# Let your assistant ask Vitals instead of guessing. Canonical page: https://vitalsmac.com/features/mcp-server Claude, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and any assistant that speaks MCP can ask Vitals what is running, which app is behind a number, what is on a port, and what the last month looked like. It gets real measurements instead of a process list, and it cannot quit anything without asking you. ## Setup: One click per assistant, and it is on. Claude, Claude Code, Codex and Cursor each have an Add button in Settings → Integrations that puts Vitals in the assistant's own list of tools. Any other assistant that speaks MCP takes the command shown there. Nothing is on until you add it. - Add for Claude, Claude Code, Codex and Cursor - A command for any other assistant that speaks MCP - Switches for what every assistant may see - Project folders by name only, if you prefer ## Questions: It gets the same numbers you see, with when they were measured. Left to itself, an assistant runs ps and guesses. Through Vitals it gets the picture you have: apps with their helpers added up, projects with their ports, sessions with what they started, and every answer stamped with when it was taken. - What is using the CPU, memory, battery, disk or network - Which app a number belongs to - What is on a port, and whose it is - Which coding sessions are running, and what the last month looked like ## Quitting: It asks Vitals, and Vitals asks you. An assistant cannot quit anything on its own. The request comes to you in a window of its own: what is asking, what it wants to quit, what is connected to it right now, and whether Vitals thinks it looks safe. You click, or you don't. - What is asking, and what it wants to quit - What is connected to it right now - Whether Vitals thinks it looks safe - In folders you trust, safe requests can go through without asking ## Privacy: Honest about what the assistant hears. Vitals itself sends nothing anywhere. What it tells an assistant goes wherever that assistant sends its conversations, and app names, project folders and ports are in there. You turn it on knowing that, and you choose what it may see. - Vitals sends nothing anywhere - App names, project folders and ports are in the answers - Every tool but quit is read-only - Off until you turn it on ## Why it matters: mcp server on a Mac Ask an assistant why your Mac is slow and it runs ps aux, gets a thousand lines, and guesses. It sees node at 180% and cannot tell which project, which chat, or whether that is the test run you started on purpose. It sees a port in use and offers to kill whatever holds it. Assistants are good at the next step, what to do about it. What they lack is the picture Vitals already has: apps with their helpers added up, projects with their ports, sessions with what they started, and what the last month looked like. Vitals is an MCP server. Claude, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and any assistant that speaks MCP can ask it what is running and get the same numbers you see, each with when it was measured. When an assistant wants something quit, it has to ask Vitals, and Vitals asks you, in a window of its own, with what is connected to it right now. You decide what it may see: system readings, apps, projects and history each have a switch, and project folders can go by name only. ## How to use it 1. **Turn it on.** Settings → Integrations lists Claude, Claude Code, Codex and Cursor with an Add button each. Add puts Vitals in the assistant's own list of tools; an assistant that is open sees it when it next starts. Any other assistant that speaks MCP takes the command shown there. 2. **Choose what it may see.** Switch off system readings, apps, projects or history for every assistant at once, and give project folders by name only, so an assistant hears "shop" and not where that folder lives on your Mac. 3. **Ask.** What is eating my memory. What is on port 8080. Which coding sessions are running, and which chat is each. How hard was the Mac pushed this week, and when was it at a limit. Every answer says when it was measured. 4. **When it wants to quit something.** The request comes to you in a window of its own: what is asking, what it wants to quit, whether that looks safe, and what is connected to it right now. Nothing closes until you say so. For a project folder you trust, add it in Settings → Integrations and safe requests there go through without asking. ## Compared with Activity Monitor | | Activity Monitor | Vitals | | --- | --- | --- | | What an assistant sees | Whatever ps prints | Apps, projects, sessions, ports and history, measured | | Quitting | kill, from the terminal | It asks Vitals, Vitals asks you | | What it is told | Everything on the machine | What you allow, folders by name only | | The past | Nothing | A day, a week or a year, and when the Mac was at a limit | | Setup | A server to find and configure | One click per assistant in Settings → Integrations | ## The words behind it - [Listening port](https://vitalsmac.com/glossary/listening-port): A listening port is a network port where a process is waiting for incoming connections, such as a web server on port 3000. - [PID](https://vitalsmac.com/glossary/pid): A PID, or process ID, is a number macOS assigns to each running process to identify it. - [Force Quit](https://vitalsmac.com/glossary/force-quit): Force Quit ends an app or process immediately, without letting it save or clean up. - [Helper processes](https://vitalsmac.com/glossary/helper-processes): Helper processes are separate processes an app starts to do part of its work, such as rendering web pages, running extensions, or handling graphics. ## Questions ### Which assistants work with it? Claude, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and any assistant that speaks MCP. Settings → Integrations adds the first four with one button each; any other takes the command shown there. ### Can an assistant quit apps through Vitals? Only through you. It asks Vitals, Vitals shows you what it wants to quit in a window of its own, and nothing closes until you say so. If you say no, it stays running. ### Does it send my data to the assistant's maker? Vitals answers the assistant on your Mac and sends nothing anywhere itself. What the assistant does with the answer is up to the assistant, the same as anything else you tell it. ### Is it on by default? No. It stays off until you turn it on in Settings → Integrations. ### What can I stop an assistant from seeing? System readings, apps, projects and history each have a switch in Settings → Integrations, for every assistant at once. Project folders can be given by name only. ### Can safe requests go through without asking me? Yes, for folders you choose. Add a project folder, or a folder that holds your projects, in Settings → Integrations, and what Vitals judges safe there is quit without asking. Everything else is still asked about. ### How do I know what else will stop working? Before anything is quit, the window names what is connected to it right now, such as Google Chrome or a process in another project, so you can see what else would break. ### Can my assistant ask about last week? Yes. It can ask how hard your Mac was pushed over a day, a week or a year, when it was at a limit, and which apps used the most over 90 days, 6 months or a year. ## Read on - [Claude Code using too much memory or CPU on a Mac? How to find it, and get it back](https://vitalsmac.com/claude-code-memory-usage-mac) - [Claude desktop app using high CPU or memory on a Mac? What to check](https://vitalsmac.com/claude-desktop-high-cpu-mac) - [Vitals vs Activity Monitor](https://vitalsmac.com/vs/activity-monitor) ## More of Vitals Every feature is at [vitalsmac.com/features](https://vitalsmac.com/features). Vitals is one payment, with every update for life: [pricing](https://vitalsmac.com/pricing).