IDAssistMCP

Important

Planned archival: IDAssistMCP is planned for archival as IDA Pro introduces a bundled native MCP server. Native support removes the need to maintain a separate MCP integration and keeps it aligned with IDA Pro itself. Please use IDA Pro's native MCP server once it is available in your installed version. This repository will remain available for reference.

Standalone MCP (Model Context Protocol) server plugin for IDA Pro 9.x that exposes IDA's analysis capabilities to LLM clients like Claude Desktop.

Features

• 41 MCP tools covering binary analysis, decompilation, cross-references, symbol management, type system, navigation, patching, export, and more
• 6 consolidated tools with action/format/direction parameters for comments, variables, types, xrefs, bookmarks, and code
• 8 MCP resources for browsable binary metadata (triage, functions, imports, exports, strings, info, segments, sections)
• 7 guided prompts for common reverse engineering workflows (function analysis, vulnerability identification, documentation, data flow tracing, function comparison, struct recovery, network protocol analysis)
• SSE and Streamable HTTP transports via Hypercorn ASGI server
• Thread-safe IDB modifications via execute_on_main_thread() wrapper
• LRU analysis cache for expensive operations like decompilation
• Async task manager for long-running operations
• Pydantic configuration with environment variable support (IDASSISTMCP_ prefix)

Installation

Prerequisites

• IDA Pro 9.x with Python 3.10+
• Hex-Rays decompiler (optional, for decompilation tools)

Option 1: IDA Plugin Manager (recommended)

hcli plugin install idassistmcp

This automatically installs the plugin and its Python dependencies.

Option 2: Manual install (from release tarball)

Download the latest release zip from GitHub Releases and extract it into your IDA plugins directory:

Linux / macOS:

unzip IDAssistMCP-*.zip -d ~/.idapro/plugins/

Windows: Extract the zip into %APPDATA%\Hex-Rays\IDA Pro\plugins\.

Then install dependencies using IDA's bundled Python (not your system Python):

Linux / macOS:

<IDA_INSTALL_DIR>/python3/bin/pip3 install -r ~/.idapro/plugins/IDAssistMCP/requirements.txt

Windows:

"<IDA_INSTALL_DIR>\python3\python.exe" -m pip install -r "%APPDATA%\Hex-Rays\IDA Pro\plugins\IDAssistMCP\requirements.txt"

Replace <IDA_INSTALL_DIR> with your IDA Pro installation path.

Tip: You can also use the IDAUSR environment variable to specify a custom plugins directory.

Usage

Starting the Server

1. Open a binary in IDA Pro
2. Press Ctrl+Shift+M or go to Edit > Plugins > IDAssistMCP
3. The MCP server URL will be printed to IDA's output window
4. Press Ctrl+Shift+M again to stop the server

Claude Desktop Configuration

Add to your Claude Desktop claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "idassistmcp": {
      "url": "http://localhost:9080/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Environment Variables

Configure via environment variables with the IDASSISTMCP_ prefix:

Variable	Default	Description
IDASSISTMCP_SERVER__HOST	localhost	Server bind address
IDASSISTMCP_SERVER__PORT	9080	Server port
IDASSISTMCP_SERVER__TRANSPORT	streamablehttp	Transport type (sse or streamablehttp)
IDASSISTMCP_DEBUG	false	Enable debug mode
IDASSISTMCP_LOG_LEVEL	INFO	Log level

Tools Reference

Binary Management (2)

Tool	Description
list_binaries	List the currently loaded binary
get_binary_info	Detailed binary metadata (arch, hashes, segments)

Code Analysis (4)

Tool	Description
get_code	Get function code — format: 'decompile' (pseudo-C) or 'disasm' (assembly)
analyze_function	Comprehensive analysis: metadata, CFG, callers/callees, decompilation
get_basic_blocks	CFG basic blocks with successors/predecessors
get_function_stack_layout	Stack frame layout (locals, args, saved regs)

Cross-References (1 consolidated)

Tool	Actions	Description
xrefs	direction: to/from/both, include_calls: bool	Xrefs and optional callers/callees for an address

Comments (1 consolidated)

Tool	Actions	Description
comments	action: get, set, list, remove	Manage comments (regular, repeatable, function)

Variables (1 consolidated)

Tool	Actions	Description
variables	action: list, rename	List locals, or rename local/global variables with scope: auto, local, global

Types (2 — 1 consolidated + 1 standalone)

Tool	Actions / Description
types	action: list, set, create_struct, create_enum — manage IDB types
get_classes	List struct/class types from type library

Function Discovery (5)

Tool	Description
get_functions	All functions with filtering and pagination
search_functions_by_name	Search by name pattern and size filters
get_function_by_name	Exact name lookup
get_function_by_address	Address lookup
get_function_statistics	Aggregate statistics (counts, sizes, top-10)

Symbol Management (2)

Tool	Description
rename_symbol	Rename any symbol (function or data)
batch_rename	Batch rename multiple symbols

Binary Info (5)

Tool	Description
get_imports	Import table grouped by module
get_exports	Export table
get_strings	String table with pagination
get_segments	Memory segments with permissions
get_entry_points	All binary entry points

Data Analysis (6)

Tool	Description
read_memory	Read raw bytes at address
get_data_at	Get typed data at address
search_bytes	Binary byte pattern search
search_strings	String search with pagination
create_data_var	Define data variable at address (byte/word/dword/qword/float/ascii/C type)
get_data_vars	List defined data variables (non-code items)

Patching (3)

Tool	Description
patch_bytes	Patch raw bytes in IDB
assemble_code	Assemble instruction text at an address and optionally patch it
export_program	Export the patched binary or IDA database to disk

Navigation (4)

Tool	Description
navigate_to	Move IDA cursor to address
bookmarks	Consolidated bookmark management - actions: list, set, remove
get_current_address	Get address and context at cursor position
get_current_function	Get function info at cursor position

Task Management (4)

Tool	Description
start_task	Start async background task
get_task_status	Check task progress
cancel_task	Cancel running task
list_tasks	List all async tasks

Project Structure

IDAssistMCP/
├── idassistmcp_plugin.py              # IDA plugin_t entry point
├── requirements.txt
├── README.md
└── src/
    └── idassist_mcp/
        ├── __init__.py
        ├── server.py                  # FastMCP server + transport
        ├── context.py                 # Single-binary IDA context
        ├── tools.py                   # 41 MCP tools (IDA API)
        ├── resources.py               # 8 MCP resources
        ├── prompts.py                 # 7 guided workflow prompts
        ├── config.py                  # Pydantic settings
        ├── cache.py                   # LRU analysis cache
        ├── tasks.py                   # Async task manager
        ├── logging.py                 # IDA logging wrapper
        ├── utils.py                   # IDA-specific utilities
        └── ui/
            └── tool_registry.py       # Tool catalog for UI

License

See LICENSE file for details.