wisent-wire-mcp

MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for the Wisent Wire hardware testing platform. Lets AI assistants interact with WisentWire devices — power control, firmware flashing & flasher catalog, UART / RS485 / CAN buses, GPIO control & telemetry, GDB debug sessions, device registry, reservations, and protocol frame definitions.

Quick setup

One command, with uv installed:

uvx wisent-wire-mcp setup

It asks for an API key (create one under Settings → API keys), checks it against the backend, and adds the server to Claude Code with claude mcp add. Then run /mcp or restart Claude Code.

Running it again replaces the entry, which is how you change the key. If an entry named wisent-wire also exists in another scope — a project .mcp.json, say — Claude Code uses the narrower one; claude mcp get wisent-wire shows which is active.

Already installed with pipx? Run wisent-wire-mcp setup instead; the entry then points at that installation rather than at uvx.

Other MCP clients

--client hands the server to another client through that client's own CLI, so setup never edits a client's config file itself:

"Not yet" means the command follows that client's published CLI syntax but has not been run against the client itself. If one fails, --print below still works.

For anything else — Claude Desktop, Windsurf — --print checks the key just the same, then writes the mcpServers block instead of adding it anywhere:

uvx wisent-wire-mcp setup --print

Paste the output into your client's MCP config and restart it. The block holds your API key in plain text, so keep it out of anything you share. Only the JSON goes to stdout, so setup --print > wisent-wire.json saves just the block. The Claude Desktop config locations are listed under Configuration.

Installation

Requires Python 3.10+. Install with pipx — it puts the MCP server in an isolated environment and adds the wisent-wire-mcp binary to your PATH.

1. Install pipx (one-time)

# macOS
brew install pipx
pipx ensurepath

# Linux / WSL
python3 -m pip install --user pipx
python3 -m pipx ensurepath

Open a new terminal so the updated PATH is picked up.

2. Install the MCP server

pipx install wisent-wire-mcp

Verify:

which wisent-wire-mcp         # ~/.local/bin/wisent-wire-mcp (or similar)

3. Upgrade / uninstall

pipx upgrade   wisent-wire-mcp
pipx uninstall wisent-wire-mcp

Configuration

.mcp.json location

Claude Code reads MCP servers from .mcp.json. Two scopes:

Claude Desktop uses a separate file:

Example .mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "wisent-wire": {
      "command": "wisent-wire-mcp",
      "env": {
        "WISENT_WIRE_API_KEY": "wwk_..."
      }
    }
  }
}

After editing .mcp.json, restart Claude Code (or reload the window) for the server to be picked up.

Environment variables

* Provide either API_KEY or EMAIL + PASSWORD. The API key is tried first.

WISENTWIRE_API_KEY (no underscore) still works as a deprecated alias and warns on use — it is the one legacy spelling with released history. The same names configure the wisent-wire-sdk package, so one exported environment does both. An exported-but-empty value counts as unset.

The server reads none of these itself — it hands the whole job to the SDK, which is what keeps the two from disagreeing about a name. See the SDK README for the canonical list.

Choosing a backend. WISENT_WIRE_URL is the address, and omitting it targets production (https://app.wisent-wire.com). To point at integration, or at a backend running on your own machine:

"env": {
  "WISENT_WIRE_URL": "https://int.wisent-wire.com",
  "WISENT_WIRE_API_KEY": "wwk_..."
}

There is no named-environment form. WISENT_WIRE_ENV used to exist and was what this page recommended; setting it now stops the server with an error naming the replacement, rather than being ignored and quietly starting against production. If you configured this server during a release candidate, that is the line to change.

For a local backend, use its address — "WISENT_WIRE_URL": "http://localhost:7998". Mint a key for it once with the header the local gateway trusts:

curl -sS -X POST http://localhost:7998/api/me/api-keys \
  -H 'X-Forwarded-User-Email: e2e@wisentwire.test' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"name":"local"}'

Available tools

Tools are grouped below.

System & Device

Device Registry

Power & Telemetry

GPIO

Firmware & Flashing

Debug

UART & Buses

Frame Definitions

Commands

Reservations

Development

pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest tests/ -v
ruff check src/ tests/

License

MIT