ida-domain-mcp 0.1.0

MCP plugin for IDA Pro/IDA Free that uses ida-domain for database access

ida-domain-mcp

A headless Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for IDA Pro built on top of ida-domain. It lets AI agents (or any MCP client) open and analyze IDA databases on demand — without launching the IDA manully — and control common reverse engineering workflows programmatically.

Unlike GUI-centric approaches, ida-domain-mcp spins up per-project worker processes on demand and loads binaries via an MCP tool call during the agent’s workflow. You don’t have to pre-load binaries at MCP server startup, and once configured, the whole flow can run fully automatically without human interaction.

Why It’s Different

• Headless by design: No dependency on the IDA graphical UI. Uses idat/idat64 (IDA’s headless runners) underneath via ida-domain.
• On-demand database loading: Call the open_database MCP tool at any time during the agent session to load a binary or IDB; no manual preloading required.
• Multi-project isolation: Each project_name runs in its own worker process; multiple binaries can be analyzed concurrently without interfering with each other.
• Agent-friendly: Returns JSON-serializable results (as strings) so LLM agents can easily parse and chain operations.

Features (tools)

High-level categories of tools exposed via MCP (see src/ida_domain_mcp/main.py and ida_tools.py for the full list):

• Project/session management: open_database, close_database, get_metadata
• Navigation and listings: list_segments, list_functions, list_functions_filter, list_globals, list_globals_filter, list_imports, list_strings, list_strings_filter, get_entry_points
• Function-oriented: get_function_by_name, get_function_by_address, get_callers, get_callees, decompile_function (requires Hex-Rays), disassemble_function
• Cross-references: get_xrefs_to, get_xrefs_to_field
• Types and structures: list_local_types, declare_c_type, get_defined_structures, analyze_struct_detailed, get_struct_info_simple, search_structures, get_stack_frame_variables, set_function_prototype, set_local_variable_type, set_global_variable_type
• Renaming and comments: rename_function, rename_local_variable, rename_stack_frame_variable, rename_global_variable, set_comment
• Data access and patching: read_memory_bytes, data_read_{byte,word,dword,qword,string}, get_global_variable_value_{by_name,at_address}, patch_address_assembles

Notes:

• decompile_function requires a valid Hex-Rays license; otherwise use disassemble_function.
• Address parameters are accepted as integers by MCP entry points and are converted internally; results commonly encode addresses as hex strings.

Requirements

• Python: 3.11+
• IDA: IDA Pro 9.1.0 or later installed. Headless executables (idat/idat64) must be available on your system.
  • Make sure idat/idat64 is in your PATH (e.g., add your IDA install directory), or configure the executable path according to ida-domain’s documentation.

    export IDADIR="[IDA Installation Directory]"
    

  • Hex-Rays decompiler is optional but required for decompile_function.
• OS: Linux, Windows, or macOS supported by your IDA installation. The included examples were exercised on Linux.

Installation

From source:

# With uv
uv venv
uv pip install -e .

# Or with pip/venv
python3.11 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .

From PyPI:

# With uv
uv add ida-domain-mcp

# Or with pip
pip install ida-domain-mcp

This installs ida-domain-mcp along with its runtime dependencies:

• ida-domain (database control via headless IDA)

Before running, verify IDA’s headless binary is accessible:

which idat64 || which idat

If not found, add the IDA folder to your PATH or use the configuration options provided by ida-domain to point to your IDA installation.

Running the MCP server

Two transport modes are supported by the server entrypoint ida-domain-mcp:

1. stdio (default, for direct MCP client integration)

uv run ida-domain-mcp --transport stdio

2. HTTP SSE (useful with the MCP Inspector and remote clients)

uv run ida-domain-mcp --transport http://127.0.0.1:8744
# Server prints: MCP Server available at http://127.0.0.1:8744/sse

You can then connect with the MCP Inspector for quick exploration:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector
# Point it to: http://127.0.0.1:8744/sse

Testing

A simple dual-database test is provided:

# Start the server first (SSE mode)
uv run ida-domain-mcp --transport http://127.0.0.1:8744

# In another shell, run the test client
uv run ida_domain_mcp/tests/test_ida_mcp.py http://127.0.0.1:8744/sse