How do I use simple-parallels?

1. Click on "Install Server". 2. Wait a few minutes for the server to deploy. Once ready, it will show a "Started" state. 3. In the chat, type @ followed by the MCP server name and your instructions, e.g., "@simple-parallels start the Windows 11 VM" That's it! The server will respond to your query, and you can continue using it as needed. Here is a step-by-step guide with screenshots.

simple-parallels

MCP server for Parallels Desktop VM lifecycle and snapshots. Seventeen tools use fixed execFile commands (no shell, no arbitrary CLI).

Requirements: macOS, Parallels Desktop installed, prlctl (default /usr/local/bin/prlctl), Node.js 20+. start_vm, resume_vm, and restart_vm open Parallels in the background if it is not running.

Setup

npm install
npm run build
cp .cursor/mcp.json.example .cursor/mcp.json

Edit .cursor/mcp.json and replace /path/to/simple-parallels with your clone path. From the repo root:

# Clone root (paste into args, before /dist/index.js)
echo "$(pwd)/dist/index.js" | sed 's|/dist/index.js||'

# Or the full path to dist/index.js directly
echo "$(pwd)/dist/index.js"

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "simple-parallels": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/simple-parallels/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "PRLCTL_PATH": "/usr/local/bin/prlctl"
      }
    }
  }
}

Reload simple-parallels in Cursor Settings → MCP.

.cursor/mcp.json is gitignored; .cursor/mcp.json.example matches the config above.

Related MCP server: vsphere-mcp-server

Tools

Tool	Input	Description
`open_parallels_desktop`	—	Launch Parallels Desktop (foreground)
`list_vms`	—	List all VMs
`list_running_vms`	—	List running VMs only
`show_vm_info`	`vm`	Full VM configuration (JSON)
`get_vm_status`	`vm`	Lightweight status by name or UUID
`start_vm`	`vm`	Start a VM (auto-opens Parallels if needed)
`stop_vm`	`vm`	Gracefully stop a VM
`force_stop_vm`	`vm`	Force stop (`--kill`)
`restart_vm`	`vm`	Restart a VM (auto-opens Parallels if needed)
`pause_vm`	`vm`	Pause in memory
`resume_vm`	`vm`	Resume a suspended VM (auto-opens Parallels if needed)
`suspend_vm`	`vm`	Suspend to disk (saved state)
`drop_vm_state`	`vm`	Drop suspended state (`--drop-state`)
`list_snapshots`	`vm`	List snapshots for a VM
`create_snapshot`	`vm`, `name`, `description?`	Create a snapshot
`revert_to_snapshot`	`vm`, `snapshot_id`, `skip_resume?`	Revert to a snapshot
`delete_snapshot`	`vm`, `snapshot_id`, `include_children?`	Delete a snapshot

vm accepts a display name (e.g. Ubuntu 24.04 ARM64) or UUID (with or without {...}). Run list_vms for exact names. For snapshots, run list_snapshots first to get snapshot IDs.

Pause vs suspend: pause_vm pauses in memory; suspend_vm saves state to disk.

Auto-open: start_vm, resume_vm, and restart_vm check for the Parallels GUI (prl_client_app, not background services only). If the GUI is not running, they run open -a and wait before prlctl. Set PARALLELS_OPEN_IN_BACKGROUND=true to use open -g instead.

Configuration

Variable	Default	Description
`PRLCTL_PATH`	`/usr/local/bin/prlctl`	Path to `prlctl`
`PARALLELS_APP_NAME`	`Parallels Desktop`	App name for `open -a`
`OPEN_PATH`	`/usr/bin/open`	Path to macOS `open`
`PGREP_PATH`	`/usr/bin/pgrep`	Path to `pgrep` for process detection
`PARALLELS_AUTO_OPEN_ON_VM_START`	`true`	Set `false` to disable auto-open on start/resume/restart
`PARALLELS_INIT_WAIT_MS`	`3000`	Milliseconds to wait after opening Parallels
`PARALLELS_OPEN_IN_BACKGROUND`	`false`	Set `true` to use `open -g` for auto-open (no focus steal)

Out of scope

Guest exec, clone/delete VM, file transfer, arbitrary prlctl commands.

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C

maintenance

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Maintenance

–Maintainers

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–Releases (12mo)

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GitHub Repository

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