WireMCP MCP server

WireMCP is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enhances Large Language Models with network traffic analysis capabilities. It captures and processes live network data using Wireshark's tshark, providing structured information that helps LLMs perform tasks like threat hunting, network diagnostics, and anomaly detection.

Prerequisites

Before installing WireMCP, ensure you have:

• Mac, Windows, or Linux operating system
• Wireshark with tshark installed and accessible in PATH
• Node.js (v16+ recommended)
• npm (for dependency installation)

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/0xkoda/WireMCP.git
cd WireMCP

2. Install dependencies:

npm install

3. Run the MCP server:

node index.js

Note: WireMCP will automatically detect tshark or fall back to common install locations (such as /Applications/Wireshark.app/Contents/MacOS/tshark on macOS).

Integrating with MCP Clients

Cursor Integration

To use WireMCP with Cursor, edit the mcp.json file in Cursor's settings:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "wiremcp": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "/ABSOLUTE_PATH_TO/WireMCP/index.js"
      ]
    }
  }
}

On macOS, this configuration file is typically located at /Users/YOUR_USER/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json.

Other MCP Clients

WireMCP works with any MCP-compliant client. Simply configure the client to use the command node /path/to/WireMCP/index.js.

Available Tools

WireMCP provides several tools that LLMs can leverage:

• capture_packets: Captures live network traffic and returns packet data as JSON
• get_summary_stats: Provides protocol hierarchy statistics
• get_conversations: Shows TCP/UDP conversation statistics
• check_threats: Checks captured IPs against the URLhaus blacklist
• check_ip_threats: Performs detailed threat intelligence lookups for specific IPs
• analyze_pcap: Analyzes PCAP files to provide comprehensive packet data
• extract_credentials: Scans PCAP files for potential credentials from various protocols

Example Outputs

Using check_threats

Captured IPs:
174.67.0.227
52.196.136.253

Threat check against URLhaus blacklist:
No threats detected in URLhaus blacklist.

Using analyze_pcap

{
  "content": [{
    "type": "text",
    "text": "Analyzed PCAP: ./capture.pcap\n\nUnique IPs:\n192.168.0.2\n192.168.0.1\n\nProtocols:\neth:ethertype:ip:tcp\neth:ethertype:ip:tcp:telnet\n\nPacket Data:\n[{\"layers\":{\"frame.number\":[\"1\"],\"ip.src\":[\"192.168.0.2\"],\"ip.dst\":[\"192.168.0.1\"],\"tcp.srcport\":[\"1550\"],\"tcp.dstport\":[\"23\"]}}]"
  }]
}

Applications

LLMs can use WireMCP's outputs to:

• Provide natural language explanations of network activity
• Identify patterns and potential security concerns
• Offer context-aware recommendations
• Generate human-readable reports from technical network data

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 "wiremcp" '{"command":"node","args":["/ABSOLUTE_PATH_TO/WireMCP/index.js"]}'

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": {
        "wiremcp": {
            "command": "node",
            "args": [
                "/ABSOLUTE_PATH_TO/WireMCP/index.js"
            ]
        }
    }
}

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": {
        "wiremcp": {
            "command": "node",
            "args": [
                "/ABSOLUTE_PATH_TO/WireMCP/index.js"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect