ops

One MCP server. Any AI gets CODEX like abilities.

ops is a STDIO MCP server that gives any AI client a real, local execution layer on Windows: read and write files, run shell commands, manage persistent sessions, track multi-step operations, install whatever environments your AI needs (Python, ffmpeg, Node, you name it) — all running directly on your computer. Wire ops into Claude Desktop, Cowork, Claude Code, Codex CLI, Gemini CLI, LM Studio, or anything else that speaks STDIO MCP, and your AI gets the kind of hands-on local-agent abilities that closed products like Codex ship as their headline feature. Same idea, but you bring your own AI and your own machine.

Version 0.3.1 · Apache 2.0 · GitHub

Part of CPC (Copy Paste Compute) — a multi-agent AI orchestration platform. Companion repos: hands · workflow · manager · Voice-Command

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🔒 Stays on your computer

ops runs locally. File reads, shell commands, sessions, breadcrumbs, reminders — all of it happens on your machine. ops itself never reaches out to the internet on its own. Your AI may reach out (Claude pings Anthropic, ChatGPT pings OpenAI, etc.), but ops adds zero outbound traffic of its own. If your AI uses ops to download something (e.g. winget install python), that's the AI's call, executed locally through ops's shell tools.

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What you can do with it

Once your AI has ops, it can:

• Read and write files on your machine — anywhere you have permission
• Run shell commands in PowerShell or Bash (via Git Bash) with a 4-tier safety blocklist
• Hold persistent shell sessions that remember cwd, env vars, and state across calls
• Install whatever environments it needs — winget install python, pip install, npm install, cargo install, you name it. If a script needs Python and Python isn't there, your AI can fetch it.
• Track multi-step operations with breadcrumbs that survive context compaction
• Set reminders with natural-language time parsing, including Windows Task Scheduler entries
• Manage MCP servers — backup configs, rebuild binaries, validate setup
• Coordinate with other AI sessions via dead-drop messaging and bag-tagging
• Notify you with toast notifications, read/write the clipboard, kill processes, query SQLite databases

68 tools total across file I/O, transforms, shell, sessions, archives, breadcrumbs, reminders, recovery, build/deploy, MCP server management, and cross-AI coordination. Full inventory below.

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Works with

ops speaks STDIO MCP, so it plugs into any AI client that does:

• Claude (chat) — Claude Desktop and the web app
• Cowork — Claude's desktop agent
• Claude Code — the CLI coding agent
• Codex CLI — OpenAI / GPT
• Gemini CLI — Google
• LM Studio — for running local models (Llama, Qwen, Mistral, etc.)
• Anything else that calls STDIO MCP servers — the protocol is the only requirement

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Install — three paths, in order of effort

1. Easiest: one-click installer (Windows x64)

If you're on Windows x64 and don't want to think about it:

1. Download both install-ops-x64.exe and ops-x64.exe from the latest release.
2. Drop both files in the same folder.
3. Double-click install-ops-x64.exe (or run install-ops-x64.exe --binary ops-x64.exe from a terminal).
4. Pick Program Files (admin install) or LocalAppData (no admin needed).
5. Restart your AI client.

The installer:

• Backs up claude_desktop_config.json with a timestamp before touching it
• Copies ops.exe to the location you picked
• Adds (or updates) only the ops entry in your MCP config — touches nothing else
• Prints the backup path so you can revert if anything looks wrong

After restarting, toggle the ops connector on in Settings → Connectors and you're done.

2. Have your AI install it for you

If you have Claude Desktop, Cowork, Claude Code, Codex CLI, or Gemini CLI open and your AI has any kind of file-write or shell access, copy this and paste it to your AI:

https://github.com/AIWander/ops — Can you install this MCP server for me. Grab the right binary for my computer (x64 or ARM64) from the latest release, drop it somewhere sensible, wire it into my MCP client's config (back up the existing config first), and tell me when everything's ready and I need to restart.

Your AI will fetch the right binary, edit the config (with a timestamped backup), and tell you when to restart.

If your AI doesn't yet have a way to read/write files or run shell commands, use the one-click installer above — that's the bootstrap path.

