PyGhidra-MCP - Ghidra Model Context Protocol Server

Overview

pyghidra-mcp is a command-line Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that brings the full analytical power of Ghidra, a robust software reverse engineering (SRE) suite, into the world of intelligent agents and LLM-based tooling. It bridges Ghidra’s ProgramAPI and FlatProgramAPI to Python using pyghidra and jpype, then exposes that functionality via the Model Context Protocol.

MCP is a unified interface that allows language models, development tools (like VS Code), and autonomous agents to access structured context, invoke tooling, and collaborate intelligently. Think of MCP as the bridge between powerful analysis tools and the LLM ecosystem.

With pyghidra-mcp, Ghidra becomes an intelligent backend—ready to respond to context-rich queries, automate deep reverse engineering tasks, and integrate into AI-assisted workflows.

pyghidra-mcp now supports two operating modes:

• headless mode for CLI-driven analysis and automation
• --gui mode, which launches Ghidra through pyghidra-mcp and shares live program state with the running GUI

[!NOTE] This beta project is under active development. We would love your feedback, bug reports, feature requests, and code.

Yet another Ghidra MCP?

Yes, the original ghidra-mcp is fantastic. But pyghidra-mcp takes a different approach:

• 🐍 Headless-first, GUI-capable – Run entirely via CLI for streamlined automation, or launch Ghidra with --gui when you want live GUI navigation and edits.
• 🔁 Designed for automation – Ideal for integrating with LLMs, CI pipelines, and tooling that needs repeatable behavior.
• ✅ CI/CD friendly – Built with robust unit and integration tests for both client and server sessions.
• 🚀 Quick startup – Asynchronous startup allows the server to start handling requests while binaries are still being analyzed in the background. Supports fast command-line launching with minimal setup.
• 📦 Project-wide analysis – Enables concurrent reverse engineering of all binaries in a Ghidra project
• 🤖 Agent-ready – Built for intelligent agent-driven workflows and large-scale reverse engineering automation.
• 🔍 Semantic code search – Uses vector embeddings (via ChromaDB) to enable fast, fuzzy lookup across decompiled functions, comments, and symbols—perfect for pseudo-C exploration and agent-driven triage.

This project provides a Python-first experience optimized for local development, headless environments, and testable workflows.

graph TD
    subgraph Clients
        A[🤖 LLM / Agent]
        B[💻 Local CLI User]
        C[🔧 CI/CD Pipeline]
    end

    subgraph Startup Command
        direction LR
        cmd("`pyghidra-mcp --project-path /path/to/project --threaded /path/to/binary1`")
    end

    subgraph "pyghidra-mcp Server"
        D[MCP Server]
        E[pyghidra ]
        F[Ghidra Headless]

      subgraph "Ghidra Project Analysis"
          G[Binary 1]
          H[Binary 2]
          I[...]
      end
    end



    cmd --> D

    A -- "MCP (stdio/http)" --> D
    B -- "stdio/http" --> D
    C -- "stdio/sse" --> D

    D -- "Initializes" --> E
    E -- "Controls" --> F

    F -- "Analyzes Concurrently" --> G
    F -- "Analyzes Concurrently" --> H
    F -- "Analyzes Concurrently" --> I

    subgraph "Exposed MCP API"
        J[decompile_function]
    end

    D -- "Exposes Tools" --> J

    J -- "Results" --> A

Contents

• PyGhidra-MCP - Ghidra Model Context Protocol Server
  • Overview
  • Yet another Ghidra MCP?
  • Contents
  • Getting started
  • CLI Client
  • Project Creation, Management, and Opening Existing Projects
    • Creating New Projects
      • Self-Contained Project Structure
      • Basic Project Creation
      • Custom Project Creation
      • Creating Multiple Related Projects
    • Opening Existing Ghidra Projects
      • Opening by .gpr File
  • Development
    • Setup
    • Testing and Quality
  • API
    • Tools
      • Code Search
      • Cross-References
      • Generate Call Graph
      • Decompile Function
      • Import Binary
      • List Exports
      • List Imports
      • List Project Binaries
      • List Project Binary Metadata
      • Delete Project Binary
      • Read Bytes
      • Search Strings
      • Search Symbols
    • Prompts
    • Resources
  • Usage
    • Mapping Binaries with Docker
    • Using with OpenWeb-UI and MCPO
      • With uvx
      • With Docker
    • Standard Input/Output (stdio)
      • Python
      • Docker
    • Streamable HTTP
      • Python
      • Docker
    • Server-sent events (SSE)
      • Python
      • Docker
  • Integrations
    • Claude Desktop
  • Inspiration
  • Contributing, community, and running from source
    • Contributor workflow

