New Relic MCP server for observing AI coding assistants (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, etc.)
io.github.newrelic-experimental/preflight — MCP Server
The io.github.newrelic-experimental/preflight MCP server provides New Relic–based observability for AI coding assistants such as Claude Code, Cursor, and Copilot.
🛠️ Key Features
New Relic MCP server focused on observing AI coding assistants
Supports common assistant environments mentioned in the description
🚀 Use Cases
Observing behavior or activity of AI coding assistants (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, etc.)
Using the server as part of an experimental New Relic observability workflow
⚡ Developer Benefits
Clear association with New Relic observability for AI coding tooling
Repository describes “Preflight” and includes linked docs and examples
⚠️ Limitations
Source data does not specify available MCP tools, APIs, configuration options, dashboards details, or setup steps beyond the provided excerpt
Your AI coding assistant makes hundreds of decisions every session — what to read, what to edit, when to run commands. But you can't see any of it. You know it was fast, but was it efficient? You got a PR merged, but how much did it cost? You fixed a bug, but did it get stuck in a loop first?
Preflight is observability for agentic coding — the actions, cost, and efficiency of your AI coding assistant as it works. See exactly what's happening, how much it costs, and where your AI is wasting time.
Local-first by design. Preflight runs entirely on your machine and sends your data nowhere by default. A live dashboard at localhost:7777 shows your sessions in real time, fully offline. Connect a New Relic account only when you want more — team rollups, alerting, and cross-session history. You choose: local-only, New Relic, or both.
Demo
Preflight dashboard animation
See cost breakdown, efficiency scoring, anti-patterns, and live session tracking in action.
What You Get
Visibility
Every action captured — file reads, edits, commands, searches
Live session dashboard — see what's happening right now
Historical trends — analyze patterns over weeks and months
Cost Control
USD spend tracking — per session, day, and week
Per-model and cache breakdown — know which models cost most and how efficiently context is reused
Budget alerts — get notified before you overspend
Forecasting — project monthly burn rate
Efficiency Insights
Efficiency score — 0–100 score per task, based on how directly the AI worked
Personalized recommendations — optimize your AI workflow
Weekly coaching reports — narrative analysis vs. your historical baseline
Dashboards
Local dashboard — live session view at localhost:7777, no account required
8 pre-built New Relic dashboards — deploy in seconds (New Relic mode):
Overview — session stats, cost summary, top tools
Personal — 30-day self-reflection scoped to you
Session Detail — deep-dive into a single session's tool calls
Team View — aggregated cost and efficiency across developers
Manager View — high-level team metrics, no tool-call content
Adoption & Cost — adoption momentum, spend, MCP usage, and per-developer outcomes for engineering managers
Platform Comparison — Claude Code vs. Cursor vs. Windsurf, etc.
Security Audit — audit trail of sensitive file access
Quick Start
1. Install
bash
npm install -g @newrelic/preflight
Using Smithery? Installing Preflight from the Smithery MCP registry wires up the MCP server for you, but Smithery has no mechanism to write Claude Code hooks. After install, ask Claude Code to call the nr_observe_install_hooks MCP tool (it will offer to do this automatically once nr_observe_health reports setup_required: true), then restart Claude Code to activate monitoring.
2. Run setup
bash
preflight setup
The wizard defaults to local mode — press Enter through the prompts and you're set. It wires Preflight into your AI tool (hooks + MCP server) and writes config to ~/.newrelic-preflight/. Takes under a minute, no account required.
Using GitHub Copilot? The wizard also asks to install Copilot hooks — saying yes configures both the Copilot CLI and VS Code Copilot Chat automatically (hooks, MCP registration, and the fix for VS Code's hook double-capture), so Copilot gets the same tool-call and cost metrics Claude Code does. Run it standalone anytime with preflight install --copilot. See docs/ADAPTERS.md for details.
When prompted, pick a mode:
Mode
What it does
New Relic account?
local(default)
Everything stays on your machine; live dashboard at localhost:7777
Not needed
cloud
Ships telemetry to New Relic
Required
both
Local dashboard and New Relic
Required
3. Start coding
Restart your AI tool — hooks and the MCP server load at session start. Every tool call is captured automatically. Open http://localhost:7777 to watch your session live.
Using Kiro? Add Preflight as a Kiro Power for the
nr_observe_* query tools — see the doc for install steps and how to add
automatic tool-call capture on top.
Using Claude Code? You can skip the npm install above and add Preflight as a Claude Code plugin instead:
Coverage isn't uniform — some platforms capture every built-in tool call, others (Zed, Continue.dev, Cline) only see calls routed to Preflight's own MCP tools. See ADAPTERS.md for what each platform can and can't observe, and per-platform setup steps.
Connect New Relic (optional)
Local mode is fully featured on its own. Connect a New Relic account to unlock:
Team & manager dashboards across multiple developers
Alerting on cost spikes, low efficiency, and stuck loops
Cross-session history, trends, and weekly coaching reports
Re-run preflight setup and choose cloud or both, or configure it non-interactively:
You'll need a license key (telemetry ingest) and your account ID, plus a user API key (NRAK-…) to deploy dashboards and alerts. See ADVANCED.md for alerts, OTLP export to other backends, and Terraform.
No dashboard until you run deploy-dashboards. Cloud mode ships telemetry to New Relic as soon as it's configured, but nothing creates a dashboard automatically — that's the separate step above, and it needs a different credential (a user API key, not your license key). Until you run it, there's no UI to look at. In the meantime, query the raw events directly in New Relic's Query Builder, e.g.:
sql
SELECT*FROM AiToolCall SINCE 1hour ago
Once deploy-dashboards succeeds, find the dashboards under your New Relic account's Dashboards section.
Data ingest note: Telemetry sent to New Relic counts against your account's data ingest. On paid plans, standard ingest rates apply. Monitor your usage under NR One → Data Management → Data Ingestion.
An AI coding tool (Claude Code recommended for deepest integration)
Optional
New Relic account — only for cloud/both mode. Skip it to run local-only (the default).
User API key (NRAK-…) — only needed to deploy dashboards and alerts
Other Commands
bash
preflight doctor # Run 10 diagnostic checks and print actionable fix commands
preflight validate # Check config for syntax errors and unknown keys
preflight update # Pull latest version, rebuild, and offer to restart a running dashboard (source installs only — npm installs: npm install -g @newrelic/preflight@latest)
preflight local# List running --local dashboard processes and live --stdio MCP processes
preflight local --clean # Kill orphaned --local processes and --stdio processes with a missing binary (prompts for confirmation)
preflight uninstall # Remove hooks and MCP config (prompts with a summary first)
preflight uninstall --yes# Skip the confirmation prompt (for scripts and CI)
preflight uninstall --daemon # Remove only the background dashboard daemon
Add --project to install/uninstall to scope changes to the current directory only.
WSL users:preflight setup will ask which Claude Code you're running. You can also set it explicitly:
--windows-cc — Windows Claude Code (the desktop app); uses wsl.exe hooks and Windows paths
--linux-cc — Linux Claude Code installed via npm inside WSL
