Bitrise Dev Environments MCP Server

MCP Server for Bitrise Dev Environments, enabling AI assistants to create and manage remote development sessions from templates, execute commands, transfer files, and interact with macOS GUIs.

Features

• Template-Based or Template-less Sessions: Create sessions from templates that define a stack, startup scripts, template variables, and session inputs, or create them without a template by supplying a stack and machine type directly. Manage templates and saved input credentials.
• Session Lifecycle: Create, list, start, stop, update, and delete sessions. Bulk-delete terminated sessions.
• Command Execution: Run shell commands on running sessions over SSH in a forced-interactive login shell (bash -i -l -c), so the template's PATH, brew tools, git-lfs, and language version managers are all visible. Local SSH agent is forwarded so git-over-SSH uses the caller's keys.
• File Transfer: Upload local files/folders to sessions and download artifacts back.
• GUI Automation (macOS only): Interact with the session's graphical display via screenshots, mouse clicks, keyboard input, scrolling, and drag operations.
• Remote Access: Open SSH and VNC connections to running sessions.

Quickstart (hosted, OAuth)

The fastest way to start — no install, no token. A hosted version runs over HTTP with OAuth; you sign in with your Bitrise account in the browser on first use. In Claude Code:

claude mcp add --transport http bitrise-dev-environments https://mcp-rde.bitrise.io

Run /mcp and authenticate. (Add --scope user to make it available across projects.) Any client that supports remote MCP servers with OAuth can point at the same URL — see the per-client guides under Installation.

The hosted server covers most tools, but not all. File transfer (bitrise_devenv_upload / bitrise_devenv_download) is local-only — it bridges your own machine's filesystem — and bitrise_devenv_execute works but without local SSH-agent forwarding. For the full toolset, use the local install (the "Local" setup in each guide below).

Choosing a workspace

Session, template, and machine tools operate within a single workspace, resolved in this order:

1. a workspace_id argument on the tool call (e.g. ask the assistant to "use workspace <id>");
2. an x-bitrise-workspace-id header on the connection — useful for automation when the workspace is known up front: claude mcp add --transport http --header "x-bitrise-workspace-id: <slug>" bitrise-dev-environments https://mcp-rde.bitrise.io;
3. auto-detected when you belong to exactly one workspace.

Use bitrise_devenv_list_workspaces to discover your workspace IDs.

Installation

Each guide covers the hosted (OAuth) setup first — recommended and fastest — and the local (Go) setup for the full toolset:

• VS Code - VS Code IDE
• GitHub Copilot in other IDEs - JetBrains, Visual Studio, Eclipse, and Xcode with GitHub Copilot
• Claude Applications - Claude Desktop and Claude Code CLI
• Cursor - Cursor IDE
• Windsurf - Windsurf IDE
• Gemini CLI - Gemini CLI

Configuration (local install)

Variable	Required	Description
BITRISE_TOKEN	Yes	Personal access token or dev token
BITRISE_WORKSPACE_ID	Recommended	Bitrise workspace ID (slug) for workspace-scoped API calls. If omitted and you belong to exactly one workspace, it is auto-detected; with multiple workspaces it is required.
BITRISE_API_BASE_URL	No	Backend API base URL (default: https://codespaces-api.services.bitrise.io)
LOG_LEVEL	No	debug, info (default), warn, error

Transports

The server runs over stdio (above) for local use. It can also run over HTTP with OAuth for a hosted deployment — set ADDR (e.g. 0.0.0.0:8000) to switch transports. In HTTP mode BITRISE_TOKEN must not be set; clients authenticate per-request via OAuth (or an Authorization bearer header), and the workspace comes from the x-bitrise-workspace-id header (or auto-detection). OAuth is enabled by setting EXTERNAL_OAUTH_ISSUER, OIDC_TOKEN_ENDPOINT, and SERVER_BASE_URL. The file-transfer tools (upload/download) are local-only and are hidden on the hosted server.

Available Tools

User

Tool	Description
bitrise_devenv_me	Get the currently authenticated Bitrise user information

Session Lifecycle

Tool	Description
bitrise_devenv_list	List sessions with their status, name, labels, owner, and template info; filterable server-side by key=value label selectors, and scopeable to your own sessions (default) or workspace-owned sessions
bitrise_devenv_get	Get details of a specific session including status, machine info, and SSH/VNC credentials
bitrise_devenv_create	Create a new session, either from a template (with template ID, session inputs, and feature flags) or without one by supplying a stack and machine type directly; optionally attach key/value labels
bitrise_devenv_update	Update a session's name, description, or labels
bitrise_devenv_restore	Restore a terminated (or failed/drained) session
bitrise_devenv_terminate	Terminate a running session (stops the VM, keeping the session for later restart)
bitrise_devenv_delete	Permanently delete a session
bitrise_devenv_delete_terminated	Delete all terminated sessions in the chosen scope (your own by default, or workspace-owned)
bitrise_devenv_list_session_notifications	List notifications for a session (e.g., agent stopped, permission prompt). Supports pagination and polling via timestamp cursors.

