🤖 The daemon's MCP server

📌 Description

asc mcp serve is a local Model Context Protocol server for AI clients. It uses standard input/output and forwards management operations to the running ASC daemon through its local Unix socket.

The daemon derives access from the kernel's SO_PEERCRED peer UID. A normal user can only see and manage that user's applications; a root MCP process can manage every application. No MCP argument can select another UID or role.

🎯 Scenarios

• Connect Codex, Claude Code, or another stdio MCP client and manage apps you own.
• Run the same command as root when an administrator intentionally needs all apps.
• Read state and logs; install, upgrade, configure, back up, restore, or remove apps.

🏗️ Technical design

Tools

Tool	Action	MCP hint
system_info, metrics_get	daemon and application metrics	read-only
app_list, app_info, logs_read, app_settings_get	application data	read-only
app_install, app_upgrade, app_control, app_settings_update	application management	mutating
backup_list, backup_create, backup_restore, backup_prune	local backups	restore is destructive
app_remove, exec_command	removal and host commands	destructive

The daemon resolves and authorizes every app reference. A foreign and an unknown app return the same not found error. Destructive tools carry MCP annotations so the client can request confirmation.

exec_command runs in the MCP process, not in the root daemon, so it inherits the actual OS UID of asc mcp serve. It uses /bin/sh -lc, defaults to 60 seconds (maximum 300), and limits stdout and stderr to 1 MiB each.

Connect an MCP client

Requirements: asc is on PATH, the daemon is running (asc status), and the client user can connect to the configured ASC Unix socket.

For a Codex-compatible stdio configuration:

{
  "mcp_servers": {
    "asc": { "command": "asc", "args": ["mcp", "serve"] }
  }
}

This normal configuration can manage only the current user's apps. To intentionally manage all apps, run the MCP client command through sudo with arguments asc mcp serve; configure non-interactive sudo according to the host security policy.

For Claude Code:

claude mcp add asc -- asc mcp serve

If connection fails, check asc status, the daemon service, and the configured socket path. Use an absolute asc path if it is not on PATH. Do not grant root only to make an app visible: confirm the app was installed under the intended UID.

🔗 Related tasks

DMN-013, AI-001, AI-002 and AI-003 in the ASC roadmap.