Stateless server for client-to-client communication between IDEs
MCP IDE Bridge
🎬 Demo Video
| FRONT END WEB APPCURSOR IDE | BACK END APICURSOR IDE |
| |
A stateless, open source MCP (Model Context Protocol) HTTP Streamable server that enables client-to-client communication between IDEs and development tools. This opens up a new dimension of collaboration beyond traditional MCP client-server interactions.
🚀 Perfect for: Cross-IDE collaboration, team development workflows, AI agent coordination, and seamless tool integration.
🌟 What Makes This Special?
Traditional MCP vs MCP IDE Bridge
| Traditional MCP | MCP IDE Bridge |
|---|---|
| Client ↔ Server | Client ↔ Server ↔ Client |
| One-way communication | Bidirectional messaging |
| Tool execution only | Real-time collaboration |
| Single IDE focus | Multi-IDE coordination |
Real-World Use Cases
🎯 IDE Collaboration
- Cursor ↔ Cursor: Share code snippets, debugging sessions, or pair programming
- Cursor ↔ VS Code: Cross-editor communication and file sharing
- Windsurf ↔ Any IDE: AI agent coordination across different development environments
- Team Workflows: Coordinate multiple developers working on the same project
🤖 AI Agent Coordination
- Agent-to-agent communication for complex workflows
- Distributed AI processing across multiple tools
- Human-in-the-loop collaboration with AI assistants
🏗️ Architecture
Client-to-Client Communication
IDE A (Cursor) ←→ MCP IDE Bridge ←→ IDE B (VS Code)
↑ ↑ ↑
MCP Client Message Relay MCP Client
Key Components
- Message Relay: Stateless server that routes messages between clients
- Client Registry: Dynamic client discovery and registration
- Message Queues: Per-recipient queues with automatic expiration
- HTTP Streamable: Latest MCP transport for real-time communication
🚀 Quick Start
1. Start the Server
Docker (Recommended):
docker run -d --name mcp-ide-bridge -p 8111:8111 mcp-messaging-server
Default Configuration:
- Port: 8111 (both external and internal)
- Host: 0.0.0.0 (accepts connections from any interface)
- Transport: HTTP Streamable (MCP latest)
- Health Check: Built-in endpoint monitoring
Python (Development Setup):
# First-time setup (see Local Development section for full instructions)
pip install -r requirements.txt && pip install -e .
# Run server
python -m mcp_messaging.server --port 8111
2. Configure Your IDE
Create mcp_recipients.json in your project root. Each project gets ONE file with its own unique ID and list of recipients it can communicate with:
{
"my_id": "myproject_cursor",
"recipients": {
"teammate_vscode": {
"name": "Teammate's Project",
"description": "My teammate's project in VS Code"
},
"aiagent_windsurf": {
"name": "AI Agent Project",
"description": "AI agent development in Windsurf"
}
},
"server_info": {
"url": "http://localhost:8111/mcp/",
"transport": "http_streamable"
}
}
🤖 AI Agent Generation: Your IDE's AI agent can generate this file! Simply ask:
- Cursor: "Generate an mcp_recipients.json for my project"
- VS Code: "Create mcp_recipients.json configuration for my team"
- Windsurf: "Help me set up mcp_recipients.json for collaboration"
📁 Multi-Project Examples: See examples/multi-project-setup/ for examples showing how different projects communicate. Each project file must be named mcp_recipients.json - the filename examples in that folder are just for reference.
3. Connect Your IDE
Cursor IDE: 1.
Configuration
{"mcpServers": {"ide-bridge": {"command": "docker", "args": ["run", "-i", "--rm", "mcp-messaging-server"]}}}