# devglow-mcp

Lets Claude Code, Codex CLI, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible tool start, stop, and inspect your local dev processes through [devglow](https://devglow.app/devglow).

devglow is a desktop process manager for macOS and Windows. You register a shell command once (`next dev`, `vite`, `cargo run`, `docker compose up`), and devglow runs it in a GUI instead of a terminal tab. This package is the MCP server that lets an agent drive it.

**Requires the devglow desktop app.** This server talks to it. [Download for macOS or Windows](https://devglow.app/devglow).

## Why route processes through devglow

When an agent runs a dev server with a plain shell tool, the process is attached to the agent's session. Output scrolls past, the port stays invisible until something collides with it, and the process dies with the session.

Through devglow the same process gets a window. You watch it run, read its logs, and stop it yourself. The agent started it; you own it.

## Install

**Claude Code**

```bash
claude mcp add -s user devglow -- npx -y --prefer-offline devglow-mcp@latest
```

**Codex CLI**

```bash
codex mcp add devglow -- npx -y --prefer-offline devglow-mcp@latest
```

**Cursor and other clients.** Add as a stdio MCP server in your client's settings (don't run it directly):

```
npx -y --prefer-offline devglow-mcp@latest
```

**HTTP / SSE transport**

```bash
npx -y --prefer-offline devglow-mcp@latest --transport http --port 26215
```

Streamable HTTP on `/mcp`, SSE on `/sse`.

Keep the `@latest` tag. A bare `devglow-mcp` spec makes npx cache a second copy and the handshake can time out.

## Tools

| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| `list_projects` | List registered projects and AI processes with status |
| `get_project` | Full metadata for one project (path, command, port, tags) |
| `get_status` | Running status of a project or AI process |
| `get_logs` | Recent log lines from a running or stopped process |
| `get_run_history` | Recent finished runs, how long the command usually takes, and how often it succeeds |
| `check_port` | Check if a TCP port is taken, and by what |
| `create_project` | Register a project without starting it |
| `update_project` | Edit a registered project |
| `delete_project` | Remove a registered project |
| `start_project` | Start a registered project with its own command |
| `stop_project` | Stop a project or AI process by id |
| `run_process` | Register and start one new temporary process |
| `workspace_run` | Start several processes and lay them out on screen together |
| `stop_process` | Stop a temporary AI process by name (prefer `stop_project`) |
| `delete_process` | Stop and remove temporary AI processes |
| `list_workspaces` | List workspaces with the processes in each |
| `delete_workspace` | Delete workspaces (the arrangement, not the processes) |

### Two behaviors worth knowing

**`start_project` over `run_process`.** If you already registered a project, the agent should start *your* command rather than inventing its own. The tool descriptions tell it to call `list_projects` first and prefer `start_project` on a match.

**`workspace_run` for two or more.** Repeated `run_process` calls leave each process waiting in the sidebar until you click it into a pane, so starting three that way makes the app look like nothing happened. `workspace_run` puts them on screen together. It always creates a new workspace and never rearranges an existing one, so a repeat call can't disturb your layout.

`check_port` is worth calling before anything binds: when a port is occupied it reports who holds it, including whether it's another devglow project.

## Data

The server reads and writes devglow's local project files on your machine. Nothing is sent anywhere.

## Links

- [devglow](https://devglow.app/devglow) (product page and download)
- [FAQ](https://devglow.app/devglow/faq) (setup, updating, troubleshooting)
- [Changelog](https://devglow.app/devglow/changelog)

## License

MIT