s32ds-mcp-bridge
Make your AI coding assistant actually know what's in your S32 Design Studio.
Live workbench introspection + MCP server + Claude Code plugin.
What this is
If you've used an AI coding assistant (Claude Code, Codex, Copilot, etc.) with NXP S32 Design Studio, you've probably seen this:
AI: "Click Project → Make Target → Rebuild Last Target"
You: (right-click, no such submenu)
You: "that menu doesn't exist"
AI: "Let me try… Window → Preferences → …"
The AI is guessing from generic Eclipse documentation. Your S32DS install has a specific combination of plugins, perspectives, project natures, and visibility rules that no amount of training data captures.
This project fixes that. It installs a small Eclipse plug-in inside S32DS that exposes the live Workbench state (commands, menus, views, perspectives, problems, active editor, selection) over a local HTTP API. An MCP server wraps that API so AI clients can query it as tools. A Claude Code plugin bundles the whole thing with a skill that forces the AI to verify before answering.
Architecture
┌──────────────────────┐ MCP (stdio) ┌──────────────────────┐
│ Claude Code / Codex │ ◀──────────────── │ s32ds-mcp-server │
└──────────────────────┘ │ (Python 3.10+) │
└──────────┬───────────┘
│ HTTP + Bearer
▼
┌──────────────────────┐
│ Eclipse bundle │
│ bound to 127.0.0.1 │
│ inside S32DS JVM │
└──────────┬───────────┘
│ ICommandService
│ IExtensionRegistry
│ IMenuService
│ IWorkbenchPage
▼
┌──────────────────────┐
│ S32 Design Studio │
│ 3.5.x (Eclipse 4.20) │
└──────────────────────┘
Install paths
Choose based on your AI client:
Path A₀ — Zero-config (recommended for newcomers)
Don't have Python / haven't installed anything yet? Paste the QUICKSTART prompt into Claude Code as your first message. Claude will detect missing prereqs, install them via winget, and guide you through the final 3 slash commands. Works from a fresh Windows install.
Path A — Claude Code users (already have Python 3.10+)
/plugin marketplace add bigbangten/s32ds-mcp-bridge
/plugin install s32
/s32:setup
/s32:setup detects your S32DS, installs the Eclipse plug-in, restarts S32DS, verifies the bridge responds. No manual copying.
Path B — Codex / other MCP clients
- Download the latest Eclipse plug-in JAR from Releases.
- Install into S32DS:
Help → Install New Software → Add → Archive… (pick the update-site zip), OR drop the single JAR into <S32DS>\eclipse\dropins\ and start S32DS with -clean once.
pip install s32ds-mcp-server (from mcp-server/ directory of this repo).- Point your MCP client at
mcp-server via the sample config in samples/codex_config_stdio.toml.
Path C — Build from source
Requires JDK ≥ 17 and Maven. The bridge must be built with Tycho:
export MAVEN_OPTS="-Djdk.xml.maxGeneralEntitySizeLimit=0 -Djdk.xml.totalEntitySizeLimit=0"
mvn -f eclipse-bridge/releng/pom.xml clean verify
Output JAR at eclipse-bridge/releng/com.example.s32ds.agent.repository/target/repository/plugins/com.example.s32ds.agent.bridge_*.jar.
What the AI can now do
With the plugin installed, slash commands become available:
Core workflow
/s32 status — bridge alive? current perspective / editor / problems count/s32 menu "<keyword>" — exact UI path for any command, via live introspection/s32 state — full workbench snapshot/s32 view <name> — open a view by name (Tasks, Problems, Console, Pins, …)/s32 perspective <name> — switch perspective (C/C++, Debug, Clocks, …)
Build + diagnose
/s32 build [project] [kind] — save → build → report problems/s32 problems [project] — grouped errors/warnings
Guardrails (read-only safety)
/s32 flash-check <config> — pre-flight check for Flash/Debug launch (never launches)/s32 debug-state — active debug session + breakpoints + suspended frame/s32 dialogs — currently open dialogs/wizards (for guidance, never clicks)/s32 console [name] [lines] — tail Eclipse Console (build/PEmicro/RTT)
