MCP Commander

Exposes Sublime Text to AI assistants (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.) via the Model Context Protocol. The MCP server is built directly into the ST plugin — no separate process or external dependency required.

63 tools covering reading, navigation, editing, searching, build, Terminus integration, settings, layout, menus, console log, and live Python scripting.

Architecture

The plugin runs two local servers on startup:

Server	Default port	Purpose
MCP SSE	9502 (Win) / 9503 (Mac/Linux)	MCP 2024-11-05 SSE transport — connect your agent here
HTTP bridge	9500 (Win) / 9501 (Mac/Linux)	Internal REST API used by the SSE dispatcher

Claude Code (MCP client)
        │  MCP SSE  (port 9502)
        ▼
  sublime_mcp.py  ←  ST plugin — MCP server + HTTP bridge, all in one file
        │  sublime API
        ▼
  Sublime Text 4

Installation

1. Install via Package Control

1. Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P)
2. Run Package Control: Install Package
3. Search for MCP Commander and install

The plugin loads automatically. Check View › Show Console for:

sublime-mcp: MCP SSE on 127.0.0.1:9502, HTTP bridge on 127.0.0.1:9500

Manual install: copy sublime_mcp.py (and optionally sublime_mcp_browse.py) into your Packages/User/ folder.

2. Register with Claude Code

Add to ~/.claude/settings.json under "mcpServers":

Windows:

"sublime-mcp": { "type": "sse", "url": "http://127.0.0.1:9502/sse" }

Mac / Linux:

"sublime-mcp": { "type": "sse", "url": "http://127.0.0.1:9503/sse" }

Restart Claude Code. Tools appear with the mcp__sublime-mcp__ prefix.

Server management

The MCP server starts automatically when ST loads the plugin. To stop or restart it, open the Command Palette and run:

MCP Commander: Server Status

The panel shows whether the server is running and on which port, and lets you start or stop it with a single keypress.

Tab and Sheet Indexing

IMPORTANT: Users refer to tabs by 1-based numbering (tab 1, tab 2, etc.), but get_sheets() returns 0-based indexes. Always convert user tab references before using:

• User tab 1 = index 0
• User tab 2 = index 1

When targeting a specific tab, call get_sheets() first to verify the index.

Tools

Read / Introspect

Tool	Description
get_active_file	Path, full content, cursor line/col, dirty flag, and syntax name
get_selection	Current selection(s): text and begin/end line+col for each
get_cursor_context	lines lines above and below cursor, with 1-based line numbers prepended
get_open_files	All files open in the current window (path, name, is_dirty)
get_sheets	All sheets (tabs) in the window by index — includes images and untitled buffers
get_sheet_content	Content of any tab by sheet index (from get_sheets)
get_project_folders	Project root folder paths
get_file_content	Full content of any already-open file by path
get_view_content	Full content of any open tab by name (partial match, case-insensitive)
get_view_size	Total character count of any open tab
get_view_chars	Text at character offsets begin..end (0-based, end exclusive)
get_view_phantoms	Phantom HTML and extracted plain text from a named view
get_output_panel	Text content of a named output panel (name='exec' for build output)
get_active_panel	Active panel id and, if it is an output panel, its content
get_symbols	All symbols (functions, classes, etc.) in the active file with line numbers
lookup_symbol	Find where a symbol is defined across all open files
get_project_data	Raw .sublime-project JSON for the current project
get_variables	ST build variables: $file, $project_path, $platform, etc.
get_command_palette	Command Palette entries from installed *.sublime-commands resources
get_commands	Runnable command ids from loaded command classes
get_menu_items	Menu items from *.sublime-menu resources
get_syntaxes	All syntax definitions available in ST (name + path)
get_scope_at_cursor	Full syntax scope string at the cursor position
get_word_at_cursor	Word under the cursor and its line/col
get_bookmarks	All bookmarked positions in the active file
get_line_count	Total number of lines in the active file
get_encoding	Character encoding of the active file
get_setting	A ST setting by key. scope='view' (default) or 'window'
get_layout	Current window layout (groups, cells) and which files are in each group

Navigate

Tool	Description
open_file	Open a file, optionally jumping to a specific line and column
goto_line	Move cursor to line (and optional column) in the active file
show_panel	Bring an output panel to the front. Default name='exec' for the build panel
focus_group	Move focus to a pane group by 0-based index

