THE HOUNDS

navi-mcp

Safe, deterministic access to navi for any MCP-capable AI.

An MCP server that lets AI drive the navi CLI — 20 tools, live schema resources, and 17 companion skills that force every answer to come from real data, not plausible guesses. Writes are double-gated: server flag plus per-call confirm. Email and remote-exec each need their own extra environment gate on top. Docker image available in navi-mcp-suite/.

Why

Answers, not estimates.

WITHOUT navi-mcp

The model pages through raw API JSON, estimates from samples, or invents a number that sounds right.

WITH navi-mcp

The model reads the real schema, runs a real query against your local navi.db, and reports the real count — or says it can't.

"Plausibility becomes verifiability."

Five Safety Rules

01

■ Read first: schemas, counts, and sample rows before any answer or write.

02

■ Real schemas: live column definitions from navi.db kill invented field names.

03

■ Gated writes: every tag, ACR change, or scan needs the server armed (NAVI_MCP_ALLOW_WRITES=1) AND per-call confirm=True, narrated to you first. Two keys, two locks. The heaviest tools — mail and remote execution — add a second environment gate on top.

04

■ Freshness checks: stale data gets flagged — "as of the last sync, 41 days ago" appears automatically.

05

■ Skills orchestrate: a router plus 15 domain skills plus the Hounds playbook skill — 17 in total, including the double-gated mail and remote-execution harnesses — tell the model what to look up, in what order, every time.

What's Included

20 tools + resources.

Reads — run freely

  • ■explore data/info
  • ■raw SQL queries
  • ■exports
  • ■API GETs
  • ■scan views

Writes — gated

  • ■tagging
  • ■ACR calibration
  • ■asset adds
  • ■scan create / start / stop
  • ■WAS
  • ■delete
  • ■key rotation
  • ■navi_action_mail — email delivery (double-gated: NAVI_EMAIL=1 + per-call confirm)
  • ■navi_action_push — remote command execution (double-gated: NAVI_REMOTE_CODE_EXECUTION=1 + per-call confirm)

Resources

  • ■live table schemas
  • ■workdir status
  • ■all 17 skills served in-band

The Heaviest Locks

Two gates, then a human.

■

navi_action_push (remote command execution) — requires NAVI_REMOTE_CODE_EXECUTION=1 on top of the write gate, plus per-call confirmation narrated to you first. Two environment gates, then a human.

■

navi_action_mail (email delivery) — requires NAVI_EMAIL=1 on top of the write gate, plus per-call confirmation narrated to you first. Two environment gates, then a human.

■

Still CLI-only: navi config update full — the foundational sync. Hours, hundreds of GB. You own the data state.

■

Still CLI-only: API keys and automation rules — where AI increases risk without proportionate benefit.

The double-gated tools are in the MCP — but they require two environment variables set by a human before Claude can even propose using them, then a second human confirmation per call.

Install

01
pip install navi-pro

Then run navi config keys and navi config update full at your terminal.

02
python tools/navi_mcp_config.py --write

Clone github.com/packetchaos/navi-mcp and run the config tool — it auto-detects paths and installs the Claude Desktop config.

03
NAVI_MCP_ALLOW_WRITES=1

Restart Claude Desktop. Writes stay off until you set this env variable.

04
pip install navi-mcp

navi-mcp is its own package — installing navi-pro alone gives you the CLI, not the MCP layer. Version 1.0.0 shipped 23 August 2026.