MCP Server for WinDbg Crash Analysis

A Model Context Protocol server that bridges AI models with WinDbg for crash dump analysis, user-mode remote debugging, and kernel debugging.

Overview

This server drives the Windows debuggers - CDB for user mode (dumps and -remote) and KD for kernel targets (-k) - so you can debug in natural language: "Show me the call stack and explain this access violation" or "Open a kernel session and tell me which driver bugchecked."

It is not a magical auto-fix. It is a Python wrapper around cdb.exe / kd.exe that lets an LLM run real debugger commands and reason about the output.

Features

• Crash dump analysis - open a .dmp/.mdmp/.hdmp and get automated triage (!analyze -v, stacks, modules, threads) in a single call.
• User-mode remote debugging - attach to a live cdb/WinDbg debug server (-remote) over TCP, a named pipe, or COM, and break in on demand.
• Kernel debugging - attach to a kernel target (-k, driven by kd.exe) over KDNET, a named pipe, or serial; the server waits for the target and breaks in for you.
• Run any WinDbg/KD command - drive an open session with arbitrary commands (kb, !process 0 0, !heap, lm, ...) described in natural language.
• Session ids - every open returns a session id; several sessions (dumps, remote, kernel) can be open at once and are addressed independently.
• Resilient live sessions - per-call timeouts, and a slow live command that outruns its timeout is broken into with CTRL+BREAK and the session resynchronized instead of wedging.
• Multi-dump triage - discover and compare many dumps across a directory.
• Text filter hooks - a --filter-script can redact PII/secrets from tool arguments and output before they leave the machine.
• stdio or HTTP - run locally over stdio, or as a streamable-HTTP service you drive from another machine.

Use cases

You have	You want to	Guide
A .dmp from a crash	Root-cause it: exception, faulting frame, why it happened	Analyze a crash dump
A live user-mode process (via cdb -server)	Break in and inspect a hang or live state	Debug a remote target
A KD-enabled machine or VM	Debug drivers, bugchecks, and boot-time issues	Debug a kernel target
A folder full of dumps	Triage the batch and find the common signature	Triage multiple dumps
A debugging host, but you work elsewhere	Drive it over HTTP from another machine	Debug from another machine
Dumps with secrets or PII	Scrub tool output before it leaves the box	Redact sensitive data

Tools

Every open_* tool returns an opaque session_id (e.g. cdb-1a2b3c4d); pass it to the matching run_*, close_*, and send_ctrl_break calls. User-mode targets (dumps and -remote) run under cdb.exe; kernel targets run under kd.exe.

Tool	Purpose
list_dumps	List crash dump files in a directory
open_cdb_dump	Open and triage a crash dump
open_cdb_remote	Attach to a user-mode remote debug server (-remote)
open_kd_session	Attach to a kernel target (-k, KDNET / named pipe / serial)
run_cdb_command	Run a command on a user-mode session
run_kd_command	Run a command on a kernel session
close_cdb_session	Close a user-mode session
close_kd_session	Close a kernel session (resumes the target machine)
send_ctrl_break	Break into a running live session

Parameters, timeouts, and the built-in triage prompts are in the tools reference.

Quick start

Prerequisites

• Windows with Debugging Tools for Windows or WinDbg from the Microsoft Store, which ship cdb.exe and kd.exe (auto-detected).
• Python 3.10 or higher.
• Any MCP-compatible client (Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, ...).

[!TIP] In enterprise environments, MCP server usage might be restricted by organizational policies. Check with your IT team about AI tool usage and ensure you have the necessary permissions before proceeding.

Install

pip install mcp-windbg

Configure your client. The two most common setups are below; see the client configuration guide for Claude Desktop, Copilot CLI, Autohand Code, HTTP, and from-source.

Claude Code - register the server from the command line:

claude mcp add mcp-windbg -s user -e _NT_SYMBOL_PATH="SRV*C:\Symbols*https://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols" -- python -m mcp_windbg

VS Code (GitHub Copilot) - press F1 and select MCP: Open User Configuration to enable it in every workspace:

{
    "servers": {
        "mcp_windbg": {
            "type": "stdio",
            "command": "python",
            "args": ["-m", "mcp_windbg"],
            "env": {
                "_NT_SYMBOL_PATH": "SRV*C:\\Symbols*https://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols"
            }
        }
    }
}

Restart your client, then start debugging:

Analyze the crash dump at C:\dumps\app.dmp
Connect to tcp:Port=5005,Server=192.168.0.100 and show me the current thread state
Open a kernel session on net:port=50000,key=1.2.3.4, run !analyze -v, and tell me which driver bugchecked

Server options (--cdb-path, --kd-path, --symbols-path, --filter-script, --transport, ...) are documented in the command-line reference.

Documentation

svnscha.github.io/mcp-windbg

Topic	Description
Getting started	Setup and your first crash dump analysis
Analyze a crash dump	Root-cause an exception: faulting frame, why it happened
Debug a remote target	Break into a live user-mode process and inspect a hang
Debug a kernel target	Drivers, bugchecks, and boot-time issues over KDNET or a pipe
Triage multiple dumps	Scan a folder and find the common signature
Debug from another machine	Run the server over HTTP and drive it remotely
Redact sensitive data	Scrub secrets from tool output before it leaves the box
Reference	Tools, prompts, CLI options, and client configuration
Troubleshooting	Common issues and solutions
Development	Run from a local checkout and point a client at the dev build

Blog

Read about the development journey: The Future of Crash Analysis: AI Meets WinDbg

• Reddit: I taught Copilot to analyze Windows Crash Dumps
• Hackernews: AI Meets WinDbg

License

MIT