ellmos ControlCenter MCP

ellmos ControlCenter MCP logo

DE Deutsche Version

Part of the ellmos-ai family.

An alpha-stage Model Context Protocol (MCP) control plane for local MCP stacks. ControlCenter discovers local MCP servers, reads MCP profile files, groups servers into capability bundles, recommends profiles for a task, builds catalogs, probes real MCP tool lists from local repositories or profiles, assigns tools to capability bundles, and provides an optional local dashboard.

Provider note: ControlCenter works with any MCP-capable client (Claude Code, Codex, Gemini, or any stdio-based MCP host). The profile management tools default to Claude Code's profile directory (~/.claude/profiles) but accept any directory via ELLMOS_PROFILE_ROOT. The skill and plugin inventory tools are scoped to Claude Code conventions by default; see the environment variables below for override options.

The first alpha release focuses on discovery, profile visibility, dashboard workflows, capability bundles, profile-aware tool-list probes, tool-bundle assignments, internationalization, and initial policy audits. Gateway mode, enforced tool-level permissions, authentication, and hard security boundaries are planned, but are not implemented yet.

Alpha note: This version is useful for local administration and preview testing. It is not a hardened MCP gateway and should not be used as a security layer for untrusted tools or other users.

Status

• Phase: Alpha
• Version: 0.2.0
• Repository: ellmos-ai/ellmos-controlcenter-mcp
• npm: ellmos-controlcenter-mcp
• CI checks: npm run test and npm run build
• Goal: Make local MCP stacks visible, inspectable, and easier to control
• Focus: Catalogs, profile overview, profile recommendation, bundle recommendation, profile-aware tool-list probes, tool-bundle assignments, i18n, and early audits

Tools

Querying skill search

controlcenter_find_skill matches purely lexically over name, aliases, tags, category and description. It does not yet do semantic/embedding search, so query with keywords and technical terms, not with whole sentences. A natural-language sentence drags in filler words, and those can outrank the correct hit.

Two consequences:

• Scores are only comparable within a single query. In the example above the wrong hit scored higher than the right one in a different query. Never treat the number as a confidence measure.
• If the caller is an LLM, translate the user's phrasing into keywords first. That step is cheap and turns the weakest case into the strongest one.

Until semantic search is supported (tracked in TODO.md), keyword queries are the intended usage — not a workaround.

Dashboard

After building the project, start the local dashboard with:

npm run dashboard

Default address:

http://127.0.0.1:3737

The dashboard can currently show local servers and profiles, switch its UI language, enable or disable servers per profile, summarize profile audits, scan MCP tools for the selected profile or local repositories, display tool-to-bundle assignments, and write a generated --mcp-config file. Write actions ask for confirmation and create a backup before overwriting an existing file.

Discovery and Registry Metadata

ControlCenter ships MCP registry metadata for crawlers and catalog tools:

• server.json uses the official MCP server metadata shape with the package name, repository, and stdio transport.
• llms.txt gives LLM crawlers a compact project summary, canonical links, and tool overview.
• package.json includes both files in the npm package so registry indexers can read the same metadata from GitHub or npm.

The public npm package is the canonical install target. The GitHub repository remains the canonical source for development, issues, and release notes.

Search and Discovery Context

Use the full name ellmos ControlCenter MCP or the package name ellmos-controlcenter-mcp when linking or searching. The short phrase "control center" is too broad, and "ellmos" can collide with Elmo/ELMO motion-control, HR, and voice-generator results.

Best-fit search phrases:

• ellmos ControlCenter MCP
• ellmos-controlcenter-mcp
• MCP control plane for local servers
• MCP profile management dashboard
• local MCP stack discovery TypeScript
• Claude Codex Gemini MCP profile switcher
• MCP policy audit profile management

Installation

Option 1: Install from npm

npm install -g ellmos-controlcenter-mcp

Start the MCP server:

ellmos-controlcenter

Start the dashboard:

ellmos-controlcenter-dashboard

Option 2: Install from source

git clone https://github.com/ellmos-ai/ellmos-controlcenter-mcp.git
cd ellmos-controlcenter-mcp
npm install
npm run build

Run the server from source:

node dist/index.js

Run the dashboard from source:

node dist/dashboard.js

Configuration

MCP Client Configuration

ControlCenter works with any MCP-capable client. The JSON snippet below uses the standard mcpServers format supported by Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex, Cursor, and other MCP hosts.

