CheatEngine.Mcp

CheatEngine.Mcp connects a local AI client to Cheat Engine 7.7 x64 through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). It combines a plugin loaded by Cheat Engine with a standalone stdio gateway. One gateway can discover several Cheat Engine processes and route each request to the instance you choose.

Beta: The current source builds one plugin DLL and a separate gateway executable for Windows x64. Published builds are listed under Releases; follow the instructions included with that version. Build from this checkout to test the current single-DLL packaging.

How it works

AI client --stdio--> CheatEngine.Mcp.Gateway.exe
                         |
                         +-- authenticated loopback HTTP --> plugin in Cheat Engine A
                         +-- authenticated loopback HTTP --> plugin in Cheat Engine B

Each enabled plugin starts a backend on 127.0.0.1 with an automatically assigned port and a fresh access token. It publishes a per-activation discovery record for the current Windows user. The gateway verifies the backend's identity and routes calls by the explicit instanceId returned by instance_list. It does not start Cheat Engine, select a process, or choose an instance for you. Documents and prompts remain available through the gateway even when Cheat Engine is closed.

The default setup needs no MCP settings file, fixed port, URL, API key, or second gateway per Cheat Engine process. Run the gateway and Cheat Engine under the same Windows user account.

Install and connect | First use | Multiple instances | Configuration | Troubleshooting | Build from source | Projects

Install and connect

1. Get the deployment files

Each packaged release uses CheatEngine.Mcp-<version>-win-x64.zip. The ZIP includes CheatEngine.Mcp.dll, the gateway executable, installation instructions, and licenses. Each release has one complete Windows x64 ZIP and SHA256SUMS.txt; separate plugin, skill, DLL, or EXE downloads are unnecessary. When upgrading, disable the plugin, close Cheat Engine and the gateway, and remove the old plugin entry. Replace the plugin DLL and gateway executable with the matching files from one build; do not mix versions. Then add CheatEngine.Mcp.dll as described below. An old folder deployment is no longer needed.

To build the same layout from source instead, run this from the repository root with .NET SDK 10.0.401, PowerShell 7, and the Windows C++ build tools required by Native AOT:

pwsh -NoProfile -File eng/Publish.ps1 -Configuration Release

The result is in artifacts/dist/release/:

Item	Purpose
CheatEngine.Mcp.dll	Cheat Engine plugin with its managed dependencies and native Lua bridge embedded by Costura/Fody.
CheatEngine.Mcp.Gateway.exe	Standalone Windows x64 MCP server launched by your AI client.
README.md	Installation and configuration instructions.
LICENSE and THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md	License and dependency notices for the distribution.