jadx-headless-mcp

Headless JADX Android decompiler exposed as a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server.

This npm package is a thin Node.js shim around the main project. On first run it downloads the platform-specific native binary (~52 MB) from the matching GitHub Release into your user cache, then exec()s it.

Quick start

npx -y jadx-headless-mcp@latest

Or wire it into Claude Code / Claude Desktop / any stdio MCP client. One config serves any APK — switch files by calling the load_apk MCP tool in conversation, no restart required:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "jadx": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "jadx-headless-mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code one-liner:

claude mcp add jadx -- npx -y jadx-headless-mcp@latest

Then in conversation: "Load /path/to/app.apk and show me the package tree." Claude calls load_apk → get_package_tree. To switch APKs later just say so — load_apk accepts a different path at any time.

⚠️ Pin @latest (or an explicit version) — bare npx jadx-headless-mcp reuses npx's cached version forever. npx does not re-check the registry on subsequent runs when no version tag is specified, so without @latest you'd be stuck on whichever version was first downloaded. If you've already installed the bare form and want to upgrade, clear the wrapper cache (%LOCALAPPDATA%\jadx-headless-mcp-npm on Windows, ~/.cache/jadx-headless-mcp-npm on Linux/macOS) and restart your MCP client.

Requirements

• Node.js 18+
• Java 11+ on PATH (or set JAVA_HOME) — the underlying binary spawns a JVM sidecar to drive JADX.
• tar on PATH — Windows 10 1803+, macOS, Linux all have it built in.

Supported platforms

| OS | Arch | Release asset | |---|---|---| | Linux | x86_64 | jadx-headless-mcp-linux-x86_64.tar.gz | | Linux | arm64 | jadx-headless-mcp-linux-arm64.tar.gz | | macOS | Intel | jadx-headless-mcp-macos-x86_64.tar.gz | | macOS | Apple Silicon | jadx-headless-mcp-macos-arm64.tar.gz | | Windows | x86_64 | jadx-headless-mcp-windows-x86_64.zip |

What the binary actually does

It speaks MCP over stdio, exposing 24 tools across 5 categories (classes / methods / resources / xrefs / renames). See the main README for the tool catalog, architecture diagram, and CLI flags.

Cache location

The downloaded binary lives at:

• Linux/macOS: ~/.cache/jadx-headless-mcp-npm/v<version>/
• Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\jadx-headless-mcp-npm\v<version>\

Delete the version directory to force a re-download.

License

Apache-2.0 (inherited from skylot/jadx).