Swarmcode

SwarmCode

[](https://www.npmjs.com/package/swarmcode-mcp) [](https://www.npmjs.com/package/swarmcode-mcp)

> Using mcp-agent-bridge? That is the old name of this project and it no > longer gets updates. Switch with > npm uninstall -g mcp-agent-bridge && npm install -g swarmcode-mcp, then > re-run swarmcode-mcp init . Same Redis, same protocol; the > tools are now swarm_* instead of bridge_*. See > [Migrating from mcp-agent-bridge](#migrating-from-mcp-agent-bridge).

Two Claude Code instances can't talk to each other. The one on your desktop that just changed the API schema has no way to tell the one on your laptop that's writing the client against it — so you copy-paste between windows and act as the message bus yourself.

SwarmCode is that message bus. Agents on any machine on your network join a Redis-backed channel and send each other messages, artifacts, and workspace status, delivered as real-time push into VS Code — no polling, no manual relay.

Desktop (VS Code)          Laptop (VS Code)           Server
  Claude A ───────────────── Claude B ───────────────── Claude C
       \                      |                       /
        -------- Redis (single instance) ------------
                       |
                  Web Dashboard
              (monitor & control)

Install (60 seconds)

npm install -g swarmcode-mcp

# Redis, if you don't already have one
docker run -d --name redis -p 6379:6379 redis:alpine

swarmcode-mcp init my-workspace --redis redis://your-redis:6379

Restart Claude Code. Repeat on every other machine, all pointing at the same Redis. That's the whole setup.

What it looks like

Desktop (building the API):

> swarm_register("Building user auth REST API")
> swarm_send(to: "laptop", type: "info",
             content: "POST /api/users is live, schema: {id, email, role}")

Laptop — the message arrives as a task-notification while its agent is mid-task:

[task-notification] New message from "desktop": POST /api/users is live...
> swarm_receive()
> swarm_send(to: "desktop", type: "question",
             content: "Does /api/users support pagination?")

Desktop, instantly:

[task-notification] New message from "laptop": Does /api/users support pagination?
> swarm_receive()
> swarm_send(to: "laptop", type: "answer", content: "Yes, use ?page=1&limit=20")

No user in the loop. A terminal recording of the same exchange is in [demo/demo.cast](demo/demo.cast) (asciinema play demo/demo.cast).

What Can It Do?

• Cross-machine messaging — Claude on your desktop sends a message, Claude on your laptop receives it instantly
• Real-time push — no polling, messages delivered via Redis pub/sub + background task notifications
• Workspace awareness — every agent knows what the others are working on
• Artifact sharing — share schemas, configs, interfaces across workspaces
• Web dashboard — monitor all workspaces, send messages from your browser
• Auto-setup — one command initializes any workspace

vs Claude Desktop

| | Claude Desktop | SwarmCode | |--|---------------|-------------| | Cross-machine communication | No | Yes | | Multi-workspace coordination | No — each window isolated | Yes — agents talk to each other | | Real-time push notifications | No | Yes | | Artifact/schema sharing | No | Yes | | Web dashboard | No | Yes | | Works in VS Code | No | Yes | | Cross-platform | Mac only | Mac, Windows, Linux | | Open source | No | Yes (MIT) |

How It Works

Real-time message loop

1. Background listener subscribes to Redis pub/sub channel
2. Message arrives → listener exits → task-notification fires in VS Code
3. Claude reads the message → swarm_receive() → swarm_send() reply
4. New listener started → back to step 1

No polling. No cron. True event-driven push in VS Code.

Per-workspace isolation

swarmcode:ws:desktop-api       ← only desktop-api hears this
swarmcode:ws:laptop-frontend   ← only laptop-frontend hears this
swarmcode:ws:broadcast         ← everyone hears this (to="*")

Backup polling

A 5-minute CronCreate runs alongside the listener as a safety net.

Tools

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | swarm_send | Send a message to a workspace or broadcast (to: "*") | | swarm_receive | Read and mark pending messages as read | | swarm_status | See all registered workspaces | | swarm_register | Register/update this workspace's description |

Web Dashboard

Monitor and control all workspaces from your browser.

docker run -d -p 4200:4200 \
  -e SWARMCODE_REDIS_URL=redis://your-redis:6379 \
  -e DASHBOARD_USER=admin \
  -e DASHBOARD_PASS=your-password \
  ghcr.io/spranab/swarmcode-dashboard:latest

Features:

• All workspaces with active/idle status
• Per-workspace inbox viewer
• Global message log (real-time via SSE)
• Send messages to any workspace
• Dark theme

Architecture

src/
├── channel.js          # MCP server — tools + Redis pub/sub + instructions
├── listener.js         # One-shot Redis listener → task-notification push
├── check-inbox-http.js # UserPromptSubmit hook — inbox check on each prompt
├── init.js             # CLI — one-command workspace setup
└── server.js           # CLI entry point

dashboard/
├── server.js           # Express app with SSE, basic auth, REST API
└── index.html          # Real-time dashboard UI

Configuration

| Variable | Default | Description | |----------|---------|-------------| | SWARMCODE_REDIS_URL | redis://localhost:6379 | Redis connection | | SWARMCODE_WORKSPACE_ID | (from .mcp.json) | Workspace identifier | | DASHBOARD_USER | admin | Dashboard username | | DASHBOARD_PASS | bridge | Dashboard password | | DASHBOARD_PORT | 4200 | Dashboard port |

Kubernetes

Redis + Dashboard manifests in k8s/:

kubectl apply -f k8s/namespace.yml
kubectl apply -f k8s/redis.yml       # includes NodePort on 30379
kubectl apply -f k8s/dashboard.yml
kubectl apply -f k8s/ingress.yml     # edit hostname

Built With

• Model Context Protocol (MCP) — tool interface
• Redis — pub/sub + message storage
• ioredis — Redis client
• Claude Code — the agents

Migrating from mcp-agent-bridge

SwarmCode was published as mcp-agent-bridge until the rename. The old package still works but is frozen — new features and fixes only land in swarmcode-mcp.

npm uninstall -g mcp-agent-bridge
npm install -g swarmcode-mcp
swarmcode-mcp init my-workspace --redis redis://your-redis:6379

What changes:

| Old (mcp-agent-bridge) | New (swarmcode-mcp) | |---|---| | bridge_send / bridge_receive / bridge_register | swarm_send / swarm_receive / swarm_register | | AGENT_BRIDGE_REDIS_URL | SWARMCODE_REDIS_URL | | AGENT_BRIDGE_WORKSPACE_ID | SWARMCODE_WORKSPACE_ID | | binary mcp-agent-bridge | binary swarmcode / swarmcode-mcp |

The old AGENT_BRIDGE_* environment variables are still read as a fallback, and the Redis wire format is unchanged, so a migrated workspace can talk to a not-yet-migrated one during the switchover. Re-running init rewrites the workspace's .mcp.json entry and hooks for you.

Related projects

Other agent infrastructure by the same author, built to be used together:

• saga-mcp — SQLite-backed project

tracker so a swarm of agents shares one plan.

• yantrikdb-mcp — persistent

cognitive memory across sessions and machines.

• brainstorm-mcp — multi-model

debate as an MCP tool.

• mcpier — self-hosted MCP control plane

that keeps API keys off your clients.

License

MIT — Pranab Sarkar

Source & license

This open-source MCP server is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: spranab
• Source: spranab/swarmcode
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://spranab.github.io/swarmcode/

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.