zopen

zopen-mcp-server is a Go-based MCP server that exposes the zopen and zopen-generate toolchains to run on a local machine or remotely over SSH to a z/OS system. It makes the zopen commands available as MCP tools that can be invoked by any MCP-compatible client, enabling remote execution on z/OS or local execution on your workstation. The server also supports generating zopen-compatible project structures, querying metadata about licenses, categories, and build systems, and building zopen projects with detailed output. You can use either local mode (the server runs on your machine) or remote mode (the server delegates command execution to a z/OS host via SSH). The available tools include a suite of zopen commands (e.g., zopen_list, zopen_query, zopen_install, zopen_build) and zopen-generate commands (e.g., zopen_generate, zopen_generate_list_licenses, zopen_generate_list_build_systems), each exposed through the MCP interface for easy scripting and automation.

Prerequisites:

• Go 1.23 or later installed on your system
• Either a local environment with zopen and (optionally) zopen-generate installed, or access to a remote z/OS host with zopen tooling

Option A: Install with go install (recommended)

1. Install the MCP server binary globally:

go install github.com/zopencommunity/zopen-mcp-server@latest

2. Ensure the Go bin directory is in your PATH (commonly ~/go/bin). You can verify by running:

which zopen-mcp-server

Option B: Build from source

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/zopencommunity/zopen-mcp-server.git
cd zopen-mcp-server

2. Build the server:

# Build a local binary named zopen-mcp-server
go build -o zopen-mcp-server zopen-server.go

3. Optionally install via make (if the project provides a Makefile):

make build

Running the server locally:

zopen-mcp-server

Running with remote/SSH mode is described in the configuration section below.

Tips and common considerations:

• In local mode, ensure ~/go/bin is in your PATH so the binary can be invoked from any shell.
• In remote mode, provide SSH connection details in the MCP configuration to execute zopen commands on the target z/OS system.
• The server communicates over stdio by default, which keeps the MCP channel isolated when launched by a parent application.
• If you enable debug logging, you can set the DEBUG environment variable (e.g., "DEBUG": "1") in the MCP configuration to gain more insight into tool usage and command execution.
• For enhanced agent guidance, you can include an AGENTS.md in your context as described in the README to tailor porting workflows for your environment.
• Ensure prerequisites (Go and zopen tooling) are installed in the environment where the server runs. For remote mode, the remote host must have the necessary zopen tooling and appropriate SSH access.