kali-mcp-go

Go reimplementation of MCP-Kali-Server, built to eliminate the bottlenecks encountered when running multiple AI agents simultaneously.

Background

MCP-Kali-Server by @Wh0am123 was the project that first proved connecting AI agents to Kali Linux tools over MCP works — it's even shipped as an official Kali package. This project owes a lot to that work.

The rewrite was motivated by running into real bottlenecks when spinning up multiple AI agents in parallel against CTF challenges:

Architecture

  [AI Client]
  (Claude / Claude Code / Codex / OpenCode / ...)
        │  MCP stdio
        ▼
  [mcp-client]  ← runs on your local machine
        │  HTTP + Bearer token
        ▼
  [kali-server]  ← runs where security tools are installed
        │  exec
        ▼
  [nmap · gobuster · sqlmap · msfconsole · ...]

Prerequisites

Required tools: nmap, gobuster, dirb, nikto, tshark, sqlmap, msfconsole, hydra, john, wpscan, enum4linux

Installation

Option A — Pre-built binaries (recommended)

Download the latest binaries from the Releases page.

kali-server:

# x86_64
curl -L https://github.com/found-cake/kali-mcp-go/releases/latest/download/kali-server_linux_amd64 \
  -o kali-server && chmod +x kali-server

# arm64
curl -L https://github.com/found-cake/kali-mcp-go/releases/latest/download/kali-server_linux_arm64 \
  -o kali-server && chmod +x kali-server

mcp-client:

# Linux x64
curl -L https://github.com/found-cake/kali-mcp-go/releases/latest/download/mcp-client_linux_amd64 \
  -o mcp-client && chmod +x mcp-client

# Linux arm64
curl -L https://github.com/found-cake/kali-mcp-go/releases/latest/download/mcp-client_linux_arm64 \
  -o mcp-client && chmod +x mcp-client

# macOS Apple Silicon
curl -L https://github.com/found-cake/kali-mcp-go/releases/latest/download/mcp-client_darwin_arm64 \
  -o mcp-client && chmod +x mcp-client

# macOS Intel
curl -L https://github.com/found-cake/kali-mcp-go/releases/latest/download/mcp-client_darwin_amd64 \
  -o mcp-client && chmod +x mcp-client

# Windows x64
curl -L https://github.com/found-cake/kali-mcp-go/releases/latest/download/mcp-client_windows_amd64.exe -o mcp-client.exe

# Windows arm64
curl -L https://github.com/found-cake/kali-mcp-go/releases/latest/download/mcp-client_windows_arm64.exe -o mcp-client.exe

Verify integrity with checksums.txt from the same release:

sha256sum -c checksums.txt

Option B — Build from source

git clone https://github.com/found-cake/kali-mcp-go.git
cd kali-mcp-go

# kali-server (Linux target)
CGO_ENABLED=0 GOOS=linux GOARCH=amd64 \
  go build -trimpath -ldflags="-s -w" -o kali-server ./cmd/kali-server

# mcp-client (native OS)
CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -trimpath -ldflags="-s -w" -o mcp-client ./cmd/mcp-client

Usage

1. Start kali-server

Set a strong API token and start the server on the machine where your security tools are installed. The default port is 5000.

export KALI_MCP_API_TOKEN="your-secret-token"

./kali-server                           # binds to 127.0.0.1:5000
./kali-server --ip 0.0.0.0 --port 5000  # expose on all interfaces
./kali-server --debug                   # verbose logging

Tip: Use an SSH tunnel instead of exposing kali-server directly on the network — it's simpler and more secure:

# On your local machine: forward localhost:5000 → remote:5000
ssh -L 5000:127.0.0.1:5000 user@kali-host -N

Then point mcp-client at http://127.0.0.1:5000 as usual.

2. Connect your AI client

Set the same token in your local environment, then add mcp-client to your AI client's MCP configuration.

Claude Desktop

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kali-mcp": {
      "command": "/path/to/mcp-client",
      "args": ["--server", "http://127.0.0.1:5000"],
      "env": {
        "KALI_MCP_API_TOKEN": "your-secret-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

claude mcp add kali-mcp \
  -e KALI_MCP_API_TOKEN=your-secret-token \
  -- /path/to/mcp-client --server http://127.0.0.1:5000

OpenAI Codex / OpenCode

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kali-mcp": {
      "command": "/path/to/mcp-client",
      "args": ["--server", "http://127.0.0.1:5000"],
      "env": {
        "KALI_MCP_API_TOKEN": "your-secret-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

mcp-client flags

kali-server flags

Environment variables

Available Tools

Project Structure

kali-mcp-go/
├── cmd/
│   ├── kali-server/      # HTTP API server
│   └── mcp-client/       # MCP stdio bridge
├── internal/
│   ├── executor/         # Command execution + SSE streaming
│   ├── kaliclient/       # HTTP client for kali-server
│   └── tools/            # Tool argument builders + validation
└── pkg/
    └── dto/              # Shared request/response types

Security Notice

⚠️ Only target systems you own or have explicit written permission to test.

execute_command runs arbitrary shell commands as the server process user — restrict network access appropriately and prefer an SSH tunnel over direct exposure.

Acknowledgments

This project exists because MCP-Kali-Server by @Wh0am123 proved the concept and shaped the two-tier architecture. Full credit to the original for pioneering AI-assisted pentesting over MCP.