Getting started

Run the Python package as a CLI command using uv:

uvx pyghidra-mcp # Creates pyghidra_mcp_projects directory by default

To launch and control a live Ghidra GUI from MCP, use --gui with streamable-http and an existing .gpr project:

uv run pyghidra-mcp \
  --gui \
  --transport streamable-http \
  --host 127.0.0.1 \
  --port 8000 \
  --project-path /absolute/path/to/my_project.gpr

[!IMPORTANT] --gui launches Ghidra through pyghidra-mcp. It does not attach to an already-running external Ghidra instance.

Or, run as a Docker container:

docker run -i --rm ghcr.io/clearbluejar/pyghidra-mcp -t stdio

CLI Client

For a more interactive command-line experience, you can use the separate pyghidra-mcp-cli package, which provides a user-friendly interface for interacting with a running pyghidra-mcp server.

Installation

Install the CLI client using uv (recommended):

uvx pyghidra-mcp-cli

Or install with pip:

pip install pyghidra-mcp-cli

Quick Start with CLI

1. Start the server (in one terminal):

pyghidra-mcp --transport streamable-http /bin/ls

1. Use the CLI (in another terminal):

# List available binaries
pyghidra-mcp-cli list binaries

# Decompile a function
pyghidra-mcp-cli decompile --binary ls main

# Decompile with callees, referenced strings, and cross-references
pyghidra-mcp-cli decompile --binary ls main --callees --strings --xrefs

# Search for symbols (supports regex patterns)
pyghidra-mcp-cli search symbols --binary ls printf -l 10

[!NOTE] The CLI connects to pyghidra-mcp via HTTP to avoid the 10-60 second startup overhead of spawning a new Ghidra process for each command. See the CLI README for complete documentation.

Project Creation, Management, and Opening Existing Projects

Creating New Projects

You can create new projects in several ways, depending on your workflow:

Self-Contained Project Structure

pyghidra-mcp creates a self-contained project structure where each project has its own Ghidra project and pyghidra-mcp artifacts. This ensures complete isolation and easy project management.

Basic Project Creation

# Create a new project with default settings
pyghidra_mcp

# Creates: 
$ tree pyghidra_mcp_projects/
pyghidra_mcp_projects/
├── my_project.gpr
├── my_project-pyghidra-mcp
│   ├── chromadb
│   └── gzfs
└── my_project.rep

Custom Project Creation

# Create project with custom name and location
pyghidra_mcp --project-path ~/analysis/malware_study --project-name malware_analysis

$ tree ~/analysis/ 
/home/vscode/analysis/
└── malware_study
    ├── malware_analysis.gpr
    ├── malware_analysis-pyghidra-mcp
    │   ├── chromadb
    │   └── gzfs
    └── malware_analysis.rep

Creating Multiple Related Projects

# Create separate projects for different analysis focuses
mkdir ~/reverse_engineering_workspace

# Project for suspicious binaries
pyghidra_mcp --project-path ~/reverse_engineering_workspace/suspicious_binaries --project-name suspicious_analysis

# Project for packed malware  
pyghidra_mcp --project-path ~/reverse_engineering_workspace/packed_malware --project-name packed_analysis

Opening Existing Ghidra Projects

If you have existing Ghidra projects (.gpr files), you can open them directly with pyghidra-mcp:

Opening by .gpr File

# Open existing Ghidra project (project name derived from filename)
pyghidra_mcp --project-path ~/existing/ghidra/my_research.gpr

# Result: ~/existing/ghidra/my_research-pyghidra-mcp/
# └── chromadb/, gzfs/ (pyghidra-mcp additions)

GUI Mode

Use GUI mode when you want MCP actions to operate against the same live program objects that Ghidra is displaying.

