ed-mcp

ed-mcp connects Claude to Elite Dangerous. Claude can then read your commander data and plan with you.

With ed-mcp, Claude can:

• plan a ship build: the modules to buy, the engineering, the materials and the engineers to visit, and the route to all of them,
• model a ship build: jump range, power, defences and damage, and the effect of changes,
• work out which materials you are short of and the trades that cover them,
• find the best station for a module, ship or service, ranked by travel time and price,
• plan trade runs and loops, and find where to sell or buy a commodity,
• put the stops for your accepted missions in the best order,
• read your game journal for your location, ship, cargo, materials, missions and engineer progress.

Why use it

Inara, EDSM, Spansh, EDSY and the community wikis already have this data, and you can do all of this on their sites. ed-mcp does not replace them. It lets Claude use them together, with your game journal, in one conversation. Some commanders find it easier to ask a question in their own words than to use several sites.

ed-mcp runs on your computer. It keeps your plans and settings on your computer, or in a sync folder that you choose. It reads from Inara, EDSM, Frontier and Spansh, and it downloads game data from GitHub.

ed-mcp is not affiliated with Frontier Developments, Inara, EDSM or Spansh.

What you can ask

• "Here is my build from EDSY. Make a plan for the modules I need to buy or engineer. Tell me the materials I am short of and where to trade for them."
• "What jump range do I get if I fit a 5A FSD with grade 5 increased range?"
• "Where is the nearest Guardian technology broker?"
• "What do I need for grade 5 dirty drives?"
• "Find me a trade route from here. I have 400 t of cargo."
• "Where can I sell 200 t of gold near Atlas?"
• "Find me a trade loop from this station that I can run for an hour."
• "What does this station sell, and is anything cheap?"
• "Which modules can I buy at this outfitting?"
• "Plan the best order for my passenger missions."
• "Plan the route for my Corsair build plan."
• "From now on, ignore stations more than 2,000 ls from the star."

Install

Claude Desktop

1. Download ed-mcp-<version>.mcpb from the Releases page.
2. Open the file. Claude Desktop shows the ed-mcp settings form.
3. Fill in the fields for the services that you use (see Connect your accounts). All fields are optional.

To make sure that the file came from this project, run the GitHub CLI command below. It shows that the ed-mcp release workflow built the file from this repository. This command works for version 0.1.1 and later.

gh attestation verify ed-mcp-<version>.mcpb --repo pilotso11/ed-mcp

Claude Code

Run this command. Put your own values in place of <...>:

claude mcp add ed-mcp -s user \
  -e INARA_API_KEY=<key> -e INARA_CMDR=<commander name> \
  -e EDSM_API_KEY=<key> -e EDSM_CMDR=<commander name> \
  -- npx -y ed-mcp

• Keep ed-mcp directly after add. The -e options take every word after them until the --.
• Leave out the -e options for a service that you do not use.
• On a Mac, also add -e ED_JOURNAL_DIR=<folder> (see Your game journal).

Then start a new Claude Code session. To make sure that the server works, ask Claude "What is my journal status?".

Connect your accounts

Every account is optional. Without one, the tools for that service tell Claude which setting is missing. The game data, station search, route and plan tools work with no account.

| Service | What it gives Claude | What you need | | -------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Journal | Location, ship, cargo, materials, missions, engineers | The game journal folder (see below) | | Inara | Ranks, squadron, main ship, community goals | Your API key (inara.cz, Settings, Inara API) and commander name | | EDSM | Last known location, materials and cargo | Your API key (edsm.net, Settings, API Key) and commander name | | Frontier | Current ship with engineering, location and fleet | A Frontier login in your browser. No key is necessary. |

To log in to Frontier, ask Claude "Log me in to Frontier". Claude gives you a link. Open the link and sign in. Then tell Claude that you are done. The login lasts 25 days. If you log in to ed-mcp on another computer, the old login ends. With a sync folder and password, one login serves every computer.

Change your keys without a restart

Ask Claude "Open ed-mcp settings". ed-mcp opens a page in your browser. Enter your Inara and EDSM keys and commander names there, then press Save. The page explains where to find each key. The new keys apply at once.

Do not type a key into the chat. Use the page.

Keys that you set in Claude Desktop's settings form, or with -e in Claude Code, need a restart to change. They also win over keys that you saved on the page. To use the page for a service, leave that service's fields empty in the form.

To see where each key comes from, ask Claude "What are my ed-mcp settings?".

The game journal is the best source for most questions. It is on your computer and it is current while you play. Inara and EDSM show data from your last sync to them.

All settings

| Setting | Meaning | | ---------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | INARA_API_KEY | Your Inara API key | | INARA_CMDR | Your in-game commander name | | EDSM_API_KEY | Your EDSM API key | | EDSM_CMDR | Your commander name on EDSM | | ED_JOURNAL_DIR | The game journal folder. On Windows, the default is the game's folder. Use a full path or one that starts with ~. | | ED_MCP_SYNC_DIR | Optional. A folder that your sync service keeps in step between computers (see Use ed-mcp on more than one computer). | | ED_MCP_SYNC_PASSWORD | Optional. At least 12 characters. Encrypts your API keys and Frontier login. Use the same password on every computer. |

Inara needs both of its settings. EDSM needs both of its settings.

Your game journal

Elite Dangerous writes a journal while you play. ed-mcp reads it and never changes it.

If Claude runs on your gaming PC, ed-mcp finds the journal by itself. The folder is %USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous. If Windows moved your Saved Games folder (for example, into OneDrive), set ED_JOURNAL_DIR to the real folder.

If Claude runs on a Mac, copy the journal to the Mac with Syncthing:

1. Install Syncthing on the PC and on the Mac (syncthing.net).
2. On the PC, add the folder %USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous. Set the folder type to Send Only.
3. Pair the two devices. Share the folder with the Mac.
4. On the Mac, accept the folder into a local folder, for example ~/EliteDangerous. Set the folder type to Receive Only.
5. Set ED_JOURNAL_DIR to that folder. In Claude Desktop, use the Journal folder field.
6. Ask Claude "What is my journal status?". While you play, the newest journal is a few minutes old.

Do not share %LOCALAPPDATA%\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous. That folder has the same name, but it holds only the game's settings. If you share it by mistake, the journal status tells you.

The game also writes Market.json, Outfitting.json and Shipyard.json to the same folder when you open those screens. ed-mcp reads them to show what the station you last opened sells, with current prices.

The journal tools warn you when the newest entry is more than 30 minutes old. Then the game is not running, or Syncthing has stopped.

Plans

Claude can save plans for you, for example a ship build with its modules, engineering and materials. Ask Claude to add items, mark them done, or export the plan as a Markdown file. To keep a plan in a project folder, export it as JSON and import it again later with plan_import. The plans stay in plans.json, in the sync folder if you set one and in the settings folder if not (see Your data).

Use ed-mcp on more than one computer

Set a sync folder, and your plans and preferences follow you. Pick a folder that Google Drive, iCloud Drive, OneDrive or Syncthing keeps in step. In Claude Desktop, use the Sync folder field. In Claude Code, set ED_MCP_SYNC_DIR. Use the same folder on every computer.

What syncs:

• Plans and preferences always sync, in the sync folder.
• Your API keys and Frontier login sync only when you also set a sync password. ed-mcp encrypts them with it. Without a password, they stay on each computer.
• The cache and the journal do not sync. Each computer keeps its own.

The password must be at least 12 characters. Use the same password on every computer. A computer with a different password cannot read the keys.

If two computers change the same file before the sync service catches up, the service keeps both. It saves one as a "conflict copy". ed-mcp tells Claude when it sees one. Ask Claude "What is my ed-mcp settings status?", then keep the copy that you want and delete the other.

If the sync folder is not available (for example, your sync app is stopped), the plan and preference tools fail with a clear message. They do not fall back to a local copy. Searches that use your stored preferences also need the folder. Pass use_preferences: false to search without them.

ed-mcp also writes each plan as a Markdown file in the plans folder inside the sync folder. Claude on your phone cannot run ed-mcp, but it can read these files through the Google Drive connector.

Claude Desktop and Claude Code on the same computer share ed-mcp's data only when both have the same sync settings. Give Claude Code the same values as Claude Desktop:

claude mcp add ed-mcp -s user \
  -e ED_MCP_SYNC_DIR=<folder> -e ED_MCP_SYNC_PASSWORD=<password> \
  -- npx -y ed-mcp

Keys that you save on the settings page are then shared by both apps, with no restart. If the apps do not agree, the settings status tells Claude.

Upgrading from 0.3

Newer versions keep your Frontier login with your other secrets. They do not move a login or keys from version 0.3. Run capi_login again, and enter your keys again, either on the settings page or in the environment as before. Then delete the old capi-token.json from the settings folder.

The ED_MCP_PLANS setting is no longer used. Plans are now in plans.json in the settings folder, or in the sync folder when one is set. Move your old plans file there, or use plan_import, then remove ED_MCP_PLANS.

Preferences

ed-mcp ranks stations by travel time and price. Your preferences control which stations it uses. To change a preference, tell Claude, for example "Avoid surface stations" or "My time is worth 50M credits an hour". The change stays for future sessions. For one question only, say so: "Just this once, include fleet carriers."

| Preference | Default | | -------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Distance from the star | Up to 1,000 ls. A station further out is used only when no other matches. | | Surface stations | Avoided. They are used only when no orbital station matches. | | Fleet carriers | Excluded | | Megaships | Allowed | | Landing pad size | Taken from your current ship | | Permit-locked systems | Excluded, for example Sol. Tell Claude when you hold a permit. | | Jump range | Taken from your current ship (85% of its best range) | | Value of your time | 20M credits an hour |

The value of your time decides between a cheap station far away and a dearer one nearby. At 20M credits an hour, one extra minute of travel is worth about 333,000 credits.

The travel times come from about 1,300 timed trips in a commander's journals, flown with supercruise assist. If you fly faster, tell Claude "I fly about 40% faster in supercruise". For all the details, see the tool reference.

Limits

• Station, market and trade data come from Spansh. Market prices can be some hours or days old. The results show the age of each price. Spansh gets prices from EDDN, so a market that you open while you run a tool such as EDMC reaches Spansh within minutes.
• Trade routes and first-time mission routes can take a minute or more. If Spansh is still working, Claude asks again.
• Trade routes go one way. Trade loops use two or three stations and one commodity on each leg. Their scores use one price snapshot, and prices fall as you repeat a loop.
• ed-mcp cannot see the mission board. It plans routes only for missions that you accepted.
• Material plans ignore the storage limit for each material grade.

Your data

ed-mcp keeps these files on your computer:

| Data | File | | ---------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Plans | plans.json, and a Markdown copy of each plan in plans | | Preferences | preferences.json | | API keys and Frontier login | secrets.enc with a sync password, secrets.json without. Readable only by you | | Game data and cached results | The cache folder |

Plans, preferences and secrets.enc are in the sync folder when you set one. Otherwise they are in the settings folder. secrets.json is always in the settings folder. The cache folder is always on the computer.

The files are in these folders:

| System | Settings folder | Cache folder | | ------- | ------------------------------ | ---------------------------------- | | macOS | ~/Library/Preferences/ed-mcp | ~/Library/Caches/ed-mcp | | Windows | %APPDATA%\ed-mcp\Config | %LOCALAPPDATA%\ed-mcp\Cache | | Linux | ~/.config/ed-mcp | ~/.cache/ed-mcp |

ed-mcp sends your API keys only to the service that they belong to. On first use, it downloads game data from the coriolis-data and FDevIDs projects on GitHub: modules, blueprints and materials, and the ship and module data for build statistics. Then it looks for new versions once a week. To get new data at once, ask Claude to refresh the game data.

ed-mcp checks GitHub once a day for a newer release and tells Claude when one is available.

More information

• Tool reference: what each tool does, its inputs and its results.
• Privacy: what ed-mcp reads, what it sends, and to whom.
• Contributing: development, releases and service registrations.

Acknowledgements

• Coriolis (coriolis.io, GitHub): build_stats ports the Coriolis ship calculations for jump range, power, speed, shields, armour and weapon damage. The Coriolis test builds check our results. Thank you to Colin McLeod and the Coriolis contributors. The Coriolis code is MIT licensed. NOTICE holds its licence, and we credit it here too.
• coriolis-data (EDCD): the ship, module and blueprint data. ed-mcp downloads it at run time. The data is the intellectual property of Frontier Developments.
• EDCD FDevIDs (GitHub): the material and outfitting names.
• EliteDangerousCore (EDDiscovery): the engineer table, under the Apache-2.0 licence (see NOTICE).
• Spansh, Inara and EDSM: the services that ed-mcp reads from.
• The Elite Dangerous community wikis (Alioth): the material trader rules.
• Elite Dangerous is a trademark of Frontier Developments plc. ed-mcp is not affiliated with Frontier Developments.

Licence

MIT. See NOTICE for third-party data.