SDR MCP Server

Listen to radio waves with a USB stick — controlled by AI or a web dashboard.

Software Defined Radio (SDR) turns RF into data your PC can plot and play. This repo is a Model Context Protocol server for RTL-SDR: live spectrum, waterfall, FM audio, station databases, and a GNU Radio demod sidecar. Works with Cursor, Claude Desktop, or the built-in React dashboard at http://127.0.0.1:11118/.

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Quick Start

git clone https://github.com/sandraschi/sdr-mcp
cd sdr-mcp
just

This opens an interactive dashboard showing all available commands. Run just bootstrap to install dependencies, then just serve or just dev to start.

Manual Setup

If you don't have just installed:

pip install sdr-mcp
sdr-mcp check          # needs RTL-SDR + WinUSB on Windows, or use mock mode
sdr-mcp serve          # STDIO for Claude Desktop

Windows + real dongle: replace the stick's DVB/TV USB driver with WinUSB via Zadig — see INSTALL.md. You are not replacing the hardware; only the driver Windows uses to talk to USB.

No dongle: mock mode activates automatically (SDR_MCP_MOCK=auto). FFT/waterfall still work. See MOCK_SDR.md.

For the web dashboard:

cd web_sota
npm install
npm run dev

Or double-click web_sota\start.bat.

Documentation

Document	What it covers
INSTALL.md	Full setup, drivers, configuration
ARCHITECTURE.md	System design, data flow, transport
MCP_SERVER.md	Portmanteau MCP tools with examples
SDR_TECHNOLOGY.md	Radio basics for beginners
RTL_SDR_V4.md	Recommended hardware specs
GNURADIO.md	GNU Radio sidecar (Docker + rtl_tcp)
HACKRF.md	HackRF TX licensing + hardware buying guide
MOCK_SDR.md	Synthetic IQ demo mode (no dongle)
OSCILLOSCOPE_MCP.md	USB oscilloscope MCP feasibility

New to SDR? Open the dashboard → Help (horizontal tabs) or read SDR_TECHNOLOGY.md.

GitHub topics

sdr · software-defined-radio · rtl-sdr · mcp · mcp-server · fastmcp · gnuradio · spectrum-analyzer · waterfall · websocket · python · react · docker

See .github/REPOSITORY.md for gh repo edit commands.

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Features

Hardware Control

• Auto-detect RTL-SDR devices, initialize and configure
• Mock IQ mode when no dongle — FFT/waterfall/WebSocket still work (MOCK_SDR.md)
• Set frequency (24 MHz — 1.766 GHz), gain (auto or manual)
• Real-time IQ sample capture and spectrum processing

Spectrum Analysis

• 2048-point FFT with Hamming window
• Peak detection and signal strength analysis
• Waterfall history (100 lines) for time-varying signals

GNU Radio Demod (sidecar)

• FM demod via Dockerized GNU Radio + rtl_tcp
• MCP tool sdr_gnuradio for start/stop/status
• HackRF path documented for future SoapySDR integration

Frequency Database

• 11 pre-loaded stations across LW/MW/SW/VHF bands
• Program schedules with current-playing info
• Online search via radio-browser.info (25k+ stations)

WebSocket Streaming

• Real-time spectrum broadcast to web clients

• Remote frequency/gain control via WebSocket commands

• Canvas-based spectrum and waterfall visualizations

• Web Dashboard — noob-friendly hero, tabbed Help, spectrum + waterfall + FM audio

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Hardware

Platform: Developed and tested on Windows (WinUSB via Zadig, fleet launchers, MCPB bundle). Core Python code may run on Linux with librtlsdr, but the dashboard launch scripts and MCPB manifest target Windows only.

Recommended: RTL-SDR Blog v4 (~$35)

• 24 MHz — 1.766 GHz continuous coverage
• 0.5 ppm TCXO for frequency stability
• SMA connector, aluminum enclosure, bias tee

Any RTL2832U-based SDR with R820T2 tuner works. See RTL_SDR_V4.md for full specs.

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Project Structure

sdr-mcp/
├── README.md              # This file
├── docs/                  # Documentation
│   ├── INSTALL.md         # Setup guide
│   ├── ARCHITECTURE.md    # System design
│   ├── MCP_SERVER.md      # Tool reference
│   ├── SDR_TECHNOLOGY.md  # Radio primer
│   └── RTL_SDR_V4.md      # Hardware specs
├── pyproject.toml         # Python package config
├── justfile               # Lint, fix, security recipes
├── start.ps1              # Launch backend + webapp
├── src/sdr_mcp/           # Python backend
│   ├── server.py          # FastMCP server, 17 tools
│   ├── capture.py         # RTL-SDR hardware interface
│   ├── processor.py       # FFT / spectrum processing
│   ├── frequency_db.py    # Station database
│   ├── online_db.py       # radio-browser.info API
│   ├── websocket_server.py # Real-time WebSocket stream
│   ├── transport.py       # STDIO / HTTP transport
│   └── cli.py             # Command-line interface
├── web_sota/              # React/TypeScript webapp
│   └── src/
│       ├── pages/         # Spectrum, Waterfall, Stations, etc.
│       └── components/    # Layout, UI components
└── tests/                 # Pytest test suite

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Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Protocol	FastMCP 3.4, MCP 2.14+
Backend	Python 3.12, asyncio
Hardware	pyrtlsdr, RtlSdr
Signal	numpy, scipy (FFT)
Streaming	websockets (RFC 6455)
Frontend	React 19, TypeScript, Vite
UI	Tailwind CSS, Radix UI, Lucide icons
Standards	Fleet SOTA, ruff, Biome, just

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License

MIT