• --gui requires --transport streamable-http
• --project-path must point to an existing .gpr
• Ghidra is launched by pyghidra-mcp, which keeps GUI and MCP transactions in the same JVM
• GUI-only tools are only exposed when running with --gui

Example:

pyghidra-mcp \
  --gui \
  --transport streamable-http \
  --project-path /absolute/path/to/my_research.gpr

GUI mode is the right choice when you want to:

• open or switch programs in CodeBrowser
• navigate the listing to a function or address
• rename functions or add comments and immediately see those changes in Ghidra

Startup Defaults and Large Projects

pyghidra-mcp does not require --wait-for-analysis by default. The server can start while analysis and MCP-side indexing continue in the background.

This matters for large projects:

• starting a project with many binaries does not need to block server startup
• --wait-for-analysis is available when you want a fully analyzed project before serving requests
• for large existing projects, expect analysis and indexing readiness to vary by binary

Current limitation:

• Ghidra analysis state and MCP indexing state are separate
• a binary can be fully analyzed in Ghidra while search_strings or semantic search_code are still waiting on MCP-side indexing
• this is more noticeable when opening larger existing projects

In practice:

• decompilation, navigation, renaming, and comments can still work for a binary while indexing-heavy search features are catching up
• if startup latency matters more than immediate search readiness, keep the default --no-wait-for-analysis
• if immediate readiness matters more than startup time, use --wait-for-analysis

Development

This project uses a Makefile to streamline development and testing. ruff is used for linting and formatting, and pre-commit hooks are used to ensure code quality.

Setup

1. Install uv: If you don't have uv installed, you can install it using pip:

   pip install uv
   

   Or, follow the official uv installation guide: https://docs.astral.sh/uv/install/

2. Create a virtual environment and install dependencies:

   make dev-setup
   source ./.venv/bin/activate
   

3. Set Ghidra Environment Variable: Download and install Ghidra, then set the GHIDRA_INSTALL_DIR environment variable to your Ghidra installation directory.

   # For Linux / Mac
   export GHIDRA_INSTALL_DIR="/path/to/ghidra/"
   
   # For Windows PowerShell
   [System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable('GHIDRA_INSTALL_DIR','C:\ghidra_10.2.3_PUBLIC_20230208\ghidra_10.2.3_PUBLIC')
   

Testing and Quality

The Makefile provides several targets for testing and code quality:

• make run: Run the MCP server.
• make test: Run the full test suite (unit and integration).
• make test-unit: Run unit tests.
• make test-integration: Run integration tests.
• make test-integration-fast: Run the lightweight integration smoke test used by pre-commit.
• make test-integration-gui: Run GUI integration tests. Requires a working Ghidra install and GUI support.
• make lint: Check code style with ruff.
• make format: Format code with ruff.
• make typecheck: Run type checking with ruff.
• make check: Run all quality checks.
• make dev: Run the development workflow (format and check).
• make build: Build distribution packages.
• make clean: Clean build artifacts and cache.

Recommended split:

• pre-commit: ruff, pyright, unit tests, and one lightweight integration smoke test
• GitHub Actions: full headless integration coverage plus the supported Linux GUI lane under Xvfb
• local/manual: macOS GUI validation and any heavier environment-specific debugging

API

Tools

Enable LLMs to perform actions, make deterministic computations, and interact with external services.

Batch Operations

decompile_function and list_xrefs accept a single target or a list of targets, reducing round-trips when analyzing call chains or multiple symbols at once.

// Decompile three functions in one call, with callees and xrefs attached
{
  "binary_name": "firmware.bin",
  "name_or_address": ["main", "init_hardware", "0x08001234"],
  "include_callees": true,
  "include_xrefs": true
}

// Get cross-references for multiple symbols at once
{
  "binary_name": "firmware.bin",
  "name_or_address": ["malloc", "free", "realloc"]
}

Per-item errors are returned inline (other targets still succeed):

[
  {"name": "main", "code": "void main() { ... }", "callees": ["init_hardware"], "xrefs": [...]},
  {"name": "0xdeadbeef", "code": "", "error": "Function or symbol '0xdeadbeef' not found."}
]

Read / Analysis Tools

• search_code(binary_name: str, query: str, limit: int = 5): Search for code within a binary by similarity using vector embeddings.