3. Programmer / manual

ARM64 Windows (no installer yet — manual is the only path on ARM64):

1. Download ops-aarch64.exe from the latest release, rename to ops.exe.
2. Drop it somewhere permanent, e.g. %LOCALAPPDATA%\Ops\ops.exe.
3. Edit %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json and add:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "ops": {
         "command": "C:\\Users\\YourName\\AppData\\Local\\Ops\\ops.exe"
       }
     }
   }
   

4. Restart Claude Desktop.

Build from source (any platform with Rust toolchain):

git clone https://github.com/AIWander/ops.git
cd ops
cargo build --release

Binary lands at target/release/ops.exe. Stable Rust toolchain — no nightly required.

Prerequisites

• Windows 10 or 11 (x64 or ARM64)
• A Claude Desktop or other MCP-compatible client

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Configuration

Environment Variable	Default	Purpose
OPS_BREADCRUMB_PATH	%LOCALAPPDATA%\Ops\breadcrumbs\	Breadcrumb storage
OPS_SCRIPTS_DIR	%LOCALAPPDATA%\Ops\scripts\	Scripts directory
OPS_STATE_FILE	%LOCALAPPDATA%\Ops\state.json	State file
RUST_MCP_DIR	(none)	Override workspace root for git/build tools
OPS_BASH_PATH	auto-discovered	Override Git Bash binary path

Defaults work without configuration. See claude_desktop_config.example.json for a ready-to-paste config block.

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Safety: the blocklist

ops's powershell, bash, and session_run tools enforce a 4-tier safety system. All other tools (file I/O, breadcrumbs, reminders, archives, etc.) are unrestricted.

Tier 4 is strictest (always blocked); Tier 1 is allowed by default.

Tier	Trigger	Required flag
4 — Catastrophic	Remove-Item C:\, shadow copy deletion, fork bombs, dd to raw devices, curl | sh from network, BitLocker disable, etc.	Always blocked
3 — Destructive	Drive format, account deletion, bulk system-path deletion, mkfs/shred	allow_destructive: true
2 — System config	Firewall rules, service management, registry writes outside HKCU, scheduled task changes	confirm: true
1 — Everything else	All other commands	Unrestricted

Full pattern list: src/security/blocklist.rs. Tier descriptions: SECURITY.md.

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What's New in v0.3.1

• Aligned breadcrumb shape with manager-universal's dual-source reader — frontends can now render breadcrumbs from ops and manager interchangeably.

v0.3.0 highlights

Feature	Detail
bash tool	Execute commands via Git Bash — mirrors powershell with allow_destructive and confirm flags
Extended blocklist	Unix-shaped T4/T3/T2 patterns: dd-to-device, fork bombs, rm -rf root, curl|sh, chmod 777, mkfs/shred, systemctl, iptables, apt
Path resolution	OPS_BASH_PATH env override → standard Git Bash locations → PATH fallback
69 tools total	+1 from v0.2.1

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Tool reference

Click to expand the full tool inventory (68 tools across 14 categories)

File I/O

Tool	Description
read_file	Read file with smart options: search for pattern, get specific lines, or auto-truncate large files
write_file	Write file, return confirmation only
append_file	Append to file, return confirmation only
list_dir	List directory contents as tree
tail_file	Return last N lines of a file plus current byte offset
search_file	Search files by name or content

Transforms

Tool	Description
transform_grep	Search files for pattern, return matching lines with context
transform_extract_lines	Extract specific line range from file
transform_diff_file	Compare two files, return diff
transform_find_replace	Find/replace in file
transform_json_format	Pretty-print JSON with proper indentation
transform_hash_file	Compute file checksum (SHA256 via PowerShell)
transform_file_stats	Get file/directory stats without reading content

Sessions

Tool	Description
session_create	Create a persistent shell session
session_run	Run command in persistent session
session_cd	Change directory in session
session_set_env	Set environment variable in session
session_get_env	Get environment variable(s) from session
session_list	List all active sessions with their state
session_destroy	Destroy a session and kill its PowerShell process

Breadcrumbs

Tool	Description
breadcrumb_start	Start tracked operation with planned steps
breadcrumb_step	Log step completion, auto-advances to next
breadcrumb_complete	Mark operation complete, trigger extraction review
breadcrumb_abort	Abort current operation with reason
breadcrumb_status	Get current operation status and progress
breadcrumb_backup	Snapshot breadcrumb state before irreversible ops

