Headless IDA MCP Server

Analyze binary files and manage functions and variables using IDA Pro's headless mode.

GitHub

Acknowledgments

This project builds upon the work of:

Headless IDA MCP Server

If you want to run the server directly as a cli app, rather than an IDA plugin interactively,you can chose it.

Project Description

This project uses IDA Pro's headless mode to analyze binary files and provides a suite of tools via MCP to manage and manipulate functions, variables, and more.

Prerequisites

Installation

  1. Clone the project locally:

    git clone https://github.com/cnitlrt/headless-ida-mcp-server.git 
cd headless-ida-mcp-server

  2. Install dependencies:

    uv python install 3.12
uv venv --python 3.12
uv pip install -e .

Configuration

  1. Copy the example environment file:

    cp .env_example .env

  2. Configure the following environment variables in .env:

    • IDA_PATH: Path to IDA Pro's headless executable (idat), e.g., /home/ubuntu/idapro/idat
    • PORT: Port number for the MCP server, e.g., 8888
    • HOST: Host address for the MCP server, e.g., 127.0.0.1
    • TRANSPORT: MCP transport mode (sse or stdio)

Usage

  1. Start the server:

    uv run headless_ida_mcp_server

  2. Connect to the server using an MCP client:

    Debug it:

    npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/inspector

    or

    {
"mcpServers": {
   "ida": {
      "command": "/path/to/uv",
      "args": ["--directory","path/to/headless-ida-mcp-server","run","headless_ida_mcp_server"]
   }
}
}

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