IBKR MCP server

Updated: 2026-07-18 21:05 CEST

canary mcp is a local MCP server for Interactive Brokers portfolio analysis and trading research. It connects Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Zed, Continue, and other stdio MCP hosts to the machine already running IB Gateway or Trader Workstation (TWS).

Canary adds a local daemon, command line, and risk views around that MCP connection. The available data depends on the trader's IBKR subscriptions and the current market session; unavailable or stale inputs stay visible instead of being presented as current.

Install the Claude Desktop MCP Bundle or the canary binary, run it beside the local IBKR session, and use the typed tools for account, positions, quotes, calendars, options, scanners, breadth, gamma, regime, stress, and sizing context. The bundled MCP surface has no order-entry tools.

Best fit

• You want an IBKR MCP server that works locally through stdio.
• You already run IB Gateway or TWS and want Claude or another agent to analyze account and market context.
• You want a single Go binary instead of a Python bridge, Java jar, hosted broker proxy, or remote custody layer.
• You want portfolio intelligence, market research, risk checks, and controlled trading-workflow analysis before any separate execution step.

Install

Claude Desktop users should start with the MCP Bundle:

open https://github.com/osauer/canary/releases/latest/download/canary.mcpb

Open the .mcpb file with Claude Desktop, then fully quit and relaunch Claude while IB Gateway or TWS is running locally.

Claude Code users can install the plugin, which carries the canary skill, hooks, and MCP server config, then install the local binary:

/plugin marketplace add osauer/canary
/plugin install canary@canary

Shell, Cursor, Continue, Zed, and generic MCP users can install the binary:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/osauer/canary/main/install.sh | sh
canary setup claude-desktop

Generic MCP configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "canary": {
      "command": "/ABSOLUTE/PATH/TO/canary",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

What the MCP server exposes

• Account summary, buying power, cash, margin, daily P&L, positions, option legs, and Greek coverage.
• Snapshot stock and ETF quotes, daily history, previous close, and quote freshness.
• Official market calendars for US equities, US listed options, and Xetra.
• Option expiries, implied volatility, expected moves, strike grids, deltas, and open interest.
• Market scanners, fixed-fractional position sizing, S&P 500 breadth, SPY+SPX dealer gamma, broad-market regime lifecycle, and the canary_stress portfolio-aware stress-lifecycle tool.
• Streaming stock and ETF quote resources through canary://quote/{symbol}.

The full schema is in the MCP tools reference and MCP resources reference.

For a scheduled stress-monitoring workflow that returns lifecycle stage, readiness, confidence, source health, fingerprints, row table, and warnings, use examples/canary_portfolio_stress_prompt.md. It is intentionally narrow: it gives the decision surface and leaves notifications or escalation policy to your host workflow.

Current execution boundary

The current bundled CLI and MCP server expose analysis and sizing tools. They do not expose tools for placing, modifying, or cancelling Interactive Brokers orders. If a host asks to buy or sell securities through this MCP server, the correct answer is that the current public server has no order-entry interface.

Related pages

• Interactive Brokers MCP server for the broader setup guide.
• IBKR MCP TWS setup for a TWS-oriented install.
• IB Gateway MCP server for headless Gateway-oriented setup.
• Claude Desktop Interactive Brokers setup for the Claude MCPB path.
• Canary with Claude Code for plugin setup and safety boundaries.
• Portfolio review with Claude and IBKR for a prompt-driven portfolio review workflow.
• Read-only MCP server for the current safety boundary.