Open Remote MCP

An open-source remote MCP control plane that lets AI clients securely reach tools running on your own computers.

Status: early MVP. Relay, device agent, Remote MCP endpoint, and web control plane are implemented. OAuth 2.1 / PKCE, durable persistence, and production hardening are next.

Architecture

AI client / ChatGPT / Claude / Cursor
                |
       Streamable HTTP MCP
                |
        Open Remote MCP relay
          /             \\
   web control plane    WebSocket
                          |
                    local device agent
                          |
                scoped files / optional shell

Local MCP servers are powerful, but web AI clients cannot directly reach stdio processes on a laptop. Open Remote MCP adds a thin relay and an outbound agent so a compatible AI client can call explicitly exposed tools on one or more machines.

Related MCP server: remote-desktop-commander

MVP features

• Remote MCP endpoint at /mcp

• Outbound WebSocket device agent

• Multi-device routing with explicit deviceId

• Device ping, directory listing, UTF-8 file read/write

• Optional shell command execution

• Agent-side filesystem root enforcement

• Separate MCP-client and device-agent credentials

• Web dashboard for devices, activity, security posture, and setup

• In-memory tool-call audit trail

Security defaults

• ALLOW_SHELL=false by default.

• Every filesystem path is resolved and checked against ALLOWED_ROOTS on the device agent.

• Relay access and device-agent access use separate tokens.

• An offline agent is unreachable.

• The MVP is not a sandbox. For hostile or untrusted workloads, use a dedicated OS account, VM, or container.

Quick start

Requirements: Node.js 20+.

npm install

Terminal 1 — relay + dashboard:

ADMIN_TOKEN=local-admin AGENT_SHARED_TOKEN=local-device npm run dev

Terminal 2 — device agent:

REMOTE_MCP_SERVER=ws://localhost:8787/agent \\
DEVICE_TOKEN=local-device \\
DEVICE_ID=my-laptop \\
DEVICE_NAME="My laptop" \\
ALLOWED_ROOTS="$HOME/projects" \\
npm run dev -w @open-remote-mcp/agent

Open http://localhost:5173.

MCP client

The MVP uses bearer-token auth. OAuth is the next major milestone.

• MCP URL: https://YOUR_HOST/mcp

• Authorization: Bearer <ADMIN_TOKEN>

Tools: list_devices, ping_device, list_directory, read_file, write_file, run_command.

Repository layout

apps/
  server/   MCP endpoint, relay, REST API, activity log
  agent/    cross-platform outbound device agent
  web/      React/Vite control plane

Roadmap

0.2

• OAuth 2.1 authorization server with PKCE

• RFC 8628 device authorization and pairing codes

• SQLite/Postgres persistence

• Device revoke / rename / last-seen metadata

• Per-device policy editor

0.3

• Long-running process sessions and streamed output

• Fine-grained tool permissions and workspace aliases

• Signed agent releases for macOS, Windows, and Linux

• Docker deployment and reverse-proxy examples

1.0

• OpenID Connect integration

• Team / organization model

• Approval policies for destructive calls

• Structured audit export

• Public MCP client compatibility matrix

Upstream inspiration

This is an independent open-source implementation inspired by the architecture of Remote Desktop Commander and the local capabilities of DesktopCommanderMCP.

• wonderwhy-er/DesktopCommanderMCP is MIT licensed.

• The hosted service behind desktop-commander/remote-desktop-commander is not open source; this repository does not copy that hosted implementation.

See NOTICE.md.

License

MIT