ClamAV MCP Server

Overview

The ClamAV MCP server provides a lightweight, AI‑friendly interface for virus scanning using the well‑established ClamAV engine. By exposing a single tool, it allows AI assistants such as Claude or Cursor to perform real‑time malware detection on arbitrary files without requiring the assistant to have direct access to system binaries or virus databases. This is especially useful in cloud or containerized environments where installing a full antivirus suite directly into the AI runtime would be impractical.

For developers, this MCP server solves the problem of integrating reliable security checks into automated workflows. Whether a user is uploading documents, processing email attachments, or evaluating code repositories, the server can be queried with a base64‑encoded payload and return both a success flag and the raw ClamAV scan output. This makes it trivial to add a “virus check” step before any downstream processing, ensuring that malicious content is caught early and never reaches the AI model or user.

Key features include:

• Simple API surface: a single method that accepts base64 data and a filename.
• Transparent integration: the server runs over SSE on port 8000, which is natively supported by tools like Cursor.
• Cross‑platform compatibility: works on Linux, Windows, and macOS as long as ClamAV is installed.
• Real‑time reporting: returns the raw output from , giving developers full insight into what was detected.

Typical use cases span a wide range of scenarios:

• File upload portals: automatically scan user uploads before storage.
• Email gateways: check attachments for malware before delivery to inboxes.
• CI/CD pipelines: validate artifacts and dependencies against known virus signatures.
• Data ingestion services: ensure that incoming datasets are clean before analysis.

Integration into an AI workflow is straightforward. An assistant can call the tool, receive a structured response, and conditionally proceed based on the flag. Because the MCP exposes its capabilities in a standard, declarative format, developers can easily compose these checks into larger tool chains or prompt templates without modifying the core AI model.

Overall, the ClamAV MCP offers a secure, scalable, and developer‑friendly bridge between AI assistants and traditional antivirus tooling, enabling safer automation across diverse applications.