Edit

Tool	Description
str_replace_based_edit_tool	ST-native editor: str_replace, insert, create, view. Full undo, gutter diff, 30s highlight
replace_selection	Replace the current selection(s) with text
replace_lines	Replace lines begin..end (inclusive, 1-based) in the active file
insert_snippet	Insert at the cursor using ST snippet syntax
duplicate_line	Duplicate the current line(s)
toggle_comment	Toggle line comment, or block comment if block=True
sort_lines	Sort selected lines, or all lines if nothing is selected
select_lines	Select lines begin..end (1-based, inclusive)
fold_lines	Fold (collapse) lines begin..end in the active file
undo	Undo the last edit
redo	Redo the last undone edit
run_command	Run any ST command with optional args

Search

Tool	Description
find_in_file	Find all occurrences of a pattern in the active file
find_in_files	Search across project folders. Skips .git, __pycache__, node_modules, .venv

File / Project

Tool	Description
save_file	Save the active file (or a specific file by path)
save_all	Save all open files
close_file	Close a file by path, or the active file if path is omitted
revert_file	Revert the active file to its last saved state
add_folder	Add a folder to the current project
remove_folder	Remove a folder from the current project by path

Syntax / Encoding

Tool	Description
set_syntax	Set the syntax of the active file by name (case-insensitive partial match)
set_encoding	Set the character encoding of the active file

Settings / Window

Tool	Description
set_setting	Set a ST setting by key
toggle_sidebar	Show or hide the sidebar
set_layout	Set the window pane layout
set_status	Write a message to ST's status bar

Build

Tool	Description
run_build	Trigger the current build system, or pass cmd/shell_cmd for a custom command

Terminus Integration

Terminus is a popular ST terminal package. send_to_view is Terminus-aware: when targeting a Terminus tab it uses terminus_send_string to type text into the terminal session.

Tool	Description
send_to_view	Send text to any open tab. For Terminus tabs, types as if the user typed it. Include \n to execute

Scripting

Tool	Description
eval_python	Execute arbitrary Python in ST's main thread. Returns captured stdout in output
eval_python_latest	Execute Python in the system interpreter outside ST's sandbox
get_console_log	Recent ST console output. tail=N limits to last N entries
get_console_full	Entire captured ST console buffer since startup

Configuration

Ports

Server	Windows	Mac/Linux	Env var override
MCP SSE	9502	9503	SUBLIME_MCP_MCP_PORT
HTTP bridge	9500	9501	SUBLIME_MCP_PORT

Telling Claude how to use the tools

Add a section like this to your project's CLAUDE.md (or ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md):

## Sublime Text MCP tools

MCP Commander is connected. Prefer it over standard file tools when working in ST:

- Read files with `get_active_file` or `get_file_content` rather than the Read tool
- Edit with `str_replace_based_edit_tool` — edits appear live with gutter diff and undo
- Use `find_in_files` for project-wide search
- Use `send_to_view` to run commands in a Terminus terminal tab
- Use `eval_python` for one-off ST scripting (no plugin file needed)
- Check `get_console_log` when a plugin isn't behaving as expected

Tab indexing: `get_sheets()` returns 0-based indexes; users refer to tabs
1-based. Always call `get_sheets()` first when targeting a specific tab.

Security note

Both servers bind to 127.0.0.1 only and accept any request without authentication. Do not expose these ports to a network interface.

Requirements

• Sublime Text 4
• Terminus package (optional — only required for send_to_view on terminal tabs)

Known limitations

• No multi-window support — tools target the most recently focused ST window
• No image editing — get_sheet_content returns the path for image tabs, not pixel data
• No ST3 support — the plugin uses ST4 APIs throughout

Testing

The test suite requires Sublime Text to be running with sublime_mcp.py loaded.

cd /path/to/sublime-mcp
pip install httpx pytest
pytest tests/ -v

Contributing

Adding a tool:

1. Add a handler function in sublime_mcp.py (run via _on_main for ST API calls)
2. Add an entry to _MCP_TOOLS and the _GET / _POST routing dicts
3. Add a row to the Tools table in README.md

Good first issues:

• Multi-window support (sublime.windows() instead of sublime.active_window())
• get_diagnostics — expose LSP error/warning annotations
• set_bookmark / clear_bookmarks — write counterparts to get_bookmarks

Open an issue or PR on GitHub.