nuc

A command-line interface and MCP server for the Nucleus Security vulnerability management platform.

• nuc — CLI for managing findings, assets, scans, and metrics
• nuc-mcp — MCP server exposing the same capabilities to AI agents (Claude, Cursor, opencode, etc.)

Installation

Homebrew (macOS / Linux)

brew tap marstid/tap
brew install nuc
brew install nuc-mcp

Prebuilt Binary (Windows / Linux)

Download the latest release from github.com/marstid/nuc/releases:

• Windows: nuc_<version>_windows_amd64.zip — extract nuc.exe / nuc-mcp_<version>_windows_amd64.zip — extract nuc-mcp.exe
• Linux: nuc_<version>_linux_amd64.tar.gz or _arm64 / nuc-mcp_<version>_linux_amd64.tar.gz or _arm64

From Source

go install github.com/marstid/nuc/cmd/nuc@latest

For the MCP server:

go install github.com/marstid/nuc/cmd/nuc-mcp@latest

Build Locally

git clone https://github.com/marstid/nuc.git
cd nuc
make build

Binaries will be at bin/nuc and bin/nuc-mcp.

Configuration

Create an API key

1. Log in to your Nucleus Security instance (e.g. https://nucleus-eu6.nucleussec.com)
2. Navigate to Settings → API Keys
3. Click Create API Key and copy the generated key

Set your API key

nuc config set api_key <your-api-key>

Or use an environment variable:

export NUC_API_KEY=<your-api-key>

Set your API base URL (required)

nuc config set base_url https://nucleus-eu6.nucleussec.com/nucleus/api

Or use an environment variable:

export NUC_BASE_URL=https://nucleus-eu6.nucleussec.com/nucleus/api

Note: Each Nucleus instance has a unique URL (e.g. nucleus-eu6.nucleussec.com). There is no default — you must configure this before using any API commands.

Set default project

nuc config set default_project 42

View configuration

nuc config list
nuc config path

Configuration file

The config file is stored at:

• Linux: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/nuc/config.yaml (default ~/.config/nuc/config.yaml)
• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/nuc/config.yaml
• Windows: %AppData%/nuc/config.yaml

Priority order

Configuration is resolved in this order (highest priority first):

1. Command-line flags (--api-key, --base-url, --project)
2. Environment variables (NUC_API_KEY, NUC_BASE_URL, NUC_PROJECT)
3. Config file

Quick Start

# List all projects
nuc projects list

# Get project details
nuc projects get 42

# Get project risk score
nuc projects riskscore 42

Usage Examples

In Nucleus, teams and services are modeled as asset groups. Use --groups (findings, metrics, trends) or --group (assets) to filter by team or service.

Discover Available Groups

# List all asset groups (teams/services) in your project
nuc assets groups list

# Just the group names (for scripting)
nuc assets groups list -q

Findings per Team/Service

# All findings for the "payment-service" group
nuc findings search --groups payment-service

# All findings for "backend-team"
nuc findings search --groups backend-team

# Multiple groups at once
nuc findings search --groups payment-service,auth-service

# Use glob patterns to match group names
nuc findings search --groups "*team-euc*"
nuc findings search --groups "*payment*,*auth*"
nuc metrics groups --groups "*backend*"

Combine Severity + Group

# Critical findings for a specific service
nuc findings search --groups payment-service --severity Critical

# High severity in the backend team
nuc findings search --groups backend-team --severity High

Findings by Status

# Active (unresolved) findings for a service
nuc findings search --groups payment-service --status Active

# Accepted-risk findings
nuc findings search --groups backend-team --status "Accepted Risk"

# Search by CVE across all groups
nuc findings search --cve CVE-2024-1234

Exploitable Findings

# Exploitable findings for a group (1=yes, 0=no)
nuc findings search --groups payment-service --exploitable 1

# Exploitable + Critical severity
nuc findings search --exploitable 1 --severity Critical

Assets per Group

# List assets in a specific team/service group
nuc assets list --group payment-service

# Filter by asset type within a group
nuc assets list --group backend-team --type Host

Note: assets list uses --group (singular); findings search, metrics groups, and findings trend use --groups (plural, comma-separated).

