IDA Pro MCP server for AI agents

The IDA Pro MCP Server provides an interface for AI assistants to interact with IDA Pro, allowing for advanced binary analysis through the Model Context Protocol.

Installation

Prerequisites

Python 3.11 or higher (use idapyswitch to switch to the newest Python version)
IDA Pro 8.3 or higher (version 9 recommended, IDA Free is not supported)
A compatible MCP client such as Cline, Roo Code, Claude, or Cursor

Standard Installation

Install the package from GitHub:

pip uninstall ida-pro-mcp
pip install https://github.com/mrexodia/ida-pro-mcp/archive/refs/heads/main.zip

Configure and install the IDA plugin:

ida-pro-mcp --install

Important: After installation, completely restart IDA Pro and your MCP client (including Claude which runs in the background via the tray icon) for the changes to take effect.

Headless MCP Server

You can run an SSE server to connect to the user interface:

uv run ida-pro-mcp --transport http://127.0.0.1:8744/sse

For a headless server (requires idalib):

uv run idalib-mcp --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8745 path/to/executable

Using IDA Pro MCP

After installation, load a binary in IDA Pro. The MCP plugin menu will appear in the Edit → Plugins menu.

Available Functionality

The MCP server provides numerous functions for binary analysis:

Basic Information

Check connections
Get IDB metadata
Get current address/function

Function Analysis

Get function by name or address
List all functions
Decompile functions
Get assembly code

Data Analysis

List globals and strings
Get cross-references
List local types
Convert numbers between formats

Code Modification

Set comments
Rename functions, variables (local and global)
Set function prototypes
Declare C types
Set variable types

Debugging (requires --unsafe flag)

Get registers and call stack
Manage breakpoints
Control the debugging process

Effective Prompt Engineering

When working with the MCP server, use specific prompts to get accurate results. Here's a recommended example:

Your task is to analyze a crackme in IDA Pro. You can use the MCP tools to retrieve information. In general use the following strategy:
- Inspect the decompilation and add comments with your findings
- Rename variables to more sensible names
- Change the variable and argument types if necessary (especially pointer and array types)
- Change function names to be more descriptive
- If more details are necessary, disassemble the function and add comments with your findings
- NEVER convert number bases yourself. Use the convert_number MCP tool if needed!
- Do not attempt brute forcing, derive any solutions purely from the disassembly and simple python scripts
- Create a report.md with your findings and steps taken at the end
- When you find a solution, prompt to user for feedback with the password you found

Tips for Better Results

Always instruct the LLM to use the convert_number function for number conversions
Consider using additional tools like math-mcp for complex calculations
Pre-process obfuscated code before analysis:
- Remove string encryption
- Resolve import hashing
- Simplify control flow
- Decrypt code sections
- Fix anti-decompilation tricks
Use Lumina or FLIRT to identify library and C++ STL code

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 "github-com-mrexodia-ida-pro-mcp" '{"command":"uv","args":["run","ida-pro-mcp","--install-plugin"],"timeout":1800}'

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": {
        "github.com/mrexodia/ida-pro-mcp": {
            "command": "uv",
            "args": [
                "run",
                "ida-pro-mcp",
                "--install-plugin"
            ],
            "timeout": 1800
        }
    }
}

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": {
        "github.com/mrexodia/ida-pro-mcp": {
            "command": "uv",
            "args": [
                "run",
                "ida-pro-mcp",
                "--install-plugin"
            ],
            "timeout": 1800
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect