Use Lume with MCP

Connect an MCP client to Lume for local VM management.

Lume can expose its VM management tools through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). The MCP server uses stdio, so the client starts one Lume process and communicates with it directly on the host.

Configure an MCP client#

Add a server entry using the path returned by which lume:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "lume": {
      "command": "/Users/your-name/.local/bin/lume",
      "args": ["serve", "--mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Replace the command path with the result of:

which lume

Restart the MCP client after saving its configuration. The client can then list VMs, create Tahoe guests, run and stop VMs, clone disks, and execute SSH commands inside unattended guests.

Test the server#

Use the MCP Inspector to test the connection:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector lume serve --mcp

The server uses stdio for the MCP protocol. Keep its standard output reserved for MCP messages when embedding it in another client.

Choose MCP or HTTP#

Use MCP when an AI client should manage VMs through tool calls. Use the Lume HTTP API when a script or service should make HTTP requests. Both interfaces control the same local VM store.

Security#

The MCP server can create, delete, start, stop, clone, and access VMs through SSH. Configure it only for clients you trust, and use a dedicated vanilla VM for agent tasks when the guest may be modified.