mac-control-mcp server

mac-control-mcp

Native Swift MCP server for full macOS automation. <!-- tool-count -->153<!-- /tool-count --> tools in one signed .app bundle — no Python, no Node runtime, no Electron. Full list with parameters: docs/TOOLS.md.

Gives any MCP-compatible client (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, etc.) the ability to:

• Read and mutate the Accessibility tree of any running app
• Drive Safari and Chrome (tabs, navigation, JS eval)
• Capture the screen, a display, or a specific window (ScreenCaptureKit)
• OCR what's on screen
• Click, type, scroll, drag, send key events
• Control windows (move / resize / fullscreen / minimize / main)
• Manage the clipboard
• Launch / activate / quit apps
• Search Spotlight's index (NSMetadataQuery) and launch results
• Toggle dark mode, volume, list displays, inspect menus

Install

Requires macOS 14.0+. Four options, in order of simplicity:

1. One-click install (Claude Desktop, recommended)

The server is published as an MCP Bundle — a zip with a manifest.json that Claude Desktop reads directly:

1. Download mac-control-mcp-v\.mcpb from the latest release.
2. Double-click the .mcpb file. Claude Desktop opens an install dialog.
3. Click Install. The server is registered under the name mac-control-mcp and available immediately in new chats.
4. First tool call triggers the macOS TCC consent prompts (Screen Recording, Accessibility, Apple Events). Grant all three once — the bundle is Developer-ID signed and notarized, so grants persist across updates.

It's also listed on the official MCP Registry as io.github.AdelElo13/mac-control-mcp, so any MCP client that supports the registry will find it by searching for "mac-control".

2. Install via npm / npx

For clients that are configured with a command line rather than a file path. The npm package mac-control-mcp is a thin launcher: it has no runtime dependencies, and on install it downloads the notarized MacControlMCP.app for that exact version from this repo's GitHub release, verifies it against the published .sha256, refuses any archive entry that escapes the install directory, and re-checks the bundle with codesign --verify --deep --strict, spctl --assess --type execute and a pinned Team ID (A3W973JZ49). The first run therefore pulls ~3 MB; later runs are local.

Claude Desktop — ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claudedesktopconfig.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mac-control-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mac-control-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code:

claude mcp add mac-control-mcp -- npx -y mac-control-mcp

Cursor — ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mac-control-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mac-control-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

ChatGPT (developer mode, local MCP connector) — mcp.json:

Shortened. The full README is on GitHub.