If installed globally from npm:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "controlcenter": {
      "command": "ellmos-controlcenter"
    }
  }
}

If installed from source:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "controlcenter": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "/absolute/path/to/ellmos-controlcenter-mcp/dist/index.js"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Optional environment variables:

• ELLMOS_MCP_ROOT overrides the default MCP repository root
• ELLMOS_STACKS_ROOT overrides the stack catalog root (default: local .AI/.STACKS)
• ELLMOS_PROFILE_ROOT overrides the profile directory (default: ~/.claude/profiles)
• ELLMOS_SKILLS_ROOT overrides the deployed skills directory (default: ~/.claude/skills)
• ELLMOS_PLUGINS_ROOT overrides the plugins directory (default: ~/.claude/plugins)
• ELLMOS_BUNDLE_CONFIG overrides the capability bundle definition file
• ELLMOS_POLICY_CONFIG overrides the profile audit policy rule file
• ELLMOS_LAUNCH_TEMPLATE overrides the generated profile-switch launch command. Use {config} as placeholder for the generated MCP config path.
• CONTROLCENTER_LANGUAGE or ELLMOS_CONTROLCENTER_LANGUAGE sets the initial output language

By default, the MCP repository root is derived from the OneDrive/ONEDRIVE environment variable and falls back to ~/OneDrive/.TOPICS/.AI/.MCP.

Internationalization

ControlCenter supports the language codes de, en, es, zh, ja, and ru. All six languages now have maintained text sets for MCP tool output, dashboard labels, policy hints, profile recommendations, and tool descriptions.

Use controlcenter_get_language to inspect the current language and controlcenter_set_language to switch MCP tool output at runtime. The dashboard also includes a language selector and accepts /?lang=en style links. Bundle titles and descriptions loaded from custom JSON config files are shown as authored.

Profile Switching

controlcenter_switch_profile does not change a running session. It creates a resolved MCP configuration and returns a launch command. The default remains compatible with Claude Code:

claude --mcp-config ~/.claude/profiles/_generated/software.mcp.json

With write: false, the switch runs as a preview. With write: true, ControlCenter writes the generated file. The generated mcpServers JSON is readable by any MCP-capable client. Use the launchTemplate input or ELLMOS_LAUNCH_TEMPLATE to return a Codex, Gemini, or custom launcher command, for example codex mcp run --config {config}.

Profile resolution supports single inheritance ("extends": "base"), multiple inheritance ("extends": ["base", "shared"]), and inherited-server removal via "remove", "disabled", or "disabledServers". Missing profiles, invalid JSON, invalid profile names, and inheritance cycles now return explicit profile errors with the affected file path or chain.

Capability Bundles

ControlCenter loads capability bundle definitions from data/capability-bundles.json. The default file groups local servers into these bundles:

• core-local
• software
• filesystem
• automation
• control-plane

Custom bundle files can be supplied with ELLMOS_BUNDLE_CONFIG or with the optional bundleConfigPath input on bundle tools. A bundle file is a JSON object with schemaVersion and a bundles array. Each bundle needs id, title, description, and keywords.

This is the basis for future tool-bloat management: instead of exposing many individual tools immediately, an agent can first choose the capability bundle that fits the task.

Tool Catalog

controlcenter_list_tools can start local stdio MCP servers or resolved Claude profile servers and call the standard MCP list_tools request. Profile scans support arbitrary stdio commands, including non-Node launchers, and URL-based remote configs using Streamable HTTP or legacy SSE. The scan is explicit, uses a per-server timeout, does not call any reported tool, and closes each spawned local server after reading the tool list.

controlcenter_build_catalog accepts includeTools: true to persist the same probe results alongside the local server catalog.

controlcenter_assign_tool_bundles compares probed tool names, titles, descriptions, server names, source, and transport metadata with capability-bundle keywords, then reports which tools belong to bundles such as filesystem, software, automation, or control plane.

Profile Audit

controlcenter_audit_profile is the first small policy layer. It currently flags:

• npx starts
• environment variables in server configurations
• missing or invalid server commands
• sensitive name fragments in arguments

Environment values are never printed.

Policy rules are loaded from data/policy-rules.json by default. The file can disable individual rules or override their severity, and controlcenter_audit_profile also accepts a policyConfigPath input for one-off audits.

Project Structure

ellmos-controlcenter-mcp/
|-- src/
|-- test/
|-- data/
|-- README.md
|-- README_de.md
|-- START.md
|-- ARCHITECTURE.md
|-- STATE.md
|-- DECISIONS.md
`-- TODO.md

Documentation

ellmos-ai Ecosystem

This MCP server is part of the ellmos-ai ecosystem — AI infrastructure, MCP servers, and intelligent tools.

MCP Server Family

AI Infrastructure

Desktop Software

Our partner organization open-bricks bundles AI-native desktop applications — a modern, open-source software suite built for the age of AI. Categories include file management, document tools, developer utilities, and more.

License

MIT - Lukas Geiger (ellmos-ai)