mcp-bitbake

A deterministic MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for BitBake/Yocto. Inspects recipe metadata without evaluating variables — returns only raw assignments as found in files.

Design rules:

• Never evaluates variables — only returns raw assignments

• Only supports .bb and .bbappend files

• Supported operators: =, :=, ?=, +=, .=

• Returns structured JSON for all responses

• Fails closed on unsupported syntax (override syntax warned, not parsed)

Install

From GitHub (no npm publish needed):

npm install github:pkt-lab/mcp-bitbake

Or clone and build manually:

git clone https://github.com/pkt-lab/mcp-bitbake
cd mcp-bitbake
npm install && npm run build

Related MCP server: Repo Docs MCP

Claude Desktop configuration

If installed via npm (GitHub):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-bitbake": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["./node_modules/mcp-bitbake/dist/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

If cloned locally:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-bitbake": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/mcp-bitbake/dist/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Config file location:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Restart Claude Desktop after editing.

MCP tools

find_recipe_files

Search recursively for .bb/.bbappend files matching a filename pattern:

{ "root_path": "/path/to/poky", "query": "busybox" }

Returns: { ok: true, matches: [{ path, file_type, filename }] }

scan_layer_recipe_files

List all .bb/.bbappend files under a layer path:

{ "layer_path": "/path/to/meta-mylayer" }

Returns: { ok: true, files: [{ path, file_type }] }

parse_recipe_file

Parse a single .bb or .bbappend file and return all raw variable assignments:

{ "file_path": "/path/to/meta-layer/recipes-core/myapp/myapp_1.0.bb" }

Returns: { ok: true, variables: [{ name, operator, raw_value, line }], warnings?: [...] }

• Comments and python/shell function blocks are skipped

• Override syntax (VAR:append, VAR:${PN}, etc.) is warned but not parsed

• Multi-line values (lines ending with \) are concatenated into raw_value

get_recipe_var_raw

Get all assignments for a specific variable in a file:

{ "file_path": "/path/to/recipe.bb", "variable": "SRC_URI" }

Returns: { ok: true, assignments: [{ operator, raw_value, line }] }

Error format

All errors return:

{ "ok": false, "error_code": "...", "message": "..." }

Error codes: FILE_NOT_FOUND, INVALID_PATH, UNSUPPORTED_SYNTAX, INVALID_ARGUMENT

License

MIT