Embedded Debugger (probe-rs) MCP server for AI agents

The Embedded Debugger MCP Server provides a professional debugging solution for embedded systems using the Model Context Protocol (MCP). It enables AI assistants to interact with microcontroller hardware through various debug probes, offering comprehensive debugging capabilities for ARM Cortex-M and RISC-V architectures.

Prerequisites

Hardware Requirements

Debug Probe: ST-Link V2/V3, J-Link, or DAPLink compatible probe
Target Board: STM32 or other supported microcontroller
Connection: USB cables for probe and target board

Software Requirements

Rust 1.70+
probe-rs compatible debug probe drivers

Installation

# Clone and build from source
git clone https://github.com/adancurusul/embedded-debugger-mcp.git
cd embedded-debugger-mcp
cargo build --release

Configuration

Claude Desktop Configuration

Add to Claude Desktop configuration file:

Windows:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "embedded-debugger": {
      "command": "C:\\path\\to\\debugger-mcp-rs\\target\\release\\embedded-debugger-mcp.exe",
      "args": [],
      "env": {
        "RUST_LOG": "info"
      }
    }
  }
}

macOS/Linux:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "embedded-debugger": {
      "command": "/path/to/debugger-mcp-rs/target/release/embedded-debugger-mcp",
      "args": [],
      "env": {
        "RUST_LOG": "info"
      }
    }
  }
}

STM32 Demo

A comprehensive STM32 RTT Bidirectional Demo is available to showcase the capabilities:

# Navigate to the example
cd examples/STM32_demo

# Build the firmware  
cargo build --release

# Use with MCP server for complete debugging experience

The demo showcases:

Interactive RTT Communication
All 22 MCP Tools
Fibonacci Calculator with live data streaming
Hardware Integration with STM32G431CBTx + ST-Link V2

Usage Examples

List Available Debug Probes

Please list available debug probes on the system

Connect and Flash Firmware

Connect to my STM32G431CBTx using ST-Link probe, then flash the firmware at examples/STM32_demo/target/thumbv7em-none-eabi/release/STM32_demo

Interactive RTT Communication

Please attach RTT and show me the data from the terminal channel. Then send a command 'L' to toggle the LED.

Memory Analysis

Read 64 bytes of memory from address 0x08000000 and analyze the data format

Available Tools

Probe Management

list_probes: Discover available debug probes
connect: Connect to probe and target chip
probe_info: Get detailed session information

Memory Operations

read_memory: Read flash/RAM with multiple formats
write_memory: Write to target memory

Debug Control

halt: Stop target execution
run: Resume target execution
reset: Hardware/software reset
step: Single instruction stepping

Breakpoint Management

set_breakpoint: Set hardware/software breakpoints
clear_breakpoint: Remove breakpoints

Flash Operations

flash_erase: Erase flash memory sectors/chip
flash_program: Program ELF/HEX/BIN files
flash_verify: Verify flash contents

RTT Communication

rtt_attach: Connect to RTT communication
rtt_detach: Disconnect RTT
rtt_channels: List available RTT channels
rtt_read: Read from RTT up channels
rtt_write: Write to RTT down channels
run_firmware: Complete deployment + RTT

Session Management

get_status: Get current debug status
disconnect: Clean session termination

Supported Hardware

Debug Probes

J-Link (all variants)
ST-Link/V2, ST-Link/V3
ARM DAPLink compatible probes
Black Magic Probe
FTDI-based debug probes

Target Architectures

ARM Cortex-M (M0, M0+, M3, M4, M7, M23, M33)
RISC-V cores
ARM Cortex-A (basic support)

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "embedded-debugger" '{"command":"/path/to/debugger-mcp-rs/target/release/embedded-debugger-mcp","args":[],"env":{"RUST_LOG":"info"}}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "embedded-debugger": {
            "command": "/path/to/debugger-mcp-rs/target/release/embedded-debugger-mcp",
            "args": [],
            "env": {
                "RUST_LOG": "info"
            }
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "embedded-debugger": {
            "command": "/path/to/debugger-mcp-rs/target/release/embedded-debugger-mcp",
            "args": [],
            "env": {
                "RUST_LOG": "info"
            }
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect