MCP Bridge

MCP Bridge (AI-Ready) (BETA)

The ESP32 NAT Router includes an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server (esp_nat_bridge.py) that allows AI assistants like Claude to configure and monitor the router programmatically. The bridge connects to the router's remote console via telnet and exposes tools covering all router functionality, including live network capture with tcpdump analysis.

Prerequisites

pip install fastmcp telnetlib3

The router must have the remote console enabled with a password set:

set_router_password mypassword
remote_console enable

Configuration

Set environment variables to point the bridge at your router:

export ESP_NAT_HOST=192.168.4.1     # Router IP address (default)
export ESP_NAT_PORT=2323            # Remote console port (default)
export ESP_NAT_PASSWORD=mypassword  # Remote console password

Running

# stdio mode (for MCP clients like Claude Code)
python esp_nat_bridge.py

# HTTP transport
python esp_nat_bridge.py --transport streamable-http --port 8000

Claude Code Integration

Add the bridge to your Claude Code MCP settings (~/.claude/claude_desktop_config.json or project .mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "esp32-router": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["esp_nat_bridge.py"],
      "env": {
        "ESP_NAT_HOST": "192.168.4.1",
        "ESP_NAT_PASSWORD": "mypassword"
      }
    }
  }
}

Available Tools

Category	Tools	Description
Status	show_status, show_config, show_mappings, show_acl	View router state and configuration
Info	get_heap_info, get_version, get_byte_counts, wifi_scan, ping	System info and diagnostics
WiFi STA	set_sta, set_sta_static, set_sta_mac	Upstream WiFi configuration (incl. WPA2-Enterprise)
WiFi AP	set_ap, set_ap_ip, set_ap_dns, set_ap_mac, set_ap_hidden	Access point configuration
DHCP	add_dhcp_reservation, delete_dhcp_reservation	Fixed IP assignments by MAC
Port Forwarding	add_portmap, delete_portmap	NAT port mapping rules (STA or VPN interface)
Firewall	acl_add, acl_delete, acl_clear, acl_clear_stats	ACL rule management
PCAP	pcap_set_mode, pcap_status, pcap_set_snaplen	Packet capture control
Network Trace	network_trace	Live capture with local tcpdump analysis
Network	set_ttl, get_ttl, reset_byte_counts	TTL override, byte counters
System	restart	Device management
Raw	raw_command	Send any CLI command directly (disabled)