Ellmos Controlcenter

DE Deutsche Version

Part of the ellmos-ai family.

npm version License: MIT Node.js

An alpha-stage Model Context Protocol (MCP) control plane for local MCP stacks. ControlCenter discovers local MCP servers, reads MCP profile files, groups servers into capability bundles, recommends profiles for a task, builds catalogs, probes real MCP tool lists from local repositories or profiles, assigns tools to capability bundles, and provides an optional local dashboard.

Provider note: ControlCenter works with any MCP-capable client (Claude Code, Codex, Gemini, or any stdio-based MCP host). The profile management tools default to Claude Code's profile directory (~/.claude/profiles) but accept any directory via ELLMOS_PROFILE_ROOT. The skill and plugin inventory tools are scoped to Claude Code conventions by default; see the environment variables below for override options.

The first alpha release focuses on discovery, profile visibility, dashboard workflows, capability bundles, profile-aware tool-list probes, tool-bundle assignments, internationalization, and initial policy audits. Gateway mode, enforced tool-level permissions, authentication, and hard security boundaries are planned, but are not implemented yet.

Alpha note: This version is useful for local administration and preview testing. It is not a hardened MCP gateway and should not be used as a security layer for untrusted tools or other users.

Status

• Phase: Alpha
• Version: 0.3.0
• Repository: ellmos-ai/ellmos-controlcenter-mcp
• npm: ellmos-controlcenter-mcp
• CI checks: npm run test and npm run build
• Goal: Make local MCP stacks visible, inspectable, and easier to control
• Focus: Catalogs, profile overview, profile recommendation, bundle recommendation, profile-aware tool-list probes, tool-bundle assignments, i18n, and early audits

Tools

Tool	Purpose
controlcenter_status	Show stack, profile, and detected-server status
controlcenter_actual_self_receipt	Run a native self list_tools probe and emit a short-lived signed runtime receipt when explicitly configured
controlcenter_get_language	Show the current ControlCenter output language
controlcenter_set_language	Set the ControlCenter output language for this running server instance
controlcenter_list_local_servers	Scan local MCP repositories below the MCP root
controlcenter_list_stacks	Read registered stacks from stacks.catalog.json and validate their ellmos.stack.v2 manifests
controlcenter_describe_stack	Describe typed components, roles, policies, and validation warnings for one registered stack
controlcenter_context_pack	Build a bounded, manifest-only handoff for a registered stack at short, execution, or full detail
controlcenter_list_tools	Start local or profile-defined MCP servers and read their real list_tools output
controlcenter_find_capability	Rank typed native-binding claims from a hash-consistent System Explorer resolution without selecting or executing one
controlcenter_tool_overview	Show resolution-bound component claims while keeping declared and runtime-state axes separate
controlcenter_assign_tool_bundles	Assign probed MCP tools to capability bundles
controlcenter_list_bundles	Group local servers by capability bundle
controlcenter_suggest_bundles	Recommend bundles for a task
controlcenter_list_profiles	List MCP profiles from the profile root (defaults to ~/.claude/profiles; override with ELLMOS_PROFILE_ROOT)
controlcenter_suggest_profile	Recommend a profile for a task
controlcenter_resolve_profile	Resolve a profile including extends chains
controlcenter_switch_profile	Prepare a generated --mcp-config file and configurable launch command
controlcenter_audit_profile	Run initial policy checks against a profile
controlcenter_build_catalog	Build a JSON catalog of local MCP servers, optionally including tool probes
controlcenter_list_skills	Inventory deployed skills (~/.claude/skills by default; Claude Code convention, override with ELLMOS_SKILLS_ROOT) and the source skills library
controlcenter_find_skill	Match keywords for a task or intent against the scanned skill catalogue and return ranked candidates — see Querying skill search
controlcenter_list_plugins	Inventory installed plugins (~/.claude/plugins by default; Claude Code convention, override with ELLMOS_PLUGINS_ROOT) and local ellmos modules

Querying skill search

controlcenter_find_skill matches purely lexically over name, aliases, tags, category and description. It does not yet do semantic/embedding search, so query with keywords and technical terms, not with whole sentences. A natural-language sentence drags in filler words, and those can outrank the correct hit.

