IDA Pro MCP vs Serena

A side-by-side comparison of two Developer Tools servers — tools, transport, auth, maintenance, and copy-paste config for each.

	IDA Pro MCP AI-powered reverse engineering: bridge IDA Pro to LLMs for vibe reversing via MCP. Unverified HTTP (remote) No auth Python	Serena LSP-powered coding agent toolkit: semantic symbol search, references and structural edits. Verified stdio (local) No auth Python
Category	Developer Tools	Developer Tools
Language	Python	Python
Transport	HTTP (remote)	stdio (local)
Auth	None	None
GitHub stars	9.7k	12k
Last commit	5 days ago	23 days ago
Verified
Actively maintained
Install	`pip install https://github.com/mrexodia/ida-pro-mcp/archive/refs/heads/main.zip && ida-pro-mcp --install`	`uvx --from git+https://github.com/oraios/serena serena start-mcp-server`
Repo	Open	Open

Verdict

Pick IDA Pro MCP if you want a hosted/remote server with nothing to install, and you need the broadest set of tools.

Pick Serena if you want a local (stdio) server that keeps data on your machine, and you want a verified, documented setup.

Add IDA Pro MCP

Install / run

pip install https://github.com/mrexodia/ida-pro-mcp/archive/refs/heads/main.zip && ida-pro-mcp --install

Paste into ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ida-pro-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "http://127.0.0.1:13337/mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop connects to remote servers through the `mcp-remote` proxy (installed on first run via npx). Restart Claude Desktop after saving.

Add Serena

Install / run

uvx --from git+https://github.com/oraios/serena serena start-mcp-server

Paste into ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "serena": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "--from",
        "git+https://github.com/oraios/serena",
        "serena",
        "start-mcp-server"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Requires `uv` (the Python package runner). Install it from https://docs.astral.sh/uv/ if `uvx` is not found.

FAQ

IDA Pro MCP or Serena — which is better?

Pick IDA Pro MCP if you want a hosted/remote server with nothing to install, and you need the broadest set of tools. Pick Serena if you want a local (stdio) server that keeps data on your machine, and you want a verified, documented setup.

Can I use both IDA Pro MCP and Serena?

Yes — MCP clients let you enable multiple servers at once. Add both configs to your client's mcpServers and use whichever tool fits the task.

Do IDA Pro MCP and Serena work with Claude, Cursor and Windsurf?

Both do. Copy the per-client config below into Claude Desktop, Cursor, or Windsurf.

View IDA Pro MCP →View Serena →More comparisons →