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.