Headless IDA MCP Server

Acknowledgments

This project builds upon the work of:

• Tools code adapted from ida-pro-mcp by mrexodia
• Utilizes the headless-ida library by DennyDai

Headless IDA MCP Server

Headless IDA MCP Server is a headless server project based on IDA Pro, designed to provide remote analysis and management capabilities through the Multi-Client Protocol (MCP).

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

• Python 3.10 or higher
• IDA Pro with headless support (idat) https://github.com/DennyDai/headless-ida

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 venv 
   source .venv/bin/activate
   uv pip install .
   

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
   • BINARY_PATH: Path to the binary file for analysis, e.g., ./test/main
   • 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:

   npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/inspector