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.

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.