GNS3 Packet Capture

What it does

GNS3 Packet Capture provides tools to control packet captures within GNS3 lab projects. It exposes operations to start and stop captures on specific links, finalize and retrieve PCAP files stored on the GNS3 server, and return live stream URLs when supported. This enables automated troubleshooting, protocol verification, and evidence capture for networking exercises.

When to use it

Use this skill when debugging connectivity or protocol issues in a GNS3 topology, when collecting traffic for Wireshark analysis, or when automating network test scenarios that require packet records. It’s appropriate for network engineers, students, and automated test suites interacting with GNS3.

What's included

• Scripts: an MCP server command to run the GNS3 MCP server (stdio transport) and tools for start/stop/get capture operations
• References: notes about required env vars (GNS3_URL, GNS3_USER, GNS3_PASSWORD) and integration with complementary skills (link management, node operations, packet analysis)
• Instructions: usage examples for starting captures, naming files, stopping captures cleanly, and retrieving stream URLs

Compatible agents

Suited for agent runtimes that can call Python MCP servers or control network lab infrastructure (Codex CLI, Claude Code, Cursor).