ellmos ControlCenter MCP

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 Claude 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.

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: 0.1.0-alpha.6
• 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

| Tool | Purpose | |---|---| | controlcenter_status | Show stack, profile, and detected-server status | | controlcenter_get_language | Show the current ControlCenter output language | | controlcenter_set_language | Set the ControlCenter output language for this running server instance | | controlcenter_list_local_servers | Scan local MCP repositories below the MCP root | | controlcenter_list_tools | Start local or profile-defined MCP servers and read their real list_tools output | | controlcenter_assign_tool_bundles | Assign probed MCP tools to capability bundles | | controlcenter_list_bundles | Group local servers by capability bundle | | controlcenter_suggest_bundles | Recommend bundles for a task | | controlcenter_list_profiles | List Claude profiles from the profile root | | controlcenter_suggest_profile | Recommend a profile for a task | | controlcenter_resolve_profile | Resolve a profile including extends chains | | controlcenter_switch_profile | Prepare a generated --mcp-config file | | controlcenter_audit_profile | Run initial policy checks against a profile | | controlcenter_build_catalog | Build a JSON catalog of local MCP servers, optionally including tool probes |

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.

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

Claude Desktop / Claude Code

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_PROFILE_ROOT overrides the Claude profile directory
• ELLMOS_BUNDLE_CONFIG overrides the capability bundle definition file
• ELLMOS_POLICY_CONFIG overrides the profile audit policy rule file
• 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 Claude session. It creates a resolved MCP configuration and returns a launch command:

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.

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

| For... | Read... | |---|---| | Quick start | START.md | | Current state | STATE.md | | Architecture | ARCHITECTURE.md | | Roadmap | ROADMAP.md | | Decisions | DECISIONS.md | | Open tasks | TODO.md | | Changes | CHANGELOG.md | | LLM crawler summary | llms.txt |

ellmos-ai Ecosystem

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

MCP Server Family

| Server | Tools | Focus | npm | |--------|-------|-------|-----| | FileCommander | 43 | Filesystem, process management, interactive sessions | ellmos-filecommander-mcp | | CodeCommander | 17 | Code analysis, AST parsing, import management | ellmos-codecommander-mcp | | Clatcher | 12 | File repair, format conversion, batch operations | ellmos-clatcher-mcp | | n8n Manager | 18 | n8n workflow management via AI assistants | n8n-manager-mcp | | ControlCenter | 14 | MCP stack discovery, profile management, control plane | ellmos-controlcenter-mcp |

AI Infrastructure

| Project | Description | |---------|-------------| | BACH | Text-based OS for LLMs: handlers, tools, and skills | | clutch | Provider-neutral LLM orchestration with auto-routing and budget tracking | | rinnsal | Lightweight agent memory, connectors, and automation infrastructure | | ellmos-stack | Self-hosted AI research stack |

License

MIT - Lukas Geiger (ellmos-ai)