kali-mcp

An MCP server that gives AI assistants access to a full Kali Linux environment running in Docker. Connect it to Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or any MCP-compatible client and let the AI run security tools like nmap, sqlmap, hydra, nikto, gobuster, and more.

Claude <--stdio--> MCP Server <--Docker API--> Kali Linux Container

The MCP server manages a Docker container running Kali Linux. It exposes tools that let the AI start/stop the container, execute commands, and transfer files — all through the Model Context Protocol.

| Tool | Description | |---|---| | container_start | Start the Kali Linux container | | container_stop | Stop and remove the container | | container_status | Check if the container is running | | execute_command | Run any shell command inside Kali | | upload_file | Write a file to the container | | download_file | Read a file from the container | | list_files | List directory contents |

nmap, nikto, gobuster, sqlmap, hydra, john, hashcat, metasploit-framework, dirb, enum4linux, curl, wget, python3, wordlists, and more.

• Node.js v18+
• Docker Desktop (must be running)

git clone https://github.com/Hannes221/kali-mcp.git
cd kali-mcp
npm install
npm run build

cd docker
docker compose build
cd ..

This downloads and builds the Kali Linux image (~4GB). It takes a few minutes on the first run.

Open Settings > Developer > Edit Config and add the kali server to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kali": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/kali-mcp/dist/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Replace /absolute/path/to/kali-mcp with the