Resolution-bound capability search

controlcenter_find_capability and controlcenter_tool_overview consume an explicit system-explorer.resolution.v1 file. They fail closed unless its content hash is self-consistent and its component-registry source-verification claim is present. That claim is not external provenance: until System Explorer emits a separately trusted receipt, output fields explicitly report provenance_verified: false and identity_verified: false. Only stable, type-consistent native-binding claims are returned. Results use the method controlcenter-lexical-candidate and score domain controlcenter.lexical.v1; they never select a provider, prove identity or availability, or authorize execution. Semantic routing remains a separate advisory producer.

	Query	Top result
❌	My program crashes when saving and I don't know why	mcp-config-sync (score 6 — matched on when, know, why)
✅	debug bug test failure	bugfix-protocol (score 5 — matched on bug, debug)

Two consequences:

• Scores are only comparable within a single query. In the example above the wrong hit scored higher than the right one in a different query. Never treat the number as a confidence measure.
• If the caller is an LLM, translate the user's phrasing into keywords first. That step is cheap and turns the weakest case into the strongest one.

Until semantic search is supported (tracked in TODO.md), keyword queries are the intended usage — not a workaround.

Dashboard

After building the project, start the local dashboard with:

npm run dashboard

Default address:

http://127.0.0.1:3737

The dashboard can currently show local servers and profiles, switch its UI language, enable or disable servers per profile, summarize profile audits, scan MCP tools for the selected profile or local repositories, display tool-to-bundle assignments, and write a generated --mcp-config file. Write actions ask for confirmation and create a backup before overwriting an existing file.

Discovery and Registry Metadata

ControlCenter ships MCP registry metadata for crawlers and catalog tools:

• server.json uses the official MCP server metadata shape with the package name, repository, and stdio transport.
• llms.txt gives LLM crawlers a compact project summary, canonical links, and tool overview.
• package.json includes both files in the npm package so registry indexers can read the same metadata from GitHub or npm.

The public npm package is the canonical install target. The GitHub repository remains the canonical source for development, issues, and release notes.

Search and Discovery Context

Use the full name ellmos ControlCenter MCP or the package name ellmos-controlcenter-mcp when linking or searching. The short phrase "control center" is too broad, and "ellmos" can collide with Elmo/ELMO motion-control, HR, and voice-generator results.

Best-fit search phrases:

• ellmos ControlCenter MCP
• ellmos-controlcenter-mcp
• MCP control plane for local servers
• MCP profile management dashboard
• local MCP stack discovery TypeScript
• Claude Codex Gemini MCP profile switcher
• MCP policy audit profile management

Installation

Option 1: Install from npm

npm install -g ellmos-controlcenter-mcp

Start the MCP server:

ellmos-controlcenter

Start the dashboard:

ellmos-controlcenter-dashboard

Option 2: Install from source

git clone https://github.com/ellmos-ai/ellmos-controlcenter-mcp.git
cd ellmos-controlcenter-mcp
npm install
npm run build

Run the server from source:

node dist/index.js

Run the dashboard from source:

node dist/dashboard.js

Configuration

MCP Client Configuration

ControlCenter works with any MCP-capable client. The JSON snippet below uses the standard mcpServers format supported by Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex, Cursor, and other MCP hosts.

If installed globally from npm:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "controlcenter": {
      "command": "ellmos-controlcenter"
    }
  }
}

If installed from source:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "controlcenter": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "/absolute/path/to/ellmos-controlcenter-mcp/dist/index.js"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Optional environment variables:

• ELLMOS_MCP_ROOT overrides the default MCP repository root
• ELLMOS_STACKS_ROOT overrides the stack catalog root (default: local .AI/.STACKS)
• ELLMOS_PROFILE_ROOT overrides the profile directory (default: ~/.claude/profiles)
• ELLMOS_SKILLS_ROOT overrides the deployed skills directory (default: ~/.claude/skills)
• ELLMOS_PLUGINS_ROOT overrides the plugins directory (default: ~/.claude/plugins)
• ELLMOS_BUNDLE_CONFIG overrides the capability bundle definition file
• ELLMOS_POLICY_CONFIG overrides the profile audit policy rule file
• ELLMOS_LAUNCH_TEMPLATE overrides the generated profile-switch launch command. Use {config} as placeholder for the generated MCP config path.
• ELLMOS_CONTROLCENTER_ACTUAL_SELF_CONFIG points to the host-local, fail-closed actual-self producer configuration. If it is absent, controlcenter_actual_self_receipt emits no receipt.
• CONTROLCENTER_LANGUAGE or ELLMOS_CONTROLCENTER_LANGUAGE sets the initial output language

Signed actual-self receipts

controlcenter_actual_self_receipt is an optional evidence producer for System Explorer. It starts a fixed child instance of this package, reads only its MCP list_tools surface, hashes a redacted tool summary, and returns an Ed25519-signed ellmos.actual-self-component-receipt.v1. It never executes a reported tool and never returns the signing key, configuration path, environment, raw descriptions, or local paths.

The host-local JSON configuration must use ellmos.controlcenter.actual-self-producer.v1 and contain exactly enabled, scope, registry_binding, signer_id, private_key_path, private_key_sha256, and ttl_seconds in addition to schema. TTL is limited to 300 seconds. The configured host must match the native hostname and the private key must match its lowercase SHA-256 pin. Trust-store provisioning and route activation are deliberately external operations; producing a receipt does not make it trusted.

By default, the MCP repository root is derived from the OneDrive/ONEDRIVE environment variable and falls back to ~/OneDrive/.TOPICS/.AI/.MCP.

Internationalization

ControlCenter supports the language codes de, en, es, zh, ja, and ru. All six languages now have maintained text sets for MCP tool output, dashboard labels, policy hints, profile recommendations, and tool descriptions.

Use controlcenter_get_language to inspect the current language and controlcenter_set_language to switch MCP tool output at runtime. The dashboard also includes a language selector and accepts /?lang=en style links. Bundle titles and descriptions loaded from custom JSON config files are shown as authored.

Profile Switching

controlcenter_switch_profile does not change a running session. It creates a resolved MCP configuration and returns a launch command. The default remains compatible with Claude Code:

claude --mcp-config ~/.claude/profiles/_generated/software.mcp.json

With write: false, the switch runs as a preview. With write: true, ControlCenter writes the generated file. The generated mcpServers JSON is readable by any MCP-capable client. Use the launchTemplate input or ELLMOS_LAUNCH_TEMPLATE to return a Codex, Gemini, or custom launcher command, for example codex mcp run --config {config}.

Profile resolution supports single inheritance ("extends": "base"), multiple inheritance ("extends": ["base", "shared"]), and inherited-server removal via "remove", "disabled", or "disabledServers". Missing profiles, invalid JSON, invalid profile names, and inheritance cycles now return explicit profile errors with the affected file path or chain.

Capability Bundles

ControlCenter loads capability bundle definitions from data/capability-bundles.json. The default file groups local servers into these bundles:

• core-local
• software
• filesystem
• automation
• control-plane

Custom bundle files can be supplied with ELLMOS_BUNDLE_CONFIG or with the optional bundleConfigPath input on bundle tools. A bundle file is a JSON object with schemaVersion and a bundles array. Each bundle needs id, title, description, and keywords.

This is the basis for future tool-bloat management: instead of exposing many individual tools immediately, an agent can first choose the capability bundle that fits the task.

Tool Catalog

controlcenter_list_tools can start local stdio MCP servers or resolved Claude profile servers and call the standard MCP list_tools request. Profile scans support arbitrary stdio commands, including non-Node launchers, and URL-based remote configs using Streamable HTTP or legacy SSE. The scan is explicit, uses a per-server timeout, does not call any reported tool, and closes each spawned local server after reading the tool list.

controlcenter_build_catalog accepts includeTools: true to persist the same probe results alongside the local server catalog.

controlcenter_assign_tool_bundles compares probed tool names, titles, descriptions, server names, source, and transport metadata with capability-bundle keywords, then reports which tools belong to bundles such as filesystem, software, automation, or control plane.

