If you have uv installed, you can run P4 MCP Server directly without any manual installation:

# Run the server
uvx p4mcp-server

# Check version
uvx p4mcp-server --version

# Run with arguments
uvx p4mcp-server --readonly --allow-usage

This automatically fetches and runs the latest version from PyPI. No Python virtual environment setup or dependency management needed.

Requirements:

• uv installed on your system
• Python 3.11+ (uv will handle this automatically)

Download the appropriate binary for your operating system:

• macOS: p4-mcp-server-mac.zip
• Windows: p4-mcp-server-win.zip
• Linux: p4-mcp-server-linux.zip

Extract and use the executable directly. No Python installation is required.

# macOS / Linux
unzip p4-mcp-server-mac.zip   # or p4-mcp-server-linux.zip
./p4-mcp-server --help

# Windows
Expand-Archive p4-mcp-server-win.zip -DestinationPath .
.\p4-mcp-server.exe --help

Requirements:

• Python 3.11+ (with Tkinter)

Build:

• macOS: chmod +x build.sh && ./build.sh package
• Linux: chmod +x build.sh && ./build.sh package
• Windows: build.bat package

Output:

• macOS & Linux: p4-mcp-server-<version>.tgz
• Windows: p4-mcp-server-<version>.zip

Run the P4 MCP Server directly on your machine using the default STDIO transport.

Add the following to your mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "perforce-p4-mcp": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/p4-mcp-server",
      "env": {
        "P4PORT": "ssl:perforce.example.com:1666",
        "P4USER": "your_username",
        "P4CLIENT": "your_workspace"
      },
      "args": [
        "--readonly", "--allow-usage"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Note: This example shows explicit env values. If P4CONFIG is set, you can omit them and use the generic configuration example in the MCP client configuration section instead.

Run the P4 MCP Server from a Docker container with STDIO transport, allowing MCP clients to manage the container lifecycle.

Note: Docker-based execution is currently supported on macOS and Linux only.

Prerequisites

• Docker installed and running
• Valid P4 credentials and access to a P4 server

Pull the Docker image

docker pull ghcr.io/perforce/p4mcp-server:latest

cd /path/to/p4mcp-server
docker build -t ghcr.io/perforce/p4mcp-server .

Configure MCP Client

Add the following to your mcp.json:

{
    "servers": {
        "perforce-p4mcp-docker": {
            "command": "docker",
            "args": [
                "run", "-i", "--rm",
                "--hostname", "your-hostname",
                "-e", "P4PORT=ssl:perforce.example.com:1666",
                "-e", "P4USER=your_username",
                "-e", "P4CLIENT=your_workspace",
                "-v", "/Users/your_username/.p4tickets:/home/mcpuser/.p4tickets:ro",
                "ghcr.io/perforce/p4mcp-server:latest"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Configuration Options

Authentication

Using P4 tickets:

# macOS/Linux
-v /Users/your_username/.p4tickets:/home/mcpuser/.p4tickets:ro

Note: Use the full path to your tickets file (not ~). After running p4 login, restart the MCP server to pick up the new ticket.

Using a password:

-e P4PASSWD="your_password"

Workspace Host Restrictions

⚠️ Important: Docker containers have their own hostname, which differs from your local machine. If your P4 workspace is restricted to a specific host, operations like sync will fail.

To resolve this, set the container hostname to match your workspace's host restriction:

--hostname your-hostname

To find your workspace host name:

# macOS/Linux
p4 client -o your_workspace | grep "^Host:"

Mounting Client Root for Write Operations

⚠️ Important: By default, the Docker container cannot access your local workspace files. For write operations like sync, submit, or reconcile, you must mount your client root directory into the container at the same path.

Add a volume mount for your client root:

-v /path/to/your/client/root:/path/to/your/client/root

Example configuration with client root mounted:

{
    "servers": {
        "perforce-p4mcp-docker": {
            "command": "docker",
            "args": [
                "run", "-i", "--rm",
                "--hostname", "your-hostname",
                "-e", "P4PORT=ssl:perforce.example.com:1666",
                "-e", "P4USER=your_username",
                "-e", "P4CLIENT=your_workspace",
                "-v", "/Users/your_username/.p4tickets:/home/mcpuser/.p4tickets",
                "-v", "/path/to/client/root:/path/to/client/root",
                "ghcr.io/perforce/p4mcp-server:latest"
            ]
        }
    }
}

To find your client root:

p4 client -o your_workspace | grep "^Root:"

Note: The mount path inside the container must match the client root path exactly, as P4 tracks files by their absolute paths.

Run the MCP server on a VM using the HTTP transport, allowing clients to connect over the network.

Start the server on the VM:

P4PORT=ssl:perforce.example.com:1666 P4USER=your_username P4PASSWD=YOUR_TICKET ./p4-mcp-server --readonly --transport http --port 8000

Configure the MCP client:

Add the following to your mcp.json:

{
    "servers": {
        "perforce-p4-mcp": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "http://<ip-or-hostname>:8000/mcp"
        }
    }
}

Note: Ensure the VM's firewall allows inbound connections on the chosen port. For production use, consider placing the server behind a reverse proxy with TLS.

Run the MCP server in a Docker container using HTTP transport and expose the MCP endpoint over a host port.