🤖 Claude IPC MCP - AI-to-AI Communication

"Can't spell EMAIL without AI!" 📧 ** Runner-up catch-phrase: "You're absolutely right, we need to talk."

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) designed for CLI-based AI assistants to talk to each other using ICP:

Inter-Process Communication

🔐 Security First

New in v1.0: Full session-based authentication meeting recent MCP security standards. See Security Quick Start for setup.

🌟 Key Features

The Claude IPC MCP enables AI agent-to-AI agent communication with:

💬 Natural Language Commands - Just type "Register this instance as claude" (or whatever name you want)
🔮 Future Messaging - Send messages to AIs that don't exist yet!
🔄 Live Renaming - Change your identity on the fly with automatic forwarding
📦 Smart Large Messages - Auto-converts >10KB messages to files
🌍 Cross-Platform - Works with Claude Code, Gemini, and any Python-capable AI
🏃 Always Running - 24/7 server survives session restarts
🤖 Auto-Check - Never miss messages! Just say "start auto checking 5"

🚀 Quick Start

🔐 Step 1: Security Setup (REQUIRED)

All AIs must use the same shared secret to communicate:

# Option 1: Set for current session
export IPC_SHARED_SECRET="your-secret-key-here"

# Option 2: Set permanently (recommended)
echo 'export IPC_SHARED_SECRET="your-secret-key-here"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

⚠️ Critical: The FIRST AI to start determines if security is enabled. No secret = open mode (insecure).

📚 Full Setup Guide: See SETUP_GUIDE.md for detailed instructions.

Step 2: For Claude Code Users

Install the MCP:

cd claude-ipc-mcp
./scripts/install-mcp.sh

Restart Claude Code (to load MCP with security)
Register your instance:(IMPORTANT- REMEMBER - you can name the AI assistant anything you want, the use of 'claude' below is just an example)

Register this instance as claude

Start messaging:

Send a message to fred: Hey, need help with this React component
Check my messages
msg barney: The database migration is complete

Enable auto-checking (optional):

Start auto checking 5

Your AI will now automatically check for messages every 5 minutes!

Natural language commands are automatically interpreted.

Step 3: For Other AIs (Google Gemini, etc.)

Option A: Natural Language (recommended) Works for Google Gemini and any AI that can execute Python - just make sure the code is installed first!

Register this instance as gemini
Send a message to claude: Hey, can you help with this?
Check my messages

Option B: Direct Python Scripts (fallback method)

If natural language isn't working or you prefer direct execution:

# Make sure shared secret is set (see Step 1)
echo $IPC_SHARED_SECRET  # Should show your secret

# First, ensure the code is installed in your AI's environment
cd claude-ipc-mcp/tools

# Then use the scripts directly (though natural language is preferred once installed)
python3 ./ipc_register.py gemini
python3 ./ipc_send.py claude "Hey Claude, can you review this?"
python3 ./ipc_check.py

Note: Once the tools are in place, all Python-capable AIs can use natural language commands instead.

🎯 Real Examples from Production

Asynchronous Messaging

# Monday - User creates Barney
Register this instance as barney
Send to nessa: Welcome to the team! I'm Barney, the troubleshooter.

# Wednesday - User creates Nessa
Register this instance as nessa
Check messages
> "Welcome to the team! I'm Barney, the troubleshooter." (sent 2 days ago)

Live Renaming

# Fred needs to debug
rename to fred-debugging

# Messages to "fred" automatically forward to "fred-debugging" for 2 hours!

Large Message Handling

msg claude: [20KB of debug logs]

# Claude receives:
> "Debug output shows memory leak in... Full content saved to: 
> /ipc-messages/large-messages/20250106-143022_barney_claude_message.md"

📋 Natural Language Commands

The system accepts various command formats:

✅ Register this instance as rose
✅ check messages or msgs? or any messages?
✅ msg claude: hello or send to claude: hello
✅ broadcast: team meeting in 5
✅ list instances or who's online?
✅ start auto checking or start auto checking 5
✅ stop auto checking
✅ auto check status or is auto checking on?

🔧 Installation

Requirements

Python 3.8+
Claude Code or any AI with Python execution
That's it!

Full Setup

Clone this repository
Set your shared secret: export IPC_SHARED_SECRET="your-secret-key"
Run ./scripts/install-mcp.sh
Add to Claude Code as shown
Start collaborating!

🛡️ Security

Session-based authentication prevents spoofing
Identity validation on every message
Rate limiting prevents abuse
Local-only connections by default

📚 Documentation

Essential Guides

🚀 Setup Guide - Complete installation walkthrough
🔐 Security Quick Start - Security configuration
🏗️ Architecture - Technical design details
🤖 Auto-Check Guide - Never manually check messages again!
🤝 AI Integration Guide - Connect ANY AI platform
🔄 Server Redundancy - Understanding continuity
🤖 Gemini Setup - Easy guide for Google Gemini users

Quick References

API Reference - Protocol specification
Troubleshooting - Common issues
Examples - Integration examples

🛠️ Development & Installation

Prerequisites

This project uses UV for fast, modern Python package management:

# Install UV (if not already installed)
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

Installation from Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/claude-ipc-mcp.git
cd claude-ipc-mcp

# Install dependencies with UV
uv sync

scripts/install-mcp.sh

Running the MCP Server

# Using uvx (recommended)
uvx --from . claude-ipc-mcp

# Or with uv run
uv run python src/claude_ipc_server.py

Migration from pip/venv

If you previously used pip and venv:

Remove old virtual environment: rm -rf venv/ .venv/
Delete requirements.txt: No longer needed - dependencies are in pyproject.toml
Install UV: See prerequisites above
Run uv sync: This replaces pip install -r requirements.txt

Python Version

This project requires Python 3.12 or higher. UV will automatically manage the Python version for you.

🏆 Built By

Created over a weekend by:

jdez
Claude - Initial architecture and crisis management
Barney - Troubleshooting and documentation
Fred - Cross-platform integration
Claudia - Testing and refinement

📜 License

MIT License - Use it, extend it, make AIs talk!