IDA Free & MCP Integration

[kyberzo]

IDA Free & MCP Integration

The IDA SDK was open source on September and includes IDAPython plugin. It does not build as default though when building the SDK, needs separate build and extra requirements (SWIG)

What does this mean?

You can use the MCP (Model Context Protocol) with IDA Free.

Motivation

While I have access to the Pro version, working with IDA Free and other free tools helps democratize reverse engineering capabilities and makes these integrations accessible to a wider audience.

⚠️ Downside

• IDA Free uses an online decompiler, and the MCP cannot fetch decompiled code directly—it's only visible in the IDA UI. This limitation may be worth exploring for future support.
• Being Online Means Binary Gets uploaded to Ida, Keep this in mind if you are not comfortable with it.

Current Workaround

Unfortunately, the only workaround is to copy-paste decompiled functions manually.

---

Building IDAPython with Hex-Rays API (Windows)

I posted instructions for building IDAPython with Hex-Rays API support here:
HexRaysSA/ida-sdk#9 (comment)

TL;DR

⚠️ Limitations

The built .pyd modules are forward-compatible only (Python 3.13+). They will NOT work with Python 3.12 or older because SWIG 4.4.0 uses Python 3.13 APIs. The original build settings target Python 3.4 with SWIG 4.0.1, causing compatibility issues with pro.h.

📋 Requirements

• Visual Studio 2022 (Community Edition works)
• Cygwin 64-bit with make
• Python 3.13+ (IDAPython requires Python 3.13 or later with SWIG 4.4.0)
• Git (optional, for version control)

Building IDAPython with Hex-Rays Support

⚠️ Make sure you can build the SDK first indicating you have a good build environment to proceed.

Step 1: Install Python Dependencies

Install Python 3.13+ and ensure it's added to your PATH.

pip install six

Step 2: Download SWIG 4.4.0

Download SWIG 4.4.0 from the official website and extract it to your IDA SDK directory.

Step 3: Configure SWIG Directory Structure

Ensure SWIG is extracted to a location like:
C:/path/to/ida-sdk/swigwin-4.4.0/

Step 4: Update Build Configuration

Edit src/defaults.mk (line 137):

# Change from:
#SWIG_VERSION?=4.0.1

# To:
SWIG_VERSION?=4.4.0
Edit src/plugins/idapython/makefile (line 232):
# Change from:
CC_DEFS += Py_LIMITED_API=0x03040000

# To:
CC_DEFS += Py_LIMITED_API=0x030D0000  # Python 3.13+ Limited API

Step 5: Build IDAPython with Hex-Rays Support

Open Cygwin Terminal (not CMD) and run:
cd src/plugins/idapython

export MSYS_NO_PATHCONV=1
export MSYS2_ARG_CONV_EXCL="*"
export PYTHON_VERSION_MAJOR=3
export PYTHON_VERSION_MINOR=13  # Must be 13 or higher
export PYTHON_ROOT="C:/Users/YOUR_USERNAME/AppData/Local/Programs/Python/Python313"

python build.py \
  --swig-home "C:/path/to/ida-sdk/swigwin-4.4.0" \
  --ida-install "C:/path/to/ida-sdk/src/bin" \
  --with-hexrays
# Note: Replace YOUR_USERNAME and paths with your actual system paths.

Note: These build are not for long term development, I just Build them get the output and be done with it.