• list_xrefs(binary_name: str, name_or_address: str | list[str]): List cross-references to function(s), symbol(s), or address(es). Accepts a single target or a list for batch lookup.

• gen_callgraph(binary_name: str, function_name_or_address: str, direction: str = "calling", display_type: str = "flow", include_refs: bool = True, max_depth: int | None = None, max_run_time: int = 60, condense_threshold: int = 50, top_layers: int = 5, bottom_layers: int = 5): Generates a MermaidJS call graph for a specified function. Supports both "calling" (functions called by the target) and "called" (functions that call the target) directions with multiple visualization types.

• decompile_function(binary_name: str, name_or_address: str | list[str], include_callees: bool = False, include_strings: bool = False, include_xrefs: bool = False, timeout_sec: int = 30): Decompile function(s) by name or address. Accepts a single target or a list for batch decompilation. Rich response flags attach callees, strings, and/or xrefs to each result. timeout_sec applies per target and bounds each decompilation attempt independently.

• list_exports(binary_name: str, query: str = ".*", offset: int = 0, limit: int = 25): Lists all exported functions and symbols from a specified binary (regex supported for query).

• list_imports(binary_name: str, query: str = ".*", offset: int = 0, limit: int = 25): Lists all imported functions and symbols for a specified binary (regex supported for query).

• read_bytes(binary_name: str, address: str, size: int = 32): Reads raw bytes from memory at a specified address. Returns raw hex data. Useful for inspecting memory contents, data structures, or confirming analysis findings.

• search_strings(binary_name: str, query: str, limit: int = 100): Searches for strings within a binary by name.

• search_symbols_by_name(binary_name: str, query: str, functions_only: bool = False, offset: int = 0, limit: int = 25): Search for symbols within a binary by name. Supports regex patterns (e.g. ^main$, func.*one) with case-insensitive matching, or plain substring queries. Set functions_only=True to exclude labels, variables, and other non-function symbols.

Project Operations

• import_binary(binary_path: str): Imports a binary from a designated path into the current Ghidra project. If the path is a directory, it will recursively scan and import all supported binary files, preserving the directory structure within the Ghidra project.

• list_project_binaries(): Lists binaries in the current Ghidra project. In GUI mode this includes project binaries that exist on disk even if they are not currently open in CodeBrowser.

• list_project_binary_metadata(binary_name: str): Retrieves detailed metadata for a specific binary, including architecture, compiler, executable format, analysis metrics, and file hashes.

• delete_project_binary(binary_name: str): Deletes a binary (program) from the Ghidra project.

Edit / Mutation Tools

• rename_function(binary_name: str, name_or_address: str, new_name: str): Rename a function by name or address. In GUI mode this runs as a live Ghidra transaction and updates the open program.

• rename_variable(binary_name: str, function_name_or_address: str, variable_name: str, new_name: str): Rename a function parameter or local variable by exact name within a specific function. If the name is missing or ambiguous within that function, the tool returns an error instead of guessing. In GUI mode this runs as a live Ghidra transaction and updates the open program.

• set_variable_type(binary_name: str, function_name_or_address: str, variable_name: str, type_name: str): Set the data type for a function parameter or local variable by exact name within a specific function. If the name is missing or ambiguous within that function, the tool returns an error instead of guessing. type_name is parsed using Ghidra's datatype parser against the program datatype manager.

• set_function_prototype(binary_name: str, function_name_or_address: str, prototype: str): Set a function prototype from a full signature string. The tool always runs the prototype through Ghidra's native signature parser and returns the underlying parser or apply error if the prototype is invalid.

• set_comment(binary_name: str, target: str, comment: str, comment_type: str): Set a function/decompiler comment or listing comment. Supported comment_type values are decompiler, plate, pre, eol, post, and repeatable.