Metrics per Team/Service

# Compare risk across teams
nuc metrics groups --groups payment-service,auth-service,frontend

# Specific metrics for a single service
nuc metrics groups --groups payment-service --metrics risk_score,vuln_count_critical,mttr_critical_7d

# Selected security posture metrics
nuc metrics groups --groups backend-team --metrics risk_score,asset_count,vuln_count,vuln_count_critical,vuln_count_high,avg_age_critical,mttr_7d

Vulnerability Trends

# Discovery trend for a service over time
nuc findings trend --groups payment-service --start-date 2025-01-01 --end-date 2025-06-01

Mitigated Findings

# Recently mitigated findings
nuc findings mitigated --start-date 2025-05-01

# With pagination
nuc findings mitigated --start 0 --limit 50

Overview

# Project-wide severity summary
nuc findings overview

Scripting & Pipelines

# Quiet mode — just IDs for piping
nuc findings search --groups payment-service --severity Critical -q

# JSON output for jq processing
nuc findings search --groups backend-team -o json | jq '.[].finding_number'

# YAML output
nuc metrics groups --groups payment-service -o yaml

# Loop over critical findings per service
for group in payment-service auth-service frontend; do
  echo "=== $group ==="
  nuc findings search --groups "$group" --severity Critical -q
done

Output Formats

By default, nuc outputs human-readable tables when connected to a terminal and JSON when piped.

# Force JSON output
nuc projects list -o json

# Force table output
nuc projects list -o table

# Quiet mode — only print IDs (useful for scripting)
nuc projects list -q

Global Flags

Flag	Env Var	Description
--api-key	NUC_API_KEY	Nucleus Security API key
--base-url	NUC_BASE_URL	API base URL
-p, --project	NUC_PROJECT	Default project ID
-o, --output	—	Output format: table, json
-q, --quiet	—	Only print IDs

MCP Server

nuc-mcp exposes all Nucleus Security capabilities as Model Context Protocol tools, resources, and prompts — letting AI agents query findings, triage vulnerabilities, and generate security reports.

Configuration Priority

The MCP server reuses your nuc config file, with environment variables as overrides:

1. Config file — set once with nuc config set api_key / nuc config set base_url
2. Environment variables — NUC_API_KEY / NUC_BASE_URL (override file)
3. CLI flags — --api-key / --base-url (highest priority, for dev/debug)

This means: if you've already configured nuc, the MCP server works without any extra setup.

Transport Modes

Mode	Use case
stdio (default)	Local AI tools (Claude Desktop, opencode, Cursor)
http	Remote/network deployment

# stdio (default)
nuc-mcp

# HTTP on localhost:8080
nuc-mcp --transport=http --addr=localhost:8080

Available Tools (21)

Tool	Description
list_projects	List all accessible projects
get_project	Get project details
get_project_risk_score	Get project risk score
list_findings	List findings with filters
get_finding	Get finding details
search_findings	Advanced search (CVE, exploitability, groups)
update_finding	Update finding status/severity
bulk_update_findings	Batch update findings
get_mitigated_findings	Get mitigated findings
get_finding_trend	Vulnerability trend over time
get_finding_overview	Severity distribution summary
get_finding_frameworks	Compliance frameworks
list_assets	List assets with filters
get_asset	Get asset details
update_asset	Update asset properties
list_asset_groups	List asset groups
get_asset_group_metrics	Security metrics per group
list_teams	List teams (filtered asset groups)
list_scans	List vulnerability scans
get_finding_metrics	30/90/180-day metrics

Setup with opencode

Add to your .opencode/config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "nucleus": {
      "command": "nuc-mcp",
      "args": [],
      "env": {}
    }
  }
}

If you've already run nuc config set api_key and nuc config set base_url, no env vars needed. To override:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "nucleus": {
      "command": "nuc-mcp",
      "args": [],
      "env": {
        "NUC_API_KEY": "your-api-key",
        "NUC_BASE_URL": "https://nucleus-eu6.nucleussec.com/nucleus/api"
      }
    }
  }
}

Setup with Claude Desktop

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "nucleus": {
      "command": "nuc-mcp",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

Development

Prerequisites

• Go 1.22+
• golangci-lint

Commands

make build       # Build both nuc and nuc-mcp
make build-nuc   # Build CLI only
make build-mcp   # Build MCP server only
make test        # Run tests with race detection
make lint        # Run linter
make fmt         # Format code
make vet         # Run go vet
make install      # Install both to $GOPATH/bin
make run-mcp      # Run MCP server over stdio
make run-mcp-http # Run MCP server over HTTP
make clean       # Remove build artifacts

Disclaimer

This project is an independent, community-maintained open source CLI. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Nucleus Security in any way. Nucleus Security is a trademark of its respective owners.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.