localmcpcoder

A remote MCP server that gives ChatGPT — or any MCP client — Claude Code style tools on your own machine: run shell commands, read, write and edit files, search the filesystem, and keep a task list.

It runs locally and is published to the internet through a free Cloudflare tunnel, so a web chat can actually work on your computer instead of just talking about it.

Read the Security section before exposing this. This is remote code execution on your machine, by design.

Requirements

Related MCP server: mcp2term

Installation

Run these in order, in PowerShell.

1. Get the code and install the dependencies

git clone https://github.com/JuanseGZZ/localmcpcoder.git
cd localmcpcoder
npm install

2. Install cloudflared

winget install --id Cloudflare.cloudflared -e

Then close and reopen PowerShell so cloudflared lands on your PATH. Check it:

cloudflared --version

That is the whole installation. The access token is generated automatically on first run and saved to .env, which is gitignored — you never create it by hand.

Running it

cd localmcpcoder
.\start.ps1

This starts the server on 127.0.0.1:8787, opens the tunnel, and prints a public URL that it also copies to your clipboard:

=============================================================
 READY. Paste this URL into ChatGPT (Settings > Connectors):

   https://random-words-here.trycloudflare.com/mcp/0a14bdd6...

 Authentication: 'No authentication' (the token is in the URL)
 Exposed folder: C:\Users\me\localmcpcoder
=============================================================

Leave that window open. Closing it, or pressing Ctrl+C, shuts down both the server and the tunnel.

Common options:

.\start.ps1 -Root "C:\Users\me\projects"   # expose a different folder
.\start.ps1 -Port 8788                      # use a different port
.\start.ps1 -AllowOutsideRoot               # whole disk — see Security

Connecting it to ChatGPT

1. ChatGPT → Settings → Connectors → Advanced → turn on Developer mode.

2. Connectors → Create / Add MCP server.

3. URL: the full URL printed above, including the /mcp/<token> part.

4. Authentication: No authentication.

5. Save. The connector should list the ten tools below.

6. Open a chat, enable the connector from the tools menu, and try "list the files in the folder".

Without Developer mode, ChatGPT only accepts search-style connectors and will reject the write tools.

Connecting it to Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http localmcpcoder https://random-words-here.trycloudflare.com/mcp/<token>

Restarting later

The free tunnel gives you a new URL every time you start it. The token at the end stays the same — it lives in .env — but the hostname changes, so re-paste the URL into the connector after each restart.

Tools

Configuration

start.ps1 sets these for you; set them by hand only if you run node server.js directly.

Using your own domain instead

If you own a domain on Cloudflare, you can swap the random URL for a fixed one. Create a named tunnel in the Cloudflare Zero Trust dashboard, install it as a service, and point a public hostname at http://localhost:8787. Then run start-server.ps1 instead of start.ps1 — it starts only the server and leaves the tunnel to the service. A named tunnel requires a domain in your Cloudflare account; without one, use the quick tunnel above.

Security

This publishes remote code execution on your machine to the internet. Anyone holding the URL can do anything you can do on that computer.

• The URL is the password. Do not paste it into a repo, an issue, a screenshot, or a chat you do not control.

• .env holds your token and is gitignored. Keep it that way. To rotate the token, delete .env and restart — a new one is generated.

• The random URL is a feature. Each restart invalidates the previous one.

• Keep MCP_ROOT narrow. Point it at a projects folder. -AllowOutsideRoot exposes documents, credentials, .ssh — everything your user can read.

• bash has no allowlist. It can delete files, install software, or reach the network. The root restriction applies to the working directory, not to what a command does once it runs.

• Shut it down when you are not using it (Ctrl+C).