GUI Control Tools (--gui only)

These tools are only available when pyghidra-mcp is started with --gui and control what the GUI is showing rather than mutating project data directly:

• list_open_programs(): List programs currently open in the Ghidra GUI.
• open_program_in_gui(binary_name: str, new_window: bool = True): Open a project binary in CodeBrowser. By default this opens a new CodeBrowser window. Set new_window=false to reuse a visible CodeBrowser when possible.
• set_current_program(binary_name: str): Make an open program the active/current program in the primary GUI tool context.
• goto(binary_name: str, target: str, target_type: str): Navigate the Ghidra GUI to an address or function. target_type must be address or function.

Prompts

Reusable prompts to standardize common LLM interactions.

• write_ghidra_script: Return a prompt to help write a Ghidra script.

Resources

Expose data and content to LLMs

• ghidra://program/{program_name}/function/{function_name}/decompiled: Decompiled code of a specific function.

Usage

This Python package is published to PyPI as pyghidra-mcp and can be installed and run with pip, pipx, uv, poetry, or any Python package manager.

$ uvx pyghidra-mcp --help
Usage: pyghidra-mcp [OPTIONS] [INPUT_PATHS]...

  PyGhidra Command-Line MCP server

  - input_paths: Path to one or more binaries to import, analyze, and expose with pyghidra-mcp
  - transport: Supports stdio, streamable-http, and sse transports.
  For stdio, it will read from stdin and write to stdout.
  For streamable-http and sse, it will start an HTTP server on the specified port (default 8000).

Options:
  -v, --version                     Show version and exit.
  -t, --transport [stdio|streamable-http|sse]
                                    Transport protocol to use: stdio,
                                    streamable-http, or sse (legacy).
  --project-path PATH               Location on disk which points to the Ghidra
                                    project to use. Can be an existing file.
                                    [default: pyghidra_mcp_projects]
  --project-name TEXT               Name for the project (used for Ghidra project
                                    files). Ignored when using .gpr files.
                                    [default: my_project]
  --gui / --no-gui                  Launch and control a live Ghidra GUI for the
                                    provided project. Requires streamable-http
                                    and an existing .gpr project.
                                    [default: no-gui]
  -p, --port INTEGER                Port to listen on for HTTP-based transports
                                    (streamable-http, sse). [default: 8000]
  -o, --host TEXT                   Host to listen on for HTTP-based transports
                                    (streamable-http, sse). [default: 127.0.0.1]
  --threaded / --no-threaded        Allow threaded analysis. Disable for debug.
                                    [default: threaded]
  --force-analysis / --no-force-analysis
                                    Force a new binary analysis each run.
                                    [default: no-force-analysis]
  --verbose-analysis / --no-verbose-analysis
                                    Verbose logging for analysis step.
                                    [default: no-verbose-analysis]
  --no-symbols / --with-symbols     Turn off symbols for analysis.
                                    [default: no-symbols]
  --gdt PATH                        Path to a GDT file for analysis. Can be
                                    specified multiple times.
  --program-options PATH            Path to a JSON file containing program
                                    options (custom analyzer settings).
  --gzfs-path PATH                  Location to store GZFs of analyzed
                                    binaries.
  --max-workers INTEGER             Number of workers for threaded analysis.
                                    Defaults to CPU count. [default: 0]
  --wait-for-analysis / --no-wait-for-analysis
                                    Wait for initial project analysis to
                                    complete before starting the server.
                                    [default: no-wait-for-analysis]
  -h, --help                        Show this message and exit.

Mapping Binaries with Docker

When using the Docker container, you can map a local directory containing your binaries into the container's workspace. This allows pyghidra-mcp to analyze your files.

# Create and populate the new directory
mkdir -p ./binaries
cp /path/to/your/binaries/* ./binaries/

# Run the Docker container with volume mapping
docker run -i --rm \
  -v "$(pwd)/binaries:/binaries" \
  ghcr.io/clearbluejar/pyghidra-mcp \
  /binaries/*

Using with OpenWeb-UI and MCPO

You can integrate pyghidra-mcp with OpenWeb-UI using MCPO, an MCP-to-OpenAPI proxy. This allows you to expose pyghidra-mcp's tools through a standard RESTful API, making them accessible to web interfaces and other tools.

