IDAssistMCP

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

Screenshot

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

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