Skip to main content

mcp-mt5

Model Context Protocol server for the MetaTrader 4/5 build pipeline. Compile MQL sources, deploy compiled EAs, run Strategy Tester, parse reports, tail logs — all driven by an LLM agent without touching the MetaTrader UI.

CI Python License: MIT Platform


What this is — and what it isn't

✅ This server ❌ Not this server
MetaTrader dev harness — compile, deploy, backtest, parse Live trading (orders, positions, quotes)
Wraps MetaEditor64.exe / terminal64.exe CLI directly Wraps the MetaTrader5 Python package
Runs entirely offline against installed terminal Connects to a broker server
Iterates strategies before they go live Executes strategies in production

Use case: an LLM agent edits .mq5 source → compiles → deploys → runs Strategy Tester → reads report → adjusts → repeats. No broker login, no human in the loop, no risk of real-money execution.

For runtime trading, pair this with a live-trading MCP — they target different layers and compose well.


Tools

The server exposes 35 tools and 3 MCP resources across nine categories.

🔍 Discovery & terminal selection

Tool Description
env_info Dump resolved paths, terminal hash, edition, and missing-component issues
list_terminals Enumerate every MT4/5 terminal data folder under %APPDATA%\MetaQuotes\Terminal along with each origin.txt install path
select_terminal Switch the active terminal data folder mid-session by origin path, hash, or install dir — handy for testing across multiple brokers

🔨 Build & deploy

Tool Description
compile Invoke MetaEditor CLI on a .mq4/.mq5/.mqh source. Returns structured errors[]/warnings[] (file, line, column, error code, message) plus log excerpt
compile_and_deploy Compile, then copy the resulting .ex4/.ex5 into the terminal's Experts/ folder in one call
syntax_check Same as compile but uses MetaEditor's /s syntax-only mode for faster feedback
smoke_test Compile + deploy + run a 1-day headless backtest + scan the journal for runtime errors. Catches problems that pass compile but fail at runtime
deploy_ea Copy a compiled binary into Experts/ (with optional rename)
install_include Copy a .mqh header into the terminal Include/ folder — handy for libraries like LiveLog.mqh
list_experts Enumerate Experts/ recursively with size and modification time

🔎 Source analysis

Tool Description
extract_inputs Parse input <type> <name> = <default>; declarations into structured records
gen_tester_inputs Auto-build a [TesterInputs] block from EA source (translates PERIOD_* enums to numeric codes), optionally write into an existing tester.ini
resolve_includes Recursive #include resolution that reports missing files and circular references
find_symbol Grep a symbol across MQL files, skipping comments and string literals
code_metrics LOC, function count, max nesting per file — or aggregated across an entire tree
extract_doc Pull MetaEditor //+--+ //| ... +--+ doc blocks out as markdown
find_magic_collision Detect duplicate magic-number assignments across the project

⚠️ Lint & validation

Tool Description
lint_basic Structural rules: missing OnInit/OnDeinit, unused inputs, hardcoded magic numbers, hardcoded symbol literals
check_deprecated Flag MT4-style API calls (OrderSend, Ask, AccountBalance, …) with CTrade/MT5-API replacement suggestions
validate_tester_ini Sanity-check a tester.ini (required keys, date format, numeric ranges) and cross-check [TesterInputs] against the EA source declarations

🎨 Format

Tool Description
format_mql Format a source file via clang-format (MQL literals such as D'…'/C'…' and input group lines are protected). Dry run unless write=true
format_check Same as above but reports whether changes are needed without writing the file

✏️ Refactor

Tool Description
rename_symbol Whole-word rename across all MQL files in a tree, with dry_run preview
extract_function Brace-aware extraction of a contiguous block into a new helper function — inline or into an external .mqh

📊 Strategy Tester

Tool Description
patch_tester_ini Programmatically update keys in a tester.ini (e.g. Tester.Symbol, Tester.FromDate, TesterInputs.RiskPct) before running
run_backtest Launch terminal64.exe /config:tester.ini, optionally headless (when ShutdownTerminal=1), and return the latest tester log path
parse_optimization Best-effort parser for the latest .opt (optimization passes) binary file
top_passes Sort optimization passes by a chosen criterion and return the top N
read_tester_report Locate and parse the latest tester HTML report into a structured summary (net profit, profit factor, drawdown, trade counts, etc.) plus a sample of trade rows
compare_reports Diff two tester reports key-by-key with absolute and percent deltas
regression_check Verify a candidate report stays within guard thresholds vs a baseline (e.g. "net_profit may not drop more than 5%")
kill_terminal Kill terminals launched by this server (or every instance with all_instances=true)

📝 Logs & snapshots

Tool Description
tail_log Tail the last N lines of either Files/LiveLog.txt, the daily Logs/YYYYMMDD.log, or the most recent tester log. Optional structured parse into {ts, source, message} records
snapshot_sources Freeze a copy of source files into a timestamped folder with a manifest.json
list_snapshots Enumerate previously captured snapshots

📡 MCP resources

Live, re-readable URIs that an MCP client can poll instead of calling a tool repeatedly.

