Enables agents to run Python 2 code in isolated IPython sessions, with tools for installing dependencies, managing sessions, executing code, and tab completion.
Click on "Deploy Server".
Wait a few minutes for the server to deploy. Once ready, it will show a "Started" state.
In the chat, type @ followed by the MCP server name and your instructions, e.g., "@ipython2-mcp Start a Python 2 session and run print 'hello'"
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.
This project allows an agent to run Python 2 IPython sessions via an MCP.
The MCP server is written in TypeScript. Each session is a Python 2 broker process owning one IPython kernel process, driven over JSON-RPC on stdio.
tool | params | what it does |
|
| pip-installs the kernel dependencies into a Python 2.7 interpreter |
|
| starts a named session on the given Python 2.7 interpreter |
|
| stops a session and frees the name |
| — | one line per live session |
|
| runs code, returns the transcript |
|
| tab completion |
Introspection, namespace listing, and history go through IPython itself (var?, var??,
%whos, %history) rather than dedicated tools.
Related MCP server: Sandbox Agent
Install and build the server:
npm install
npm run buildThat produces dist/ipython2-mcp.js — a single self-contained file. Register it with your MCP
client as node <repo>/dist/ipython2-mcp.js.
The repo's .mcp.json already does that with a path relative to the repo root, so an MCP client
started there picks the server up with no further configuration. Run npm run build first:
dist/ is not committed.
To distribute, ship dist/ipython2-mcp.js together with the python/ directory beside it — those
scripts are run by the user's Python 2 interpreter, so they cannot be bundled into the JS.
Then point python_path at any Python 2.7 interpreter — a venv's interpreter is the intended use.
It needs the kernel dependencies, which the agent can install for itself with
ipython_install_deps, or you can do by hand:
<py2>/python -m pip install -r python/requirements.txtNo kernelspec registration is needed; the kernel is launched with that interpreter directly.
SKILL.md is an agent-facing guide to working in the session; install it into .claude/skills/
if you want your agent to have it.
dist/ipython2-mcp.js is committed, so users need nothing but node — no npm install, no
TypeScript toolchain. Two things ship: that file and the python/ directory beside it. Everything
else in the repo is development-only.
If you change src/, rebuild and commit the bundle in the same commit:
npm run build # tsc -> build/, esbuild -> dist/ipython2-mcp.js
npm run check:bundle # fails if the committed bundle is stale; wire into CIpython/ must remain a sibling of dist/ — the server resolves the broker relative to its own
location. See ARCHITECTURE.md for the plugin layout and .mcp.json snippet.
npm test # TypeScript
<py2>/python -m pip install -r python/requirements-dev.txt
<py2>/python -m pytest python/tests # broker, against a real kernel
PYTHON2=<py2>/python npm run test:e2e # smoke, needs a build firstSee ARCHITECTURE.md for the full design and the reasoning behind it.
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