Skip to main content
Glama
WhitehornLtd

ibmi-mcp

by WhitehornLtd
OverviewSchemaRelated ServersScoreDiscussions
Python
Remote

ibmi-mcp

Give your AI Agent terminal access to your IBM i system via TN5250.

ibmi-mcp is an MCP server that lets AI Agents like Claude interact with IBM i the same way a human would through a 5250 green-screen terminal.

Installation

Install and register with Claude Code:

claude mcp add ibmi-5250 -- uvx ibmi-mcp

This requires the connection environment variables to be set in your shell profile. You can also pass them inline with -e flags:

claude mcp add ibmi-5250 \
  -e IBMI_HOST=myhost.example.com \
  -e IBMI_USER=myuser \
  -e IBMI_PASSWORD=mypassword \
  -- uvx ibmi-mcp

Related MCP server: can-see

Configuration

Variable

Description

Required

Default

IBMI_HOST

IBM i hostname or IP

Yes

—

IBMI_PORT

TN5250 port

No

23

IBMI_SSL

Enable TLS

No

false

IBMI_USER

Username for auto-signon

No

—

IBMI_PASSWORD

Password for auto-signon

No

—

IBMI_DEVICE_NAME

Virtual device name

No

—

IBMI_CODEPAGE

EBCDIC codepage

No

cp037

IBMI_TERMINAL_TYPE

Terminal type

No

IBM-3179-2

IBMI_SSH_TUNNEL

Tunnel TN5250 through SSH

No

false

IBMI_SSH_PORT

SSH port for file transfer and tunneling

No

22

IBMI_SSH_KEY_FILE

Path to SSH private key

No

—

IBMI_SSH_KNOWN_HOSTS

Path to known_hosts file

No

—

When IBMI_USER and IBMI_PASSWORD are set, ibmi-mcp will automatically sign on when it detects a login screen after connecting.

Tools

Tool

Description

connect

Connect to an IBM i system via TN5250

disconnect

Disconnect the active session

read_screen

Read the current screen content and input fields

send_keys

Type text into the current input field

send_key

Send a function/attention key (Enter, F1-F24, PageUp, PageDown, Tab, etc.)

set_cursor

Position the cursor at a specific row and column

upload_file

Upload a file from the local system to the IBM i

download_file

Download a file from the IBM i to the local system

Features

  • Auto-signon — Automatically detects sign-on screens and logs in with configured credentials

  • File transfer — Upload and download files to/from the IBM i IFS via SFTP

  • SSH tunneling — Tunnel TN5250 through SSH when port 23 is not directly reachable

  • Full key support — Enter, F1-F24, PageUp, PageDown, Tab, Backtab, Clear, Help, Print, Attn

  • Local editing — Backspace, Delete, Field Exit, Home, and End handled locally for responsive editing

  • Structured screen data — Returns screen text, cursor position, and input field metadata

  • Configurable codepage — Supports EBCDIC codepage translation (default: CP037)

License

BSD 2-Clause. See LICENSE for details.

About Whitehorn Ltd. Co.

ibmi-mcp is developed and maintained by Whitehorn Ltd. Co., a legacy system modernization firm. We specialize in IBM i, RPG, COBOL, and midrange platforms. We help our clients protect what they can't afford to break while building a path forward.

Learn more about how Whitehorn Ltd. Co. can help you modernize your IBM midrange systems at whitehorn.ltd.

Install Server
A
license - permissive license
A
quality
C
maintenance

How are these scores calculated?

Maintenance

–Maintainers
–Response time
–Release cycle
1Releases (12mo)
Commit activity

Resources

Unclaimed servers have limited discoverability.

Looking for Admin?

If you are the server author, to access and configure the admin panel.

Tools

Related MCP Servers

  • mcp-server-terminal

    aybelatchane
    A
    license
    -
    quality
    B
    maintenance
    MCP server enabling AI agents to interact with terminal applications through structured Terminal State Tree representation. Works with any AI assistant that supports the Model Context Protocol.
    68
    19
    MIT

  • mcp-remote-ssh

    faizbawa
    A
    license
    A
    quality
    A
    maintenance
    MCP server giving AI agents full SSH access with persistent sessions, structured command output, SFTP file transfer, and port forwarding.
    18
    8
    MIT

  • ssh-mcp

    slepp
    A
    license
    A
    quality
    C
    maintenance
    An MCP server that gives AI agents SSH access to remote machines through your local OpenSSH client, enabling remote command execution, file transfer, persistent shell sessions, and port forwarding.
    17
    5
    MIT

View all related MCP servers

Related MCP Connectors

  • anythingmcp

    Self-hosted MCP gateway: turn any API, database or MCP server into AI connectors — no code.

  • Remote Desktop Commander

    Hosted MCP server connecting claude.ai, ChatGPT and other AI apps to your own computer

  • microservices.sh

    MCP server for AI agents to plan, verify, and deploy Cloudflare-native apps.

View all MCP Connectors

Latest Blog Posts

MCP directory API

We provide all the information about MCP servers via our MCP API.

curl -X GET 'https://glama.ai/api/mcp/v1/servers/WhitehornLtd/ibmi-mcp'

If you have feedback or need assistance with the MCP directory API, please join our Discord server