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simple-parallels

by atahan99
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TypeScript

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: vmware-mcp

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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