URI Description
mt5://livelog Latest tail of MQL5/Files/LiveLog.txt
mt5://journal Today's daily MT5 journal log
mt5://tester-log Most recent Strategy Tester journal

Quick start

Install

pip install mcp-mt5

Requires Windows + an installed MetaTrader 4 or 5 terminal.

Register with an MCP client

Most MCP clients accept a JSON entry under mcpServers. The server inherits its configuration from environment variables:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mt5": {
      "command": "mcp-mt5",
      "env": {
        "MT5_INSTALL": "C:\\Program Files\\MetaTrader 5"
      }
    }
  }
}

Refer to your client's documentation for the exact config file location.

Verify the install

Once registered, ask your agent to call env_info:

{
  "edition": "mt5",
  "install": "C:\\Program Files\\MetaTrader 5",
  "terminal_hash": "<32-char-hex-hash>",
  "metaeditor": "C:\\Program Files\\MetaTrader 5\\MetaEditor64.exe",
  "experts_dir": "C:\\Users\\<you>\\AppData\\Roaming\\MetaQuotes\\Terminal\\<hash>\\MQL5\\Experts",
  "issues": []
}

An empty issues array means everything is wired up correctly.


Configuration

Resolution priority for the MetaTrader install + data folder:

  1. Explicit env vars (below)
  2. Auto-scan of %APPDATA%\MetaQuotes\Terminal\*\origin.txt for a folder whose origin matches MT5_INSTALL
  3. Portable mode fallback (data colocated with install dir)
Env var Default Notes
MT5_INSTALL C:\Program Files\MetaTrader 5 Install dir containing terminal64.exe
MT5_DATA (auto-detected) %APPDATA%\MetaQuotes\Terminal\<hash>
MT5_TERMINAL_HASH (auto-detected) 32-char folder name
MT5_EDITION mt5 Set to mt4 for MetaTrader 4

MT4 support

Set MT5_EDITION=mt4 and point MT5_INSTALL at your MT4 install. The server switches to metaeditor.exe (32-bit), terminal.exe, and the MQL4/ data tree automatically.


Example workflow

A typical LLM-driven iteration loop:

1. env_info                                          → verify paths
2. compile_and_deploy source="MyEA.mq5"              → 0 errors, .ex5 deployed ✅
3. patch_tester_ini config="tester.ini" updates={
     "Tester.Symbol": "EURUSD",
     "Tester.FromDate": "2025.01.01",
     "TesterInputs.RiskPct": "1.5"
   }
4. run_backtest config="tester.ini" wait=true
5. read_tester_report                                → summary.net_profit = 1234.56
                                                       summary.profit_factor = 1.45
6. tail_log mode="tester" lines=200 structured=true  → diagnose journal warnings
7. <edit Signal.mqh based on findings>
8. → loop back to step 2

A sample tester.ini

; Launch: terminal64.exe /config:tester.ini
; Period codes: M1=1, M5=5, M15=15, H1=16385, H4=16388, D1=16408
; Model: 0=Every tick, 1=1 min OHLC, 4=Real ticks

[Tester]
Expert=MyEA
Symbol=EURUSD
Period=M15
Model=1
FromDate=2024.01.01
ToDate=2024.12.31
Deposit=10000
Currency=USD
Leverage=500
Visual=0
ShutdownTerminal=1     ; required so run_backtest can wait for the run to finish
Report=tester_report

[TesterInputs]
; ParamName=value||start||step||stop||(N=fixed|Y=optimize)
; RiskPct=1.0||0.1||0.1||3.0||N

A more complete sample lives at examples/tester.ini.


Development

git clone https://github.com/PHUICMT/mcp-mt5
cd mcp-mt5
pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest                    # runs the test suite (no MetaTrader needed)
ruff check src tests      # lints

CI runs on Windows for Python 3.10, 3.11, and 3.12 against every push to main. Tagging a release (e.g. v0.2.0) triggers an OIDC publish to PyPI.

