MCP Launch Assistant

⚠️ DEPRECATED: This service has been replaced by mcp-services-assistant which provides better separation of concerns and improved LaunchAgent management. Please migrate to the new service.

Service lifecycle management for the MCP ecosystem.

Overview

The Launch Assistant manages the lifecycle of all MCP services in the ecosystem with integrated health monitoring and auto-restart capabilities.

Features

Service Management: Start, stop, restart, and monitor services
Health Monitoring: Automatic health checks every 30 seconds for services with ports
Auto-Restart: Automatically restart failed services (up to 3 attempts by default)
Process Tracking: Track PIDs, uptime, restart counts, and exit codes
Log Capture: Capture stdout/stderr and keep last 100 lines in memory
Graceful Shutdown: 10-second grace period before force-killing
Service Discovery: Auto-discover services from registry
LaunchAgent Support: macOS system integration for auto-start

Installation

npm install

Usage

As MCP Server (Claude Desktop)

Configure in Claude Desktop settings:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "launch": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/mcp-launch-assistant/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

As HTTP Service

npm start

The service will be available at http://localhost:9102

Available Tools

list_services

List all registered services and their status.

await client.callTool({
  name: 'list_services',
  arguments: {
    category: 'platform' // optional: filter by category
  }
});

start_service

Start a specific service.

await client.callTool({
  name: 'start_service',
  arguments: {
    service: 'mcp-gateway-assistant',
    mode: 'dual' // 'mcp', 'http', or 'dual'
  }
});

stop_service

Stop a running service.

await client.callTool({
  name: 'stop_service',
  arguments: {
    service: 'mcp-gateway-assistant'
  }
});

restart_service

Restart a service.

await client.callTool({
  name: 'restart_service',
  arguments: {
    service: 'mcp-gateway-assistant'
  }
});

service_status

Get detailed status of a service including health and logs.

await client.callTool({
  name: 'service_status',
  arguments: {
    service: 'mcp-gateway-assistant'
  }
});

// Returns:
{
  service: 'mcp-gateway-assistant',
  status: 'running',
  pid: 12345,
  startedAt: '2025-01-13T10:00:00Z',
  uptime: 3600000,
  restarts: 0,
  health: {
    status: 'healthy',
    responseTime: '45ms'
  },
  recentLogs: [...]
}

setup_launchagent

Create a LaunchAgent for automatic startup (macOS only).

await client.callTool({
  name: 'setup_launchagent',
  arguments: {
    service: 'mcp-gateway-assistant'
  }
});

Configuration

Constructor Options

const launcher = new McpLaunchAssistant({
  healthCheckInterval: 30000,    // Check health every 30 seconds
  autoRestart: true,             // Auto-restart failed services
  maxRestarts: 3,                // Max restart attempts
  restartDelay: 5000,            // Wait 5 seconds before restart
  gracefulShutdownTimeout: 10000 // 10 seconds for graceful shutdown
});

Environment Variables

SERVICE_PORT=9103          # Launch assistant port
SERVICE_MODE=dual          # Default service mode
LOG_LEVEL=info            # Logging level
NODE_ENV=production       # Environment

Data Storage

Service metadata: ~/Documents/mcp-assistant/data/launch-assistant/services.json
Process info: ~/Documents/mcp-assistant/data/launch-assistant/processes.json
Logs: ~/Documents/mcp-assistant/logs/launch-assistant.log

Development

# Run tests
npm test

# Development mode
npm run dev

Events

The launcher emits these events:

serviceStarted - Service successfully started
serviceStopped - Service stopped
serviceRestarted - Service restarted after failure
serviceUnhealthy - Health check failed
serviceExited - Process exited
serviceLog - New log entry
serviceError - Error log entry

Troubleshooting

Service won't start

Check if port is already in use
Verify service directory exists
Check NODE_PATH environment variable
Review service logs with service_status

Health checks failing

Ensure service implements /health endpoint
Check if service is actually listening on configured port
Increase health check timeout if service is slow

Auto-restart not working

Check if max restarts exceeded
Verify autoRestart option is enabled
Check logs for crash reasons

LaunchAgent not working

Ensure proper permissions
Check ~/Library/LaunchAgents/
Review system logs with log show --predicate 'subsystem == "com.mcpassistant"'

This server cannot be installed

security - not tested

license - not found

quality - not tested

How are these scores calculated?

local-only server

The server can only run on the client's local machine because it depends on local resources.

Manages the lifecycle of MCP services with health monitoring, auto-restart capabilities, and process tracking. Enables users to start, stop, restart, and monitor MCP services through natural language commands.

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