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WPF-MCP Server

CI License: MIT .NET

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enables AI agents to programmatically interact with Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) applications. Think of it as Playwright for WPF - allowing Claude and other AI assistants to navigate, inspect, and interact with desktop applications.

Features

  • Application Management - Launch, attach to, and close WPF applications
  • Element Discovery - Get accessibility tree snapshots in LLM-friendly YAML format
  • UI Interaction - Click, type, toggle, select, scroll, and more
  • Window Management - Switch between windows, minimize, maximize, restore
  • Screenshots - Capture application or element screenshots as base64
  • Wait Conditions - Wait for elements to become visible, enabled, or focused

Quick Start

Prerequisites

  • Windows 10/11
  • .NET 8.0 SDK
  • A WPF application to automate

Installation

Option 1: Install as Global Tool (Recommended)

# Install from NuGet (when published)
dotnet tool install --global WpfMcp.Server

# Or install from local build
.\scripts\install-local.ps1

Option 2: Clone and Run

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/ricfanin/wpf_mcp.git
cd wpf_mcp

# Build the project
dotnet build

# Run the server
dotnet run --project src/WpfMcp.Server

Configure MCP Client

If installed as Global Tool:

Add to your Claude Desktop/Claude Code configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "wpf-mcp": {
      "command": "wpf-mcp",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

If running from source:

For Claude Code, copy .mcp.json.example to .mcp.json:

cp .mcp.json.example .mcp.json

For Claude Desktop (claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "wpf-mcp": {
      "command": "dotnet",
      "args": ["run", "--project", "C:/path/to/WPF-mcp/src/WpfMcp.Server"]
    }
  }
}

Basic Usage

Once connected, you can ask Claude to interact with WPF applications:

"Launch the calculator app at C:\Windows\System32\calc.exe"
"Take a snapshot of the current UI"
"Click the '7' button"
"Type '123' in the input field"

Available Tools

Tool Description
wpf_launch_application Launch a WPF executable
wpf_attach_application Attach to a running process
wpf_close_application Close the attached application
wpf_snapshot Get accessibility tree snapshot
wpf_find_element Find elements by criteria
wpf_get_element_properties Get detailed element properties
wpf_click Click an element
wpf_type Type text into an element
wpf_set_value Set element value directly
wpf_toggle Toggle checkbox/toggle button
wpf_select Select item in dropdown/list
wpf_expand_collapse Expand or collapse tree nodes
wpf_press_key Send keyboard input
wpf_scroll Scroll within a container
wpf_scroll_into_view Scroll element into view
wpf_focus Set keyboard focus
wpf_list_windows List all application windows
wpf_switch_window Switch to a different window
wpf_window_action Minimize/maximize/restore/close
wpf_take_screenshot Capture screenshot as base64
wpf_wait_for Wait for element condition

Documentation

Example Workflow

1. Launch application
   wpf_launch_application(path="C:\MyApp\App.exe")

2. Take a snapshot to see the UI
   wpf_snapshot()

   Output (YAML):
   - window "My Application" [ref=e1]
     - button "Login" [ref=e2] [enabled]
     - textbox "Username" [ref=e3] [value=""]
     - textbox "Password" [ref=e4] [value=""]

3. Type credentials
   wpf_type(element="Username field", ref="e3", text="user@example.com")
   wpf_type(element="Password field", ref="e4", text="secret123")

4. Click login
   wpf_click(element="Login button", ref="e2")

5. Wait for next screen
   wpf_wait_for(condition="exists", timeout_ms=5000)

6. Take new snapshot
   wpf_snapshot()

Technical Stack

Component Technology
Runtime .NET 8.0 (Windows)
MCP SDK ModelContextProtocol
UI Automation FlaUI (UIA3)
Transport stdio (JSON-RPC 2.0)

Project Structure

WPF-mcp/
├── src/WpfMcp.Server/
│   ├── Program.cs              # Entry point
│   ├── Models/                 # Data structures
│   │   ├── ToolResponse.cs     # Standard response schema
│   │   ├── ErrorCodes.cs       # Error constants
│   │   ├── SnapshotElement.cs  # Tree node model
│   │   └── ElementReference.cs # Element ref metadata
│   ├── Services/               # Core business logic
│   │   ├── ApplicationManager.cs
│   │   └── ElementReferenceManager.cs
│   └── Tools/                  # MCP tool implementations
│       ├── WpfApplicationTools.cs
│       ├── WpfSnapshotTools.cs
│       ├── WpfInteractionTools.cs
│       ├── WpfNavigationTools.cs
│       ├── WpfWindowTools.cs
│       └── WpfUtilityTools.cs
├── tests/WpfMcp.Server.Tests/  # Unit tests
└── docs/                       # Documentation

Requirements for Target Applications

For best results, WPF applications should:

  • Set AutomationProperties.AutomationId on interactive elements
  • Use standard WPF controls (or custom controls with AutomationPeer)
  • Avoid full-window overlays that block the automation tree
  • Have meaningful AutomationProperties.Name values

Building

# Debug build
dotnet build
# or
.\scripts\build.ps1

# Release build
dotnet build -c Release
# or
.\scripts\build.ps1 -Release

# Run tests
dotnet test

# Development mode (auto-rebuild on changes)
.\scripts\dev.ps1

# Create NuGet package
.\scripts\pack.ps1

# Install locally as global tool
.\scripts\install-local.ps1

License

MIT License - See LICENSE for details.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read the contributing guidelines before submitting PRs.

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