Reminders

Tool	Description
reminder_add	Create reminder with natural language time parsing
reminder_list	List reminders with optional filter
reminder_complete	Mark reminder completed
reminder_delete	Permanently remove a reminder
reminder_check_due	Return all reminders that are due now or overdue
reminder_add_recurring	Add recurring reminder (daily/weekly/monthly)
reminder_add_scheduled	Create Windows Task Scheduler reminder
reminder_list_scheduled	List Windows Task Scheduler CPC reminders
reminder_delete_scheduled	Delete Windows Task Scheduler reminder by name
system_time_check	Check elapsed time and re-surface reminders if 3+ hours passed

Health

Tool	Description
system_health_check	Check server health and update dashboard
system_health_report	Get current health dashboard
server_health	Check which MCP servers are alive

Config

Tool	Description
config_backup	Backup claude_desktop_config.json with a timestamp before editing
config_validate	Validate claude_desktop_config.json: parse JSON and check structure
mcp_rebuild	Rebuild an MCP server with backup

Build/Deploy

Tool	Description
deploy_preflight	Pre-kill safety checks before deploying/rebuilding an MCP server
deploy_smoke_test	Validate MCP server binaries before packaging
git_rollback	Rollback rust-mcp repo to a previous commit

Archives

Tool	Description
archive_create	Create zip/tar/tar.gz archive
archive_extract	Extract zip/tar/tar.gz archive
md2docx	Convert Markdown to DOCX via pandoc

Shell

Tool	Description
powershell	Execute PowerShell (4-tier blocklist enforced)
bash	Execute commands via Git Bash (4-tier blocklist enforced)

Cross-AI

Tool	Description
dead_drop_leave	Leave message in dead drop for other AI agents to find at boot
dead_drop_check	Check dead drop for unread messages
dead_drop_clear	Mark dead drop messages as read
bag_tag	Tag items into the in-memory bag for later retrieval
bag_read	Read current bag contents
bag_clear	Clear the bag

Recovery

Tool	Description
checkpoint_save	Save working memory state (survives context compaction)
checkpoint_load	Load last checkpoint
checkpoint_clear	Clear checkpoint after task completion

Utility

Tool	Description
clipboard_read	Read from Windows clipboard
clipboard_write	Write to Windows clipboard
notify	Show a Windows toast notification
kill_process	Kill process by PID
list_process	List processes, optionally filtered by name
port_check	Test TCP connectivity to a host:port
sqlite_query	Execute a read-only SQL query against a SQLite database
system_info	Get OS, CPU, RAM, disk info

Misc

Tool	Description
status	Check system or topic status
tool_fallback	Look up fallback tool when primary is unavailable

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Failure modes

ops is a thin layer over real OS operations, so failures map directly to what the OS would tell you:

• Blocked command — powershell, bash, and session_run return an explicit blocklist-tier error with the matched pattern. Adjust the call or pass the appropriate flag.
• Command not found / non-zero exit — tools surface the real exit code and captured stderr. Read the error rather than retrying blindly.
• State directory not writable — usually means %LOCALAPPDATA%\Ops\ is missing or has wrong permissions. Run doctor.ps1 to diagnose.
• Long-running process hangs — use session_* for commands that need interactive state; powershell is best for short one-shots with a hard timeout.

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Pairs nicely with the rest of CPC

ops works standalone — one binary, one MCP client, full shell + filesystem + breadcrumbs + reminders. Pair it with these for broader capabilities:

• hands — browser automation, Windows UI control, vision/OCR
• workflow — API discovery and replay, credential vault, scheduled flows
• manager — multi-backend orchestration on top of ops's execution
• Voice-Command — voice-control any AI that has ops; pairs cleanly because ops gives the AI hands and Voice-Command gives it ears and a voice

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Contributing

Issues welcome; PRs considered, but this is primarily maintained as part of the CPC stack. See CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

Apache License 2.0 — see LICENSE. Copyright 2026 Joseph Wander.

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Contact

• GitHub: github.com/AIWander
• Email: josephwander@gmail.com
• Issues: github.com/AIWander/ops/issues