AI assistants (MCP)

MDM comes with an MCP server, misterdownloadmanager-mcp, so an AI assistant that supports MCP (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code and others) can work with the downloads in your running MDM. You ask in your own words:

• "What is MDM downloading right now, and how long is left?"
• "Download https://example.com/big.iso to D:\ISOs tonight, don't start it yet."
• "Pause everything that's downloading."
• "Remove the finished downloads from the list but keep the files."

The assistant starts the server itself; you only tell the assistant where it is, once. The server passes each request to the app through its automation API, on this computer only.

What the assistant can do

The assistant can't change MDM's options, see your browser, or turn the automation API on by itself.

Set it up

1. Turn on the automation API

Listing and acting on downloads needs MDM's automation API, which is off until you turn it on. With MDM running, run this once (it stays on):

misterdownloadmanager-cli api on

misterdownloadmanager-cli api off turns it off again. Without the API, the assistant can still add downloads, the same as MDM's command line.

2. Find the server

misterdownloadmanager-mcp is next to the app:

A portable copy's server finds the portable copy's MDM by itself, from its own folder.

3. Tell your assistant

Claude Desktop: Settings → Developer → Edit Config opens claude_desktop_config.json. Add the server, then restart Claude Desktop:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "misterdownloadmanager": {
      "command": "C:\\Users\\you\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Mister Download Manager\\misterdownloadmanager-mcp.exe"
    }
  }
}

Claude Code:

claude mcp add misterdownloadmanager -- "C:\Users\you\AppData\Local\Programs\Mister Download Manager\misterdownloadmanager-mcp.exe"

Cursor: the same mcpServers entry as Claude Desktop's, in ~/.cursor/mcp.json (or add it in Cursor's MCP settings).

VS Code: in .vscode/mcp.json, or MCP: Add Server in the command palette:

{
  "servers": {
    "misterdownloadmanager": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "C:\\Users\\you\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Mister Download Manager\\misterdownloadmanager-mcp.exe"
    }
  }
}

Use the path from step 2 (in JSON, every \ is written \\). Other assistants take the same thing: a command to start, no arguments.

Privacy

MDM itself still sends nothing anywhere: the server talks only to the MDM on this computer, over the token-protected local channel. But what the assistant reads, it passes to its own AI service: when it lists your downloads, their file names, addresses and folders go to that service, under that service's privacy terms. Turn the automation API off, or remove the server from the assistant, when you don't want that.

When it doesn't work