IDA Headless
🏎️ 🐍 🏠 🍎 🪟 🐧 - Headless IDA Pro binary analysis via MCP. Multi-session concurrency with Go orchestration and Python workers. Supports Il2CppDumper and Blutter metadata import for Unity and Flutter reverse engineering.
What is IDA Headless?
IDA Headless is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that allows AI assistants like Claude, Cursor, and VS Code to 🏎️ 🐍 🏠 🍎 🪟 🐧 - headless ida pro binary analysis via mcp. multi-session concurrency with go orchestration and python workers. supports il2cppdumper and blutter metadata import for unity and flutt...
🏎️ 🐍 🏠 🍎 🪟 🐧 - Headless IDA Pro binary analysis via MCP. Multi-session concurrency with Go orchestration and Python workers. Supports Il2CppDumper and Blutter metadata import for Unity and Flutter reverse engineering.
This server falls under the Security category on MCPgee, the world's largest MCP server directory with 33,000+ servers.
Features
- 🏎️ 🐍 🏠 🍎 🪟 🐧 - Headless IDA Pro binary analysis via MCP. Mul
Use Cases
Maintainer
Works with
Installation
Manual Installation
npx ida-headlessConfiguration
Configuration Details
claude_desktop_config.json
Performance
Response Metrics
Resource Usage
How to Set Up and Use IDA Headless
IDA Headless MCP Server brings the power of IDA Pro's binary analysis engine to AI assistants through a Go-orchestrated, multi-session MCP interface with Python worker processes. It exposes 52 tools covering binary loading, function listing, decompilation, cross-reference analysis, and metadata import for Unity (Il2CppDumper) and Flutter (Blutter) applications. Security researchers and reverse engineers use it to automate disassembly workflows, accelerate malware analysis, and query decompiled pseudocode from Claude or other MCP-compatible clients — all without opening the IDA GUI.
Prerequisites
- IDA Pro (with idalib) installed on the analysis machine
- Python 3.x with IDA's Python bindings accessible
- Go 1.21 or later for building the orchestrator binary
- An MCP-compatible client such as Claude Desktop or Claude Code
- For Unity/Flutter analysis: Il2CppDumper or unflutter/Blutter metadata export files
Clone the repository and run make setup
Clone the project, then run the provided Makefile target which configures idalib, installs Python dependencies, and compiles the Go server binary.
git clone https://github.com/zboralski/ida-headless-mcp.git
cd ida-headless-mcp
make setupStart the MCP server
Launch the compiled binary. By default it listens on port 17300 with a maximum of 10 concurrent sessions and a 4-hour session timeout. All values can be overridden with flags or environment variables.
./bin/ida-mcp-server --port 17300 --max-sessions 10 --session-timeout 4hConfigure environment variables (optional)
You can control all runtime parameters via environment variables instead of command-line flags, which is useful when the server is managed by a process supervisor.
export IDA_MCP_PORT=17300
export IDA_MCP_SESSION_TIMEOUT_MIN=240
export IDA_MCP_MAX_SESSIONS=10
export IDA_MCP_DEBUG=1Add the server to your MCP client configuration
Point your MCP client at the running server. Since this server exposes an HTTP endpoint rather than stdio, use the SSE or HTTP transport URL in your client config.
{
"mcpServers": {
"ida-headless": {
"url": "http://localhost:17300/mcp"
}
}
}Open a binary and run analysis
With the client connected, ask your AI assistant to open a binary file. The server returns a session_id that must be passed to all subsequent tool calls.
Import Unity or Flutter metadata (optional)
For Unity IL2CPP binaries, run Il2CppDumper to generate metadata then call import_il2cpp. For Flutter, run unflutter first to generate the snapshot, then call import_flutter with the session_id.
IDA Headless Examples
Client configuration
MCP client config connecting to a locally running IDA Headless server over HTTP.
{
"mcpServers": {
"ida-headless": {
"url": "http://localhost:17300/mcp"
}
}
}Prompts to try
Example prompts for binary reverse engineering with IDA Headless.
- "Open /samples/libgame.so, run auto-analysis, and list the first 20 exported functions."
- "Decompile the function at address 0x401234 and explain what it does."
- "Find all cross-references to the string 'password' in this binary."
- "Import the Il2Cpp metadata from dump.cs and list the MonoBehaviour methods."
- "List all active analysis sessions and their open binaries."Troubleshooting IDA Headless
make setup fails with idalib configuration errors
Ensure IDA Pro is installed and the IDADIR environment variable points to your IDA installation directory. idalib must be findable by the Python bindings before the setup step can complete.
Sessions hit the timeout and are closed mid-analysis
Increase IDA_MCP_SESSION_TIMEOUT_MIN or pass --session-timeout with a longer duration (e.g. 8h). Large binaries with auto-analysis enabled can take well over the default 4-hour window.
import_flutter returns no symbols
You must run unflutter on the Flutter application first to extract the snapshot file, and only then call import_flutter with the generated metadata path. Calling import_flutter on a raw APK/IPA will not produce results.
Frequently Asked Questions about IDA Headless
What is IDA Headless?
IDA Headless is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that 🏎️ 🐍 🏠 🍎 🪟 🐧 - headless ida pro binary analysis via mcp. multi-session concurrency with go orchestration and python workers. supports il2cppdumper and blutter metadata import for unity and flutter reverse engineering. It connects AI assistants to external tools and data sources through a standardized interface.
How do I install IDA Headless?
Follow the installation instructions on the IDA Headless GitHub repository. Clone the repo, install dependencies, and add the server config to your AI client.
Which AI clients work with IDA Headless?
IDA Headless works with all major MCP-compatible AI clients including Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code (GitHub Copilot), Windsurf, and Cline.
Is IDA Headless free to use?
Yes, IDA Headless is open source and available under the MIT license. You can use it freely in both personal and commercial projects.
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