AIDevTools - Sidekick MCP Server

What is AIDevTools - Sidekick MCP Server?

AIDevTools - Sidekick MCP Server is a high-performance Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides AI agents, such as Claude Code, with process management and notification capabilities. It enables agents to spawn, monitor, and control system processes with enterprise-grade reliability, and includes audio notifications on macOS. Part of the AIDevTools ecosystem for AI-powered development.

How to use AIDevTools - Sidekick MCP Server?

Install using the quick install script (curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eliezedeck/AIDevTools/main/install.sh | bash), then register with Claude Code via claude mcp add sidekick ~/.local/bin/sidekick. Tools are auto-discovered and ready to use. Verify with sidekick --version and claude mcp list.

Key features of AIDevTools - Sidekick MCP Server

• Multi-platform process management (Linux, macOS, Windows)
• Ring buffer output (configurable, 10 MB default) prevents memory bloat
• Real-time "tail -f" style incremental output streaming
• Process groups for proper child process cleanup and isolation
• Stdin support for interactive process control
• Audio notifications with TTS on macOS (native afplay and say)
• Thread-safe operations, automatic cleanup, and graceful shutdown

Use cases of AIDevTools - Sidekick MCP Server

• Spawn and monitor long-running development servers (e.g., Redis, API, frontend)
• Capture incremental output from build or test processes
• Send input to interactive command-line programs (e.g., Python REPL)
• Launch multiple dependent processes with sequential delays
• Receive speech notification on macOS when a task completes

FAQ from AIDevTools - Sidekick MCP Server

What tools does Sidekick provide?

It provides 8 process management tools (spawn_process, spawn_multiple_processes, get_partial_process_output, get_full_process_output, send_process_input, list_processes, kill_process, get_process_status) and one audio notification tool (notifications_speak), totaling 9 on macOS and 8 on Linux/Windows.

Which platforms are supported?

Process management works on Linux, macOS, and Windows. Audio notifications are only available on macOS.

What are the runtime dependencies?

No external runtime dependencies. The server is a single binary. To build from source, Go 1.23+ is required.

How does process output storage work?

Each process has a configurable ring buffer (default 10 MB). Old data is automatically discarded to prevent memory bloat. Output can be read incrementally (like tail -f) or as full output.

What transport and authentication does it use?

Sidekick uses local stdio transport with no network exposure. No authentication is required as it is intended for local MCP communication. All inputs are validated and sanitized.