elv2mcp

Universal MCP adapter for Extra Low Voltage (ELV) systems — connect Hikvision, Dahua, and other security devices to AI agents via the Model Context Protocol.

🎯 What is elv2mcp?

elv2mcp is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that bridges the gap between AI agents (Claude, GPT, Cursor, etc.) and physical security systems.

Today, thousands of ELV systems — cameras, NVRs, access control, alarms — sit isolated from modern AI workflows. They speak proprietary protocols (ISAPI, CGI, SDK) that LLMs cannot understand. elv2mcp translates these into typed, safe, auditable MCP tools that any AI agent can call.

Think of it as a "USB-C for physical security" — one adapter, many vendors, safe by default.

Related MCP server: Webcam MCP

✨ Features

• Multi-vendor support — Hikvision (ISAPI), Dahua (CGI API), with a pluggable architecture for adding more (Bosch, Bolid, Axis, etc.)

• Read-only by default — snapshots, device info, and channel lists work out of the box. Write operations (PTZ, reboot) require explicit opt-in.

• Typed tools — AI agents call elv_get_snapshot(device_name, channel) instead of guessing raw HTTP requests.

• Digest authentication — native support for Hikvision and Dahua auth schemes.

• Secure credentials — never hardcoded. Loaded from environment variables or a .env file.

• FastMCP-powered — built on FastMCP, with automatic schema validation and stdio transport.

🚀 Quick Start

1. Install

pip install fastmcp httpx

Or clone and install locally:

git clone https://github.com/AMPVIP/elv2mcp.git
cd elv2mcp
pip install -e .

2. Configure your devices

Set the ELV2MCP_DEVICES environment variable with a JSON map:

export ELV2MCP_DEVICES='{
  "cam1": {
    "ip": "192.168.1.100",
    "username": "admin",
    "password": "yourpass",
    "vendor": "hikvision",
    "port": 80
  },
  "cam2": {
    "ip": "192.168.1.101",
    "username": "admin",
    "password": "yourpass",
    "vendor": "dahua"
  }
}'

3. Run the server

python server.py

The server runs on stdio and waits for MCP client connections.

🔌 Connect to Claude Desktop

Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "elv2mcp": {
      "command": "/path/to/python",
      "args": ["/path/to/elv2mcp/server.py"],
      "env": {
        "ELV2MCP_DEVICES": "{\"cam1\": {\"ip\": \"192.168.1.100\", \"username\": \"admin\", \"password\": \"yourpass\", \"vendor\": \"hikvision\"}}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop — the elv_* tools will appear in the interface.

🛠️ Available Tools

Example prompts for AI agents

Once connected, you can ask Claude:

• "List all my cameras and tell me which ones are online."

• "Take a snapshot from cam1 and describe what you see."

• "What firmware version is running on cam2?"

🔐 Security

elv2mcp is designed with a paranoid-by-default philosophy:

• Read-only by default — all write operations (PTZ, reboot, config changes) are disabled unless allow_write: true is set per device.

• No hardcoded credentials — use environment variables or a .env file (never commit it).

• Digest auth — supports the auth schemes used by Hikvision and Dahua.

• Audit-ready — every tool call can be logged (coming soon).

• Network isolation — the server only talks to devices you explicitly configure.

⚠️ Never expose this server to the public internet. Run it on a trusted LAN or VPN.

🧩 Architecture

┌─────────────────┐       ┌─────────────────┐       ┌─────────────────┐
│   AI Agent      │◄─────►│   elv2mcp       │◄─────►│  Hikvision      │
│ (Claude, GPT)   │  MCP  │   FastMCP       │ HTTP  │  Dahua          │
└─────────────────┘       └─────────────────┘       └─────────────────┘
                                  │
                                  ├── HikvisionProvider (ISAPI)
                                  ├── DahuaProvider (CGI API)
                                  └── [Future: Bosch, Bolid, Axis]

The provider pattern makes it trivial to add new vendors — implement get_device_info, get_snapshot, and list_channels for the new protocol.

🗺️ Roadmap

• Hikvision ISAPI support (device info, snapshot, channels)

• Dahua CGI API support (device info, snapshot)

• PTZ control (Hikvision + Dahua) — behind allow_write flag

• Event stream / motion detection (Hikvision alertStream)

• Bosch BVMS provider

• Bolid provider

• Mock server for testing without real hardware

• Audit logging (JSON lines)

• MCP Registry publication

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome — especially new vendor providers. To add a vendor:

1. Create providers/your_vendor.py with a class implementing get_device_info, get_snapshot, list_channels.

2. Register it in server.py's dispatch logic.

3. Add tests and documentation.

📄 License

MIT License — see LICENSE for details.

🔗 Related Projects

• Model Context Protocol — the standard this project implements

• FastMCP — Python framework for building MCP servers

• legacy2mcp — MCP adapter for SOAP/WSDL systems

• plctap — MCP adapter for industrial PLCs

👤 Author

Andrey Pavlushov — Low Current Engineer with 20+ years of experience in ELV systems, networking, and security.

• GitHub: @AMPVIP

• Portfolio: ampvip.github.io

Built with the belief that the physical world deserves first-class AI tooling.