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/3d56ea08-ed2d-471d-9ed2-556fb8ee4c95

With uvx

You can run pyghidra-mcp and mcpo together using uvx:

uvx mcpo -- \
  pyghidra-mcp /bin/ls

With Docker

You can combine mcpo with Docker:

uvx mcpo -- docker run  ghcr.io/clearbluejar/pyghidra-mcp /bin/ls

Standard Input/Output (stdio)

The stdio transport enables communication through standard input and output streams. This is particularly useful for local integrations and command-line tools. See the spec for more details.

Python

pyghidra-mcp

By default, the Python package will run in stdio mode. Because it's using the standard input and output streams, it will look like the tool is hanging without any output, but this is expected.

Docker

This server is published to Github's Container Registry (ghcr.io/clearbluejar/pyghidra-mcp)

docker run -i --rm ghcr.io/clearbluejar/pyghidra-mcp -t stdio

By default, the Docker container is in SSE mode, so you will have to include -t stdio after the image name and run with -i to run in interactive mode.

Streamable HTTP

Streamable HTTP enables streaming responses over JSON RPC via HTTP POST requests. See the spec for more details.

By default, the server listens on 127.0.0.1:8000/mcp for client connections. To change any of this, set FASTMCP_* environment variables. The server must be running for clients to connect to it.

Python

pyghidra-mcp -t streamable-http

By default, the Python package will run in stdio mode, so you will have to include -t streamable-http.

GUI mode uses this transport:

pyghidra-mcp \
  --gui \
  --transport streamable-http \
  --project-path /absolute/path/to/my_project.gpr

Docker

docker run -p 8000:8000 ghcr.io/clearbluejar/pyghidra-mcp

Server-sent events (SSE)

[!WARNING] The MCP communiity considers this a legacy transport portcol and is really intended for backwards compatibility. Streamable HTTP is the recommended replacement.

SSE transport enables server-to-client streaming with Server-Send Events for client-to-server and server-to-client communication. See the spec for more details.

By default, the server listens on 127.0.0.1:8000/sse for client connections. To change any of this, set FASTMCP_* environment variables. The server must be running for clients to connect to it.

Python

pyghidra-mcp -t sse

By default, the Python package will run in stdio mode, so you will have to include -t sse.

Docker

docker run -p 8000:8000 ghcr.io/clearbluejar/pyghidra-mcp -t sse

Integrations

[!NOTE] This section is a work in progress. We will be adding examples for specific integrations soon.

Claude Desktop

Add the following JSON block to your claude_desktop_config.json file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "pyghidra-mcp": {
            "command": "uvx",
            "args": [
                "--from",
                "git+https://github.com/clearbluejar/pyghidra-mcp",
                "pyghidra-mcp",
                "--project-path",
                "/tmp/pyghidra", // or path to writeable directory
                "/bin/ls" //
            ],
            "env": {
                "GHIDRA_INSTALL_DIR": "/path/to/ghidra/ghidra_12.0_PUBLIC"
            }
        }
    }
}

Inspiration

This project implementation and design was inspired by these awesome projects:

• GhidraMCP
• semgrep-mcp
• ghidrecomp
• BinAssistMCP

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Contributing, community, and running from source

We believe the future of reverse engineering is agentic, contextual, and scalable.
pyghidra-mcp is a step toward that future—making full Ghidra projects accessible to AI agents and automation pipelines.

We’re actively developing the project and welcome feedback, issues, and contributions.

[!NOTE] We love your feedback, bug reports, feature requests, and code.

Contributor workflow

If you're adding a new tool or integration, here’s the recommended workflow:

• Label your branch with the prefix feature/ to indicate a new capability.
• Add your tool using the same style and structure as existing tools in pyghidra/tools/.
• Write an integration test that exercises your tool using a StdioClient instance. Place it in tests/integration/.
• Extend concurrent testing by adding a call to your tool in tests/integration/test_concurrent_streamable_client.py.
• Run make test and make format to ensure your changes pass all tests and conform to linting rules.

This ensures consistency across the codebase and helps us maintain robust, scalable tooling for reverse engineering workflows.

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Made with ❤️ by the PyGhidra-MCP Team