What is Cyberchef Api Mcp Server

The cyberchef-api-mcp-server is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that interfaces with the CyberChef Server API, enabling users to utilize various tools and resources within CyberChef through any LLM/MCP client.

Use cases

Use cases include automating data processing workflows, decoding encoded data formats, executing complex data transformation recipes, and integrating CyberChef functionalities into larger applications.

How to use

To use the cyberchef-api-mcp-server, start the server by setting the environment variable for the CyberChef API URL and running the command: CYBERCHEF_API_URL='your-cyberchef-api-url' uv run cyberchef_api_mcp_server. For development, use the MCP inspector with the command: mcp dev server.py.

Key features

Key features include: fetching updated CyberChef operation categories, retrieving specific operations by category, executing recipes to process input data, batch processing of multiple inputs, and performing automatic data encoding detection with CyberChef’s magic operation.

Where to use

The cyberchef-api-mcp-server can be used in fields such as data analysis, cybersecurity, and software development where data transformation and encoding detection are necessary.

CyberChef API MCP Server

This model context protocol (MCP) server interfaces with the CyberChef Server API. Allowing you to use any LLM/MCP client of your choosing to utilise the tools and resources within CyberChef.

🧰 Available Tools and Resources

• get_cyberchef_operations_categories: resource - gets updated Cyber Chef categories for additional context / selection of the correct operations
• get_cyberchef_operation_by_category: resource - gets list of Cyber Chef operations for a selected category
• bake_recipe: tool - bake (execute) a recipe (a list of operations) in order to derive an outcome from the input data
• batch_bake_recipe: tool - bake (execute) a recipe (a list of operations) in order to derive an outcome from a batch of input data
• perform_magic_operation: tool - perform CyberChef’s magic operation which is designed to automatically detect how your data is encoded and which operations can be used to decode it

📝 Usage

Start the server using the default stdio transport and specifying an environment variable pointing to a CyberChef API

CYBERCHEF_API_URL="your-cyberchef-api-url" uv run cyberchef_api_mcp_server

🧑‍💻Usage (Development)

Start the server and test it with the MCP inspector

uv add "mcp[cli]"
mcp dev server.py

📚 Client Configuration

The following commands will generate a client configuration file, the location will depend on your operating system

uv add "mcp[cli]"
mcp install server.py --name "CyberChef API MCP Server"

[!TIP]
After running the above command you can then tweak the client configuration to include the environment variable for the CyberChef API URL

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "CyberChef API MCP Server": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "--with",
        "mcp[cli]",
        "--directory",
        "cyberchef-api-mcp-server/cyberchef_api_mcp_server/",
        "mcp",
        "run",
        "server.py"
      ],
      "env": {
        "CYBERCHEF_API_URL": "your-cyberchef-api-url"
      }
    }
  }
}

🔍 Demo

Using the MCP server in this example use case, the following prerequisites apply:

• You must have Claude desktop installed
• Have a running CyberChef API instance or one you are able to use

Here is a basic prompt being solved using the MCP server tools:

🙇 References

• CyberChef
• CyberChef Server
• Model Context Protocol
• FastMCP

🪪 License

MIT License