charles-local-mcp

Local-only, profile-driven Charles Proxy automation for macOS. The same application service is exposed through a JSON CLI and an MCP stdio server.

Version 0.1.2 supports Charles 4.6.8 on macOS. The public package contains only generic example.com fixtures and no organization-specific hosts or paths.

Profile

schemaVersion = 1

[profiles.demo]
sourceHost = "app.example.com"
sourcePath = "/api*" # optional Charles path pattern
destinationUrl = "http://127.0.0.1:8080"
sslHosts = ["app.example.com"]
verificationUrl = "https://app.example.com/health"

Omit destinationUrl for a proxy-only profile that disables Map Remote while retaining the exact SSL hosts and optional verification URL. When present, destinationUrl is restricted to loopback addresses.

Map Remote destinations must resolve to a loopback host. verificationUrl is optional, must use HTTPS without embedded credentials, and must match sourceHost.

Related MCP server: Charles MCP Server

Commands

charles-local-mcp doctor --json
charles-local-mcp --profiles-file profiles.toml profiles validate --json
charles-local-mcp --profiles-file profiles.toml setup plan --profile demo --platform android --json
charles-local-mcp --profiles-file profiles.toml setup apply --token TOKEN --json
charles-local-mcp setup resume --token TOKEN --json
charles-local-mcp status --json
charles-local-mcp cleanup plan --json
charles-local-mcp cleanup apply --token TOKEN --json
charles-local-mcp serve

State defaults to ~/Library/Application Support/charles-local-mcp. Tests and integrators can isolate it with CHARLES_LOCAL_MCP_HOME or --state-dir. CLI stdout is JSON only; MCP stdout is protocol only. Diagnostics use stderr.

Mutation commands require macOS and Charles 4.6.8. Setup and cleanup plans expire after 15 minutes, are single-use, and are rejected if state changed. Only one active session is allowed in a state directory.

The real-device procedure is intentionally manual: see docs/manual-smoke.md.

Install

Build from crates.io when a local Rust toolchain is available:

cargo install charles-local-mcp --locked

For a one-click MCP client installation on macOS, use the universal .mcpb asset from the matching GitHub Release. The native binary and bundle are not signed or notarized by Apple, so macOS may show a security warning when opening a downloaded asset. Verify SHA256SUMS from that release before installing. The bundle asks for a TOML profiles file and starts charles-local-mcp serve; profiles remain read-only to MCP tools.

Release maintainers should follow docs/releasing.md.