Parallels Desktop VMs MCP server

Parallels Desktop MCP

Connect your AI assistant to Parallels Desktop. pdfm-mcp lets Claude, Codex, and other MCP clients find and manage your virtual machines, run guest commands, read the screen, and automate keyboard input.

Runs locally on macOS, with a universal binary for Apple Silicon and Intel. No Go or Node installation is needed to use the released binary.

What you can do

• Find a VM, check its status, and start or stop it.
• Run commands inside Windows or Linux guests and collect their output.
• Take screenshots, read screen text, and type into the guest.
• Create snapshots, clone VMs, and automate multi-step workflows.

Once connected, try asking your assistant: “Find my Ubuntu VM and show its status” or “Take a screenshot of my running Windows VM.”

Install

You need macOS, Parallels Desktop, and an MCP client. Guest command execution also requires Parallels Tools in the guest. Screen capture and keyboard tools need a running VM.

Homebrew and the default installer use stable releases. Until the first stable release and cask are published, use the script's prerelease option below. Check the Releases page for available builds.

Homebrew

brew tap Parallels/tap
brew install --cask Parallels/tap/pdfm-mcp
pdfm-mcp --version

Install script

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Parallels/pdfm-mcp/main/scripts/install.sh | bash
/usr/local/bin/pdfm-mcp --version

The script verifies the release archive's SHA256 checksum and installs to /usr/local/bin. It asks for sudo only when the destination requires it.

To install the latest canary or beta:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Parallels/pdfm-mcp/main/scripts/install.sh | bash -s -- --pre-release

For a particular version or a different directory, add --version or --path after bash -s --.

Claude Desktop bundle

If the release includes pdfm-mcp-.mcpb, download it and its matching .sha256 file from Releases. Verify it with shasum -a 256 -c pdfm-mcp-.mcpb.sha256, then double-click the bundle to install. This is an alternative to configuring the binary manually below.

Connect your assistant

Your client starts the server for you. Use the binary's absolute path, since desktop apps may not inherit your terminal's PATH.

For Homebrew, "$(brew --prefix)/bin/pdfm-mcp" resolves the right path in terminal commands. In JSON or TOML configuration, use the actual path from the table; $(brew --prefix) is not expanded there.

Claude Code

Choose the command matching your installation:

# Homebrew (Apple Silicon or Intel)
claude mcp add --transport stdio --scope user pdfm-mcp -- "$(brew --prefix)/bin/pdfm-mcp"

# Install script
claude mcp add --transport stdio --scope user pdfm-mcp -- /usr/local/bin/pdfm-mcp

Run claude mcp list to check the connection. These commands make the server available across your projects. See Claude Code's MCP setup for more options.

Codex CLI and IDE extension

Choose the command matching your installation:

# Homebrew (Apple Silicon or Intel)
codex mcp add pdfm-mcp -- "$(brew --prefix)/bin/pdfm-mcp"

# Install script
codex mcp add pdfm-mcp -- /usr/local/bin/pdfm-mcp

Shortened. The full README is on GitHub.