IDA Pro MCP Server

The IDA Pro MCP Server bridges the gap between AI assistants and one of the industry’s most powerful reverse‑engineering tools. By exposing IDA Pro’s rich set of APIs over the Model Context Protocol, it allows an AI assistant to programmatically interrogate binaries, execute custom analysis scripts, and retrieve structured data—all without manual intervention in the IDE. This capability transforms a traditionally interactive, GUI‑centric workflow into an automated, scriptable pipeline that can be orchestrated by higher‑level AI agents.

At its core, the server comprises three tightly coupled components. First, a lightweight HTTP plugin runs inside IDA Pro and listens for incoming requests. Second, a TypeScript client translates MCP calls into HTTP messages that the plugin understands. Finally, the MCP server itself exposes a suite of tools such as , , and data retrieval endpoints for strings, imports, exports, and functions. These tools are described in plain language within the MCP schema so that an AI assistant can generate the correct payloads and parse responses effortlessly.

Developers benefit from this integration in several concrete ways. A security researcher can ask an AI assistant to “count the number of functions and list the first ten” in a suspicious executable, and the assistant will return structured JSON with names and addresses. A malware analyst can trigger a custom Python script that applies pattern‑matching heuristics, then immediately feed the results back into an automated triage system. Because all communication is HTTP‑based and secured by IDA’s own authentication mechanisms, the server can be deployed on a remote analysis machine while still being accessed from any client that supports MCP.

The server’s standout advantage is its standardized interface. Unlike ad‑hoc scripting or manual copy‑paste, the MCP tools provide deterministic inputs and outputs, making it trivial to compose complex workflows. For example, an AI assistant could first search for a specific opcode sequence, then use the resulting addresses to invoke another tool that extracts surrounding disassembly. This composability turns reverse‑engineering into a programmable service, enabling batch analysis, continuous integration pipelines, and even AI‑driven triage dashboards.

In real‑world scenarios, the IDA Pro MCP Server is invaluable for threat hunting teams that need to process thousands of binaries quickly, for academic researchers automating data collection from firmware samples, or for CI pipelines that validate binary integrity after each build. By exposing IDA Pro’s full functionality through MCP, the server empowers developers to harness AI assistants as first‑class collaborators in the reverse‑engineering workflow.