ida-code 0.2.4

MCP server for AI-assisted IDAPython scripting via idalib

ida-code

MCP server that lets AI coding agents interact with IDA Pro. Open binaries, decompile, run IDAPython, search the API docs — all through tool calls.

Built on idalib for headless in-process operation and fastmcp for the MCP transport.

Requires a licensed IDA Pro 9.2+ with idalib support. ida-code does not install or replace IDA Pro — it loads idapro from your existing install at startup.

Install

uv tool install ida-code

This puts the ida-code CLI on your PATH (via uv's tool dir) so MCP clients can launch it directly. Don't have uv? pip install ida-code works too.

Then point IDA_INSTALL_DIR at your IDA Pro install (the directory that contains idalib/python/):

OS	Typical path
Linux	/opt/ida-pro-9.3
macOS	/Applications/IDA Professional 9.3.app/Contents/MacOS
Windows	C:\Program Files\IDA Professional 9.3

Use with Claude Code

Add ida-code to your project's .mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ida-code": {
      "command": "ida-code",
      "env": {
        "IDA_INSTALL_DIR": "/opt/ida-pro-9.3"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Code; the server is picked up automatically. You can confirm it's wired up by asking Claude to open a binary — it should call open_database and report architecture, entry point, and load address.

For other MCP clients, run the server directly:

IDA_INSTALL_DIR=/opt/ida-pro-9.3 ida-code   # stdio transport

Tools (37)

Full parameter docs live in each tool's docstring — surfaced automatically to MCP clients via tools/list.

Domain	Tools
Database	open_database, close_database, get_database_info, list_architectures
Code execution	execute, execute_file
Navigation	list_functions, decompile, get_disassembly, get_xrefs_to, get_xrefs_from
Annotation	rename_function, retype_function, get_comment, set_comment, delete_comment, get_variable, set_variable
Structures	list_structures, get_structure, create_structure, edit_structure, delete_structure
Snapshots	list_snapshots, create_snapshot, restore_snapshot, delete_snapshot
Undo/redo	get_undo_status, perform_undo, perform_redo
Inventory	get_strings, get_imports, get_exports
Search	search_docs, search_code, get_source, get_guideline

Resources & prompts

Type	URI / name	Purpose
Resource	guidelines://standalone_script	Boilerplate for standalone idalib scripts
Resource	guidelines://plugin	Boilerplate for IDA plugins (plugin_t)
Resource	guidelines://idapython_script	Boilerplate for IDAPython scripts run inside IDA GUI
Prompt	reverse_engineer	Five-phase RE workflow (recon, triage, analysis, annotation, iteration)
Prompt	create_script	Coding guidelines for a chosen target script type

Transport modes

ida-code                          # stdio (default)
ida-code --http                   # streamable-http on 127.0.0.1:8080
ida-code --http 0.0.0.0:9090      # custom host:port
ida-code --sse                    # SSE on 127.0.0.1:8080
ida-code --sse :9090              # SSE on 127.0.0.1:9090

HTTP/SSE require bearer token auth. Set MCP_AUTH_TOKEN or let the server generate one (printed to stderr on startup).

Environment variables

Variable	Default	Description
IDA_INSTALL_DIR	/opt/ida-pro-9.3	IDA Pro installation directory (must contain idalib/python/)
LOG_LEVEL	WARNING	Logging verbosity (DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR)
MCP_AUTH_TOKEN	(auto-generated)	Bearer token for HTTP/SSE transports

Doc and example paths are derived from IDA_INSTALL_DIR (docs/, python/, python/examples/).

Install from source

git clone https://github.com/Dil4rd/ida-code
cd ida-code
uv sync
uv run ida-code

When wiring a source checkout into .mcp.json, use uv as the command:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ida-code": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "--directory", "/path/to/ida-code", "ida-code"],
      "env": { "IDA_INSTALL_DIR": "/opt/ida-pro-9.3" }
    }
  }
}

Note: the fastmcp dependency is the community fastmcp package, not the official mcp SDK. Don't install mcp by mistake.

Development

uv sync --extra dev
uv run pytest

Known issues

See KNOWN_ISSUES.md for caveats and workarounds (e.g. why we pin fastmcp<3).

The test suite covers the executor, doc/example search, comments, snapshots, structures, undo, variables, and Mach-O parsing. Tests that need idalib are skipped if it's not available.

Credits

Thanks to @p41l for ideas and for testing the tool across different LLMs.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.