A demo MCP App that displays real-time OS metrics with a stacked area chart for per-core CPU usage and a bar gauge for memory.
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Add to your MCP client configuration (stdio transport):
{
"mcpServers": {
"system-monitor": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"--silent",
"--registry=https://registry.npmjs.org/",
"@modelcontextprotocol/server-system-monitor",
"--stdio"
]
}
}
}To test local modifications, use this configuration (replace ~/code/ext-apps with your clone path):
{
"mcpServers": {
"system-monitor": {
"command": "bash",
"args": [
"-c",
"cd ~/code/ext-apps/examples/system-monitor-server && npm run build >&2 && node dist/index.js --stdio"
]
}
}
}- Per-Core CPU Monitoring: Stacked area chart showing individual CPU core utilization over a 1-minute sliding window
- Memory Usage: Horizontal bar gauge with color-coded thresholds (green/yellow/red)
- System Info: Hostname, platform, and uptime display
- Auto-Polling: Automatically starts monitoring on load with 2-second refresh interval
- Theme Support: Adapts to light/dark mode preferences
-
Install dependencies:
npm install
-
Build and start the server:
npm run start:http # for Streamable HTTP transport # OR npm run start:stdio # for stdio transport
-
View using the
basic-hostexample or another MCP Apps-compatible host.
Exposes two tools demonstrating a polling pattern:
-
get-system-info(Model-visible) — Returns static system configuration:- Hostname, platform, architecture
- CPU model and core count
- Total memory
-
poll-system-stats(App-only,visibility: ["app"]) — Returns dynamic metrics:- Per-core CPU timing data (idle/total counters)
- Memory usage (used/free/percentage)
- Uptime
The Model-visible tool is linked to a UI resource via _meta.ui.resourceUri.
- Receives static system info via
ontoolresultwhen the host sends theget-system-inforesult - Polls
poll-system-statsevery 2 seconds for dynamic metrics - Uses Chart.js for the stacked area chart visualization
- Computes CPU usage percentages client-side from timing deltas
- Maintains a 30-point history (1 minute at 2s intervals)