Profile Audit

controlcenter_audit_profile is the first small policy layer. It currently flags:

• npx starts
• environment variables in server configurations
• missing or invalid server commands
• sensitive name fragments in arguments

Environment values are never printed.

Policy rules are loaded from data/policy-rules.json by default. The file can disable individual rules or override their severity, and controlcenter_audit_profile also accepts a policyConfigPath input for one-off audits.

Project Structure

ellmos-controlcenter-mcp/
|-- src/
|-- test/
|-- data/
|-- README.md
|-- README_de.md
|-- START.md
|-- ARCHITECTURE.md
|-- STATE.md
|-- DECISIONS.md
`-- TODO.md

Documentation

For...	Read...
Quick start	START.md
Current state	STATE.md
Architecture	ARCHITECTURE.md
Roadmap	ROADMAP.md
Decisions	DECISIONS.md
Open tasks	TODO.md
Changes	CHANGELOG.md
LLM crawler summary	llms.txt

ellmos-ai Ecosystem

This MCP server is part of the ellmos-ai ecosystem — AI infrastructure, MCP servers, and intelligent tools.

MCP Server Family

Server	Tools	Focus	npm
FileCommander	46	Filesystem, process management, interactive sessions, cloud-lock-safe operations	ellmos-filecommander-mcp
CodeCommander	22	Code analysis, JSON repair, imports, diffs, regex	ellmos-codecommander-mcp
Clatcher	12	File repair, format conversion, batch operations	ellmos-clatcher-mcp
n8n Manager	18	n8n workflow management via AI assistants	n8n-manager-mcp
ControlCenter	20	MCP stack discovery, profile management, control plane	ellmos-controlcenter-mcp
Homebase	45	Local-first LLM memory, knowledge, state, routing, swarm orchestration	ellmos-homebase-mcp (alpha)
ServerCommander	8	Server operations: health checks, log analysis, deploy dry-runs, mail diagnostics	ellmos-servercommander-mcp (alpha)
Blender Use	3	Headless Blender asset QA and FBX reimport verification	ellmos-blender-use-mcp (alpha)
Open Compute	10	Model-agnostic computer use: capture, safety-gated actions, Windows UIA	open-compute-mcp (alpha)

AI Infrastructure

Project	Description
BACH	Local-first text-based OS for LLM agents — 113+ handlers, 550+ tools, SQLite memory
open-compute	Model-agnostic computer-use core powering Open Compute MCP
clutch	Provider-neutral LLM orchestration with auto-routing and budget tracking
rinnsal	Lightweight agent memory, connectors, and automation infrastructure
ellmos-stack	Self-hosted AI research stack (Ollama + n8n + Rinnsal + KnowledgeDigest)
MarbleRun	Autonomous agent chain framework for Claude Code
gardener	Minimalist database-driven LLM OS prototype (4 functions, 1 table)
ellmos-tests	Testing framework for LLM operating systems (7 dimensions)

Desktop Software

Our partner organization open-bricks bundles AI-native desktop applications — a modern, open-source software suite built for the age of AI. Categories include file management, document tools, developer utilities, and more.

License

MIT - Lukas Geiger (ellmos-ai)

Bundles and partners

ControlCenter MCP remains a standalone, published MCP server. In the V4 composition it is an optional MCP access surface of the ellmos-core-discovery-bundle: it exposes local MCP-stack, profile, tool and skill discovery to people and MCP-capable clients. It is not the functional owner of policies, decisions, memory, automations, system maps, or the modules behind the discovered tools.

Configured component registries, local MCP servers, profile files and skill libraries are discovery partners, not bundled ownership transfers. The published ControlCenter identity and package name remain unchanged. ControlRoom is a separate planned operator stack, not a rename or a hidden replacement for this server.

Authoritative bundle membership, versions, profiles and any private composition recipes remain in the corresponding bundle manifests. This public section is discovery-only.