Project layout

mcp-mt5/
├── src/mcp_mt5/
│   ├── server.py        # FastMCP tool definitions
│   ├── paths.py         # Layout detection + origin.txt scan
│   ├── parsers.py       # Compile log, tester report/journal parsers, encoding helpers
│   ├── analysis.py, lint.py, formatting.py, refactor.py, ast_refactor.py
│   ├── optimization.py  # .opt cache reader (documented TesterOptCache layout)
│   ├── reports.py, snapshot.py, smoke.py, workdir.py
├── tests/               # pytest suite, no live MT5 required
├── examples/            # Sample tester.ini + client config
└── .github/workflows/   # CI + PyPI release

Limitations

  • Windows-only. MetaTrader CLI binaries don't ship for Linux/macOS. Wine ports may work but are untested.
  • No live broker access. This server intentionally never authenticates to a broker. Use a separate MCP server for runtime trading.
  • Tester report parsing is best-effort. MetaTrader's HTML output isn't a stable schema; the raw HTML is also returned alongside the parsed structure so you can fall back to text inspection when needed.
  • Optimisation caches (Tester/cache/*.opt) are parsed with the layout MetaQuotes published in MQL5 Programming for Traders. Files with an unrecognised record layout are reported as such rather than guessed.

Roadmap

All v0.3.x roadmap items shipped in v0.4.0. Future ideas:

  • Real tree-sitter MQL grammar for extract_function (current implementation is brace-counting + regex)
  • WebSocket transport for long-lived sessions (currently stdio only)
  • Linux/Wine port for non-Windows agents

License

MIT © 2026 PHUICMT

Download files

Download the file for your platform. If you're not sure which to choose, learn more about installing packages.

Source Distribution

mcp_mt5-0.4.2.tar.gz (54.1 kB view details)

Uploaded Source

Built Distribution

If you're not sure about the file name format, learn more about wheel file names.

mcp_mt5-0.4.2-py3-none-any.whl (43.9 kB view details)

Uploaded Python 3

File details

Details for the file mcp_mt5-0.4.2.tar.gz.

File metadata

  • Download URL: mcp_mt5-0.4.2.tar.gz
  • Upload date:
  • Size: 54.1 kB
  • Tags: Source
  • Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? Yes
  • Uploaded via: twine/7.0.0 CPython/3.13.14

File hashes

Hashes for mcp_mt5-0.4.2.tar.gz
Algorithm Hash digest
SHA256 baac131b608018ad4eb49af0268806c098047ccb993fdb77f77bf9ebef008de7
MD5 3fdd217da5bdf084267bdf941965bb2e
BLAKE2b-256 07f3a9d516001479c121321d4fb29fa179a54509c51272a99d0771631885eea9

See more details on using hashes here.

Provenance

The following attestation bundles were made for mcp_mt5-0.4.2.tar.gz:

Publisher: release.yml on PHUICMT/mcp-mt5

Attestations: Values shown here reflect the state when the release was signed and may no longer be current.

File details

Details for the file mcp_mt5-0.4.2-py3-none-any.whl.

File metadata

  • Download URL: mcp_mt5-0.4.2-py3-none-any.whl
  • Upload date:
  • Size: 43.9 kB
  • Tags: Python 3
  • Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? Yes
  • Uploaded via: twine/7.0.0 CPython/3.13.14

File hashes

Hashes for mcp_mt5-0.4.2-py3-none-any.whl
Algorithm Hash digest
SHA256 8e35e2a4568ec62c158f52bc6375b01fe070072b9fb18e15d2fe95cde6216a83
MD5 e0e8b70f493655cf8ea9f4f64fd91165
BLAKE2b-256 d73d3634b1bd9e88aa59c2e28ced81931def8e0ed96c0f7b8443aaddaa336eda

See more details on using hashes here.

Provenance

The following attestation bundles were made for mcp_mt5-0.4.2-py3-none-any.whl:

Publisher: release.yml on PHUICMT/mcp-mt5

Attestations: Values shown here reflect the state when the release was signed and may no longer be current.

Release history Release notifications | RSS feed

0.5.0

2 files

This release

0.4.2 This release

2 files

0.4.1

2 files

0.4.0

2 files

0.3.0

2 files

Anthropic, PBC Visionary sponsor Bloomberg Visionary sponsor Hudson River Trading Visionary sponsor Meta Visionary sponsor NVIDIA Visionary sponsor Microsoft Sustainability sponsor Depot Continuous Integration AWS Cloud computing and Security Sponsor Datadog Monitoring Fastly CDN Google Download Analytics Sentry Error logging StatusPage Status page