Templates

Tool	Description
bitrise_devenv_list_templates	List all available templates
bitrise_devenv_get_template	Get template details including scripts, stack, template variables, session inputs, and feature flags
bitrise_devenv_create_template	Create a new template with stack, machine type, scripts, and inputs
bitrise_devenv_update_template	Update an existing template
bitrise_devenv_delete_template	Delete a template

Saved Inputs

Tool	Description
bitrise_devenv_list_saved_inputs	List all saved inputs (credentials/values)
bitrise_devenv_get_saved_input	Get details of a specific saved input
bitrise_devenv_create_saved_input	Create a new saved input (key/value, optionally secret)
bitrise_devenv_update_saved_input	Update an existing saved input value
bitrise_devenv_delete_saved_input	Delete a saved input

Stacks & Machine Types

Tool	Description
bitrise_devenv_list_stacks	List available stacks (with title, OS, and status) for templates and sessions
bitrise_devenv_list_machine_types	List available machine types for templates

Workspace Usage

Tool	Description
bitrise_devenv_get_workspace_usage	Snapshot of active sessions and vCPU/memory totals, split by OS, workspace-wide and per user (requires billing-view permission)

Command & File Operations

Tool	Description
bitrise_devenv_execute	Run shell commands on a running session over SSH (bash -i -l -c, full login shell, local SSH agent forwarded). Returns {exit_code, stdout, stderr} JSON.
bitrise_devenv_upload	Upload local files/folders to a session
bitrise_devenv_download	Download files/folders from a session

GUI Interaction (macOS only)

Tool	Description
bitrise_devenv_screenshot	Capture the session's macOS display (1920x1080 resolution)
bitrise_devenv_click	Click at coordinates on the display (left/right/middle, single/double)
bitrise_devenv_mouse_drag	Drag the mouse between two points
bitrise_devenv_type	Type text as keyboard input
bitrise_devenv_scroll	Scroll up/down at the current mouse position

Prefer bitrise_devenv_execute over GUI tools when the action is scriptable. Opening a System Settings pane, launching an app, navigating a menu, or checking frontmost window state is one deterministic execute call — open "x-apple.systempreferences:<pane-id>", open -a <app>, osascript ..., or defaults read/write — versus a screenshot + coordinate-estimation + click chain. Fall back to the GUI tools only when no scriptable path exists (e.g. a third-party app's custom canvas).

osascript timeout safety net: common automations (Automation / Accessibility / Screen Recording) are pre-approved on session images, so osascript normally runs without a prompt. But an uncommon action could still trigger a TCC permission dialog, and with no human to click "Allow" the command will hang until the 2-minute execute cap. Wrap osascript calls in a short timeout, e.g. timeout 15s osascript -e '...', so you fail fast and can fall back to GUI tools.

Remote Access

Tool	Description
bitrise_devenv_open_remote_access	Open SSH/VNC remote access tunnel and get connection details

Usage Notes

Sessions & Templates

• Template-based or template-less: Sessions can be created from a template that defines the stack, startup scripts, template variables, and session inputs, or without a template by supplying a stack and machine type directly (a base environment with no warmup/startup scripts)
• Session inputs: When creating a session, provide values for session inputs (either direct values or references to saved inputs for secrets)
• Stopped sessions: Stopped (terminated) sessions can be restarted later
• Always check first: Call bitrise_devenv_list before creating to reuse existing sessions

Command Execution

• Execution path: Commands run over a direct SSH connection from the MCP server to the session VM, invoked as bash -i -l -c <cmd>. Both login (-l) and interactive (-i) modes are forced so /etc/profile, ~/.bash_profile/~/.profile, and ~/.bashrc are all sourced fully — PATH, brew-installed binaries, git-lfs, and language version managers (nvm, pyenv, rbenv, asdf) are available.
• Structured output: Results come back as a JSON object with exit_code, stdout, and stderr fields. exit_code is the source of truth for success/failure.
• Bash startup diagnostics: Because -i is used without a TTY, bash emits two harmless lines to stderr on every invocation (cannot set terminal process group, no job control in this shell). These are not errors from the user's command and can be ignored.
• SSH agent forwarding: If the MCP host has a running local SSH agent (SSH_AUTH_SOCK set), it is forwarded into the remote session. Remote commands like git push git@github.com:..., git clone git@..., and ssh some-other-host authenticate with the caller's local keys — no per-session credential setup required.
• Timeout: Commands have a 2-minute execution limit.
• Bash features: Pipes, redirects, command chaining, and subshells all work as expected.
• No file transfers via execute: Use the dedicated upload/download tools instead.
• DNS-related dial failures: Session SSH hostnames are dynamic tunnel addresses whose DNS answer depends on which resolver is asked — the local/automatic resolver can return an IP that's unreachable from the caller's network even though a public resolver (1.1.1.1 / 8.8.8.8) would return a reachable one. If the SSH dial fails with either an outright DNS lookup error or a dial timeout, the tool result includes a hint suggesting the caller switch this machine's DNS resolver to a public one — verified against a live session where switching from automatic to 1.1.1.1/8.8.8.8 DNS was the actual fix. Other dial failures (e.g. connection refused) are returned as-is.

File Transfer

• Upload: Local files/folders are compressed to tar.gz, uploaded via signed URL, then extracted on the session
• Download: Remote files/folders are archived, downloaded via signed URL, then extracted locally

Screen Resolution

• 1920x1080: macOS GUI operations use 1920x1080 screen resolution
• Coordinate system: Click and drag coordinates must be in the actual screen coordinate space (1920x1080), not in screenshot image pixel coordinates