ELM MCP — talk to IBM ELM from Bob

Stop clicking around DOORS Next. Just tell Bob what you want.

"Bob, build me a tracking service end-to-end with requirements, tasks, and tests in ELM." "Bob, import this Jira epic PDF into DNG." "Bob, what's the team been doing this week?"

⚠️ Personal passion project. NOT an official IBM tool. Use at your own risk. IBM, DOORS Next, ELM, EWM, ETM are trademarks of IBM Corp.

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Set up Bob in 3 steps (30 seconds)

You need: macOS, Linux, or Windows; Python 3.10+ (the MCP SDK needs it — note macOS often ships an old 3.9); and an ELM account.

🛑 Prerequisite: DNG configuration management (CM) must be enabled on your projects

ELM MCP is built around the full DNG flow — modules, baselines, streams, traceability — which all require IBM's configuration management (CM) feature on the DNG project. Without CM:

• You can still create requirements (in folders)
• You cannot bind requirements into modules programmatically — there is no DNG API path for this on non-CM projects (verified against IBM's own ELM-Python-Client)
• You cannot baseline requirements at Phase 5 of /build-new-project
• You cannot use streams for parallel requirements work

If your DNG project doesn't have CM enabled: ask your DNG admin to enable it (one project-level toggle in DNG admin; doesn't break existing data). Most enterprise ELM customers have CM on by default.

If you don't know whether CM is enabled: ask Bob to connect and try /build-new-project — the flow tells you immediately if CM is missing on the target project.

Step 1 — install

Two separate paths — use the one for your computer. Mac is one command; Windows is download-and-paste (no terminal).

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🍎 Mac / Linux

Open Terminal, paste this, press Enter:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/brettscharm/elm-mcp/main/install.sh | bash

That's the whole install. It downloads ELM MCP, asks for your ELM URL / username / password, writes Bob's config, and installs the 5 custom modes. When it finishes, go to Step 2.

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🪟 Windows

No terminal commands needed — just download, extract, and paste one block into Bob.

1. Download — go to github.com/brettscharm/elm-mcp → green Code button → Download ZIP.
2. Extract — right-click the downloaded ZIP → Extract All. Note the folder it creates, e.g. C:\Users\YOU\Downloads\elm-mcp-main. Keep it — Bob runs the server from here.
3. Paste into Bob — open Bob → settings/gear icon → MCP tab → Edit Global MCP. Paste the block below, then edit two things: the path on the args line (so it matches your folder from step 2), and your ELM details at the bottom.

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "elm-mcp": {
         "command": "py",
         "args": ["C:/Users/YOU/Downloads/elm-mcp-main/doors_mcp_server.py"],
         "env": {
           "ELM_URL": "https://yourco.elm.ibmcloud.com",
           "ELM_USERNAME": "your-username",
           "ELM_PASSWORD": "your-password"
         }
       }
     }
   }

   Save the file. (Use forward slashes / in the path — Windows accepts them and it avoids backslash headaches.) Then go to Step 2.

Windows needs Python 3.10+. Check with py --version; if it's missing or older, install it from python.org and tick "Add python.exe to PATH". The server installs its own dependencies the first time Bob launches it (~30s) — there's nothing else to set up.

Want the 5 custom modes auto-installed too? From the extracted folder, run py setup.py once — it writes Bob's config for you and adds the modes (🧭 Concierge, 📝 Plan, 📤 Push, 🎯 Impact Analyst, 📜 Compliance Auditor). Otherwise the paste above already gives you every tool, just not the mode presets.

Dependencies just work. Even if Bob launches the server with a different Python than the installer used (the #1 cause of "missing dependency" failures), the server self-heals on first start — it installs its own dependencies into whatever interpreter Bob uses, then restarts. No guessing, no manual pip install.

No internet one-liner / corporate-locked machine? Works on every OS: git clone https://github.com/brettscharm/elm-mcp.git ~/.elm-mcp, then cd ~/.elm-mcp and python3 setup.py (use py setup.py on Windows). setup.py is the cross-platform workhorse — the one-liners above just wrap it.

Don't want the modes? add --no-modes. Re-install just the modes after editing them? setup.py --modes-only.

Step 2 — fully quit + reopen Bob

Bob only loads MCP servers at startup; you have to actually quit, not just close the window. macOS: Cmd + Q. Windows: right-click the tray/taskbar icon → Quit (or Alt+F4). Then reopen.

Step 3 — say hi

In any Bob chat, type:

"Connect to ELM and list my projects."

Bob should respond with your DNG projects. You're done. Try one of these next:

• "Build me a temperature converter web app end-to-end."
• "Show me what's in the [Module Name] module."
• "What can you do?" (Bob calls list_capabilities and shows you the menu)

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Common things you'll ask Bob

You say	What Bob does
"build me a [thing]"	Full agentic flow: requirements → tasks → tests → review pause → code
"import this Jira epic [paste text or PDF path]"	Parses the epic into ELM artifacts (epic + reqs + tests + cross-links)
"import JIRA-1234" / "/import-jira"	Live Jira pull via elm-mcp's native Jira tools — fetches the issue, interviews you, creates DNG requirements with Source: JIRA-XXX stamp, posts a back-link comment on the Jira issue. Talks to Jira REST directly (API token, no OAuth). Requires --with-jira setup (see below).
"show me the reqs in [module]"	Reads the module from DNG, summarizes
"what's the team doing?"	Reads the BOB Team Actions module, summarizes who did what
"resume my last build"	Picks up an in-progress build run from where you left off
"I'm done for today"	Wraps up your session with a final entry teammates can read
"update yourself"	Pulls the latest version of ELM MCP from GitHub
"are you connected? what version?"	Self-diagnoses connection state, version, active runs

You don't have to memorize these. Bob figures it out from natural language. If you're not sure what to do, just type /getting-started and Bob asks one question to point you at the right starting point.

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When something goes wrong

Bob can't see ELM MCP after install:

1. Did you fully quit Bob (Cmd+Q) and reopen?
2. Run python3 ~/.elm-mcp/setup.py --diagnose — it tells you what's wrong in plain English

Bob asks for approval on every single action:

• Re-run python3 ~/.elm-mcp/setup.py — refreshes Bob's allow-list with the current set of safe-to-auto-approve tools
• Quit + reopen Bob

Module binding fails ("requirements created but not in module"):

• Your DNG project doesn't have configuration management enabled
• Either ask your DNG admin to enable it, or open the module in DNG and drag the requirements in manually
• Then tell Bob "continue" and the build flow picks back up

Anything else:

• Tell Bob "run elm_mcp_health" — it'll dump connection state, version, last update check, etc.
• Or open an issue: https://github.com/brettscharm/elm-mcp/issues

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To update

The simplest way: say "update yourself" in any Bob chat. That's a single tool call — Bob pulls the latest from GitHub and tells you to restart.

Or in terminal:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/brettscharm/elm-mcp/main/install.sh | bash

(Same command as install — re-running it just updates.)

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Optional: live Jira integration (/import-jira)

If you want Bob to pull live Jira issues into DNG and post back-link comments to Jira (round-trip traceability), add Jira credentials to your .env:

# If you already have elm-mcp installed:
python3 ~/.elm-mcp/setup.py --with-jira

# Or edit ~/.elm-mcp/.env directly and add:
#   JIRA_BASE_URL=https://yourorg.atlassian.net
#   JIRA_EMAIL=your-atlassian-email@example.com
#   JIRA_API_TOKEN=ATATT...
# Token: https://id.atlassian.com/manage-profile/security/api-tokens

How it works: elm-mcp talks to Jira's REST API directly using your email + API token (HTTP Basic auth). No Atlassian MCP server, no mcp-remote bridge, no OAuth, no Node.js. Five tools are added: get_jira_issue, search_jira_issues, add_jira_comment, add_jira_remote_link, jira_health.

Why this instead of Atlassian's official MCP? Atlassian's hosted MCP at mcp.atlassian.com/v1/mcp uses OAuth 2.1 and the OAuth flow doesn't complete reliably inside IBM Bob's embedded webview — verified in the field. Going direct-REST sidesteps the problem.

After credentials are in .env:

1. Quit + reopen Bob (so it picks up the new tools).
2. Run jira_health in chat to confirm auth works.
3. Try it: "/import-jira issue_key=PROJ-123" — Bob fetches the issue, interviews you, creates DNG requirements with Source: PROJ-123 — <jira-url> stamped on each, then posts a comment back to Jira listing all the created DNG URLs.

See BOB.md Step 3l for the full workflow.

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What it actually does (for the curious)

ELM MCP is a Model Context Protocol server. It exposes IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management — DNG (requirements), EWM (work items / tasks / defects), ETM (test management), GCM (global config), and SCM/code-review — as 84 tools and 15 prompts that any MCP-speaking AI assistant can call. Bob is one such assistant; Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf are others.

The MCP itself does zero AI generation. Every tool is a deterministic API call against ELM. The intelligence — writing requirements, parsing PDFs, picking the right module — comes from whichever AI you connect.

The headline workflow is /build-new-project:

1. You give Bob a one-line idea
2. Bob interviews you (5 min)
3. Bob proposes requirements; you approve
4. Bob proposes tasks; you approve
5. Bob proposes test cases; you approve
6. STOP — you review everything in DNG/EWM/ETM
7. Bob re-pulls current state, writes the actual app code with # Implements: REQ-005 headers tying every file to the requirement
8. Bob marks tasks resolved, records test results in ETM as it goes
9. Final summary: traceability matrix, all URLs clickable

Every phase has an explicit user-approval gate. Bob can't blast through to writing code without your sign-off at each step.

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Bring your own AI assistant

Same server works against any MCP-speaking host. install.sh writes the right config for every host it detects:

AI Assistant	Config file written
IBM Bob	~/.bob/mcp_settings.json (global) + <project>/.bob/mcp.json (project-local)
Claude Code	~/.claude.json (global) + .mcp.json (project)
VS Code Copilot	.vscode/mcp.json
Cursor	~/.cursor/mcp.json
Windsurf	~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

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Manual install (only if curl | bash doesn't fit your security policy)

git clone https://github.com/brettscharm/elm-mcp.git ~/.elm-mcp
cd ~/.elm-mcp
python3 setup.py

Same outcome, just two more steps.

For air-gapped / locked-down environments where automatic config-write doesn't work, run python3 ~/.elm-mcp/setup.py --print-config. It outputs the JSON ready to paste manually into Bob's ~/.bob/mcp_settings.json with absolute paths pre-filled for your machine.

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Privacy + credentials

• ELM password lives ONLY in ~/.elm-mcp/.env on your machine
• That file is gitignored; it's never committed
• The MCP authenticates directly with your ELM server using your account; no third-party services involved
• Re-enter credentials anytime by deleting .env and re-running setup.