Proxmox MCP Access

A homelab operator running Ollama on an AMD RX 6700 XT 12GB with Open WebUI in a separate Linux VM found that IBM Granite 4.1:8B used a Proxmox MCP connection far more reliably than Qwen3.5:4B/9B, which struggled with tool selection, ran Tool Search slowly, and hallucinated a running Debian VM that did not exist. Granite 4.1:8B was faster, correctly queried Proxmox, reported actual VM and container inventories, checked CPU/RAM/storage resources, and assessed whether the host could accommodate a new VM, though some calculations and technical details needed correcting. The operator's next experiment is granting Granite restricted write access to create a VM through MCP, with dry-run validation and human approval.

My adventures with local AI, Ollama, Open WebUI and Proxmox MCP I’ve been experimenting with using a local LLM to monitor and eventually manage my Proxmox homelab through MCP. My setup: AMD RX 6700 XT 12GB running Ollama on Windows Open WebUI running in a separate Linux VM Proxmox MCP connected to a dedicated test host Qwen3.5:4B / 9B and IBM Granite 4.1:8B Getting everything connected was fairly straightforward, but getting the models to actually use the tools reliably was another story Qwen struggled with tool selection, especially when Open WebUI’s built-in tools were enabled. Tool Search was painfully slow, and I even had Qwen hallucinate a running Debian VM that didn’t exist. Responses were also surprisingly slow despite 100% GPU offloading. Then I tried IBM Granite 4.1:8B , and things improved dramatically. Granite was faster, correctly queried Proxmox, reported actual VM/container inventories, checked CPU/RAM/storage resources, and even investigated whether the host could accommodate a new VM. It’s not perfect — some calculations and technical details needed correcting — but it’s easily been my best experience so far. Next experiment: Giving Granite restricted write access so it can actually create a VM through MCP, with dry-run validation and human approval. It’s been a surprisingly fun rabbit hole, and a good reminder that choosing the right model matters just as much as the hardware