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livebook_tools

MCP.Pizza Chef: thmsmlr

Elixir's Livebook notebooks normally live in a browser tab your assistant cannot see. This adds one read-only lookup that reads back the results of an already-running notebook session, so your editor can check whether a change worked. It is one part of a wider command-line kit for editing notebooks outside the browser. Setup means installing Elixir tooling and matching two settings so the programs find each other. The repository carries no licence at all, and nothing has changed since April 2025.

Unmaintained · No commits in 17 months.
Coding
Data

Use This MCP server To

Check what my notebook printed after the last change Let my code editor see a running notebook's results Ask why a notebook cell produced an unexpected number Edit a notebook in my editor and confirm it still runs Summarize the output of a long analysis notebook

README

LivebookTools

Livebook Tools is a CLI tool to give you superpowers while working with .livemd files.
Its primary features are:

  • BYOE (Bring Your Own Editor) - Sync your .livemd files to an open Livebook session so you can edit them in your AI powered code editor, like Cursor.
  • MCP Server - A simple model context protocol server for connecting AI coding agents to your Livebook sessions. More on this below.
  • Run Livebooks from the CLI - Convert your .livemd files to Elixir scripts and run them top to bottom as if they were a .exs script. Useful if you want to turn a livebook into a cron job.

Installation

Livebook Tools is an Elixir escript.
To install it, you can use the mix escript.install command.

mix escript.install github thmsmlr/livebook_tools

Once installed, ensure that the escript directory is on your path.

# for normal elixir users
export PATH="$HOME/.mix/escripts:$PATH"

# for asdf elixir users
for escripts_dir in $(find "${ASDF_DATA_DIR:-$HOME/.asdf}/installs/elixir" -type d -name "escripts" 2>/dev/null); do
  export PATH="$escripts_dir:$PATH"
done

Running Livebook

In order for Livebook tools to work properly, it needs to be able to connect to a running Livebook server using distributed Elixir.
To do this will depend on how you are running Livebook.
In its simplest form, all you need to do is add the two environment variables to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc file.

export LIVEBOOK_NODE="livebook@127.0.0.1"
export LIVEBOOK_COOKIE="secret"

Then when you run the Livebook tools or Livebook, both programs will discover these values and make sure that they can connect to each other. If you're running using Livebook Desktop, then you may need to add these values to the ~/.livebookdesktop.sh file as well. For more information on Livebook Desktop, check out the Livebook HexDocs.

Setting up MCP Server

livebook_tools FAQ

Is it still being worked on?
The last change landed in April 2025, so it has been quiet for well over a year. It is not archived and no replacement is named.
Can I use this at work?
Be careful. The project ships with no licence file, which in practice means nobody has been granted permission to use, copy or modify it. Many employers treat that as a blocker.
Do I need a key or a paid account?
No. Everything runs on your own machine. You do need a Livebook already running and two matching connection settings so the two programs can find each other.
Can it change or overwrite my notebook?
The one thing exposed to your assistant only reads results back. The wider command-line kit it ships inside can write and sync files, but your assistant is not given that.
How many tools does it add?
One, which fetches the outputs of a running notebook.
Is anything recorded?
Yes. Every message in and out, including your notebook's output, is appended to a plain log file in your computer's temporary folder, and there is no setting to turn that off.
Will accents and emoji survive?
No. Anything outside plain English characters is stripped out of every reply, so accented words, emoji and non-Latin text come back mangled.
Which apps does it work in?
The author tested it in Cursor only, though it should work in other editors that support MCP.
How hard is setup?
Hard unless you already write Elixir. You install it through Elixir's own package tooling, put it on your path, and set two environment variables shared with Livebook.