": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@aws/knowledge-bases-for-amazon-bedrock-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID": "your-access-key-id",
        "AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY": "your-secret-access-key",
        "AWS_REGION": "us-east-1",
        "KNOWLEDGE_BASE_ID": "your-knowledge-base-id"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace placeholder values with your actual AWS credentials, target region, and Knowledge Base ID.

Works Best With

This server is verified compatible with Claude Code and Claude Desktop. Both clients support environment variable injection through their MCP config files, which is the primary mechanism for passing AWS credentials to this server.

Known Limitations

AWS credentials required: This server will not function without valid AWS credentials that have bedrock:RetrieveAndGenerate or bedrock:Retrieve IAM permissions scoped to your Knowledge Base.
Pre-configured Knowledge Base required: The server queries an existing Bedrock Knowledge Base; it does not create or index documents. You must set up and sync the Knowledge Base in AWS before use.
Regional availability: Amazon Bedrock is not available in all AWS regions. Confirm your target region supports Bedrock Knowledge Bases before configuring.
Rate limits: AWS Bedrock applies service quotas on retrieval requests. High-frequency queries from Claude may hit throttling limits depending on your account tier.
Credential exposure risk: Storing AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID and AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY in plaintext config files is a security risk. Prefer IAM roles, AWS SSO, or environment-level credential injection in production environments.