DevServer MCP

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that manages development servers for LLM-assisted workflows. Provides programmatic control over multiple development servers through a unified interface with a simple TUI, plus experimental browser automation via Playwright.

You can also turn the servers on and off by clicking via the TUI.

Project Status

This is both ALPHA software and an exercise in vibe coding; most of this codebase is written with the help of LLM tools.

The tests validate some of the functionality and the server is already useful if you happen to need the functionality but YMMV.

Features

• 🚀 Process Management: Start, stop, and monitor multiple development servers
• 📊 Rich TUI: Interactive terminal interface with real-time log streaming
• 🌐 Browser Automation: Experimental Playwright integration for web testing and automation
• 🔧 LLM Integration: Full MCP protocol support for AI-assisted development workflows

Installation

uv add --dev git+https://github.com/Uninen/devserver-mcp.git --tag v0.3.2

Playwright (Optional)

If you want to use the experimental Playwright browser automation features, you must install Playwright manually:

# Install Playwright
uv add playwright

# Install browser drivers
playwright install

Quick Start

Create a devservers.yml file in your project root:

servers:
  backend:
    command: 'python manage.py runserver'
    working_dir: '.'
    port: 8000

  frontend:
    command: 'npm run dev'
    working_dir: './frontend'
    port: 3000

  worker:
    command: 'celery -A myproject worker -l info'
    working_dir: '.'
    port: 5555

# Optional: Enable experimental Playwright browser automation
experimental:
  playwright: true

Configuration

VS Code

Add to .vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "devserver": {
      "url": "http://localhost:3001/mcp/",
      "type": "http"
    }
  }
}

Run the TUI in a separate terminal: devservers

Claude Code

Install the server (as SSE because Claude Code doesn't yet support streamable http 🤦‍♂️):

claude mcp add --transport sse devserver http://localhost:3001/sse/

Run the TUI in a separate terminal in SSE mode: devservers --sse

Zed

Zed doesn't yet support remote MCP servers natively so you need to use a proxy and SSE mode.

You can either use the UI in Assistant Setting -> Context Server -> Add Custom Server, and add name "Devservers" and command npx -y mcp-remote http://localhost:3001/sse/ --transport sse, or, you can add this manually to Zed config:

  "context_servers": {
    "devservers": {
      "command": {
        "path": "npx",
        "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "http://localhost:3001/sse/", "--transport", "sse"]
      }
    }
  },

Run the TUI in a separate terminal in SSE mode: devservers --sse

Usage

Running the MCP Server TUI

Start the TUI in terminal:

devservers

Now you can watch and control the devservers and see the logs while also giving LLMs full access to the servers and their logs.

MCP Tools Available

The server exposes the following tools for LLM interaction:

Server Management

1. start_server(name) - Start a configured server
2. stop_server(name) - Stop a server (managed or external)
3. get_server_status(name) - Get server status
4. get_server_logs(name, lines) - Get recent logs from managed servers

Browser Automation (Experimental)

When experimental.playwright is set in config:

1. browser_navigate(url, wait_until) - Navigate browser to URL with wait conditions
2. browser_snapshot() - Capture accessibility snapshot of current page
3. browser_console_messages(clear) - Get console messages with optional clear

Developing

Using MCP Inspector

1. Start the server: devservers
2. Start MCP Inspector: npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector http://localhost:3001

Scripting MCP Inspector

1. Start the server: devservers
2. Use MCP Inspector in CLI mode, for example: npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector --cli http://localhost:3001 --method tools/call --tool-name start_server --tool-arg name=frontend

Elsewhere

• Follow unessa.net on Bluesky or @uninen on Twitter
• Read my continuously updating learnings from Vite / Vue / TypeScript and other Web development topics from my Today I Learned site

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please follow the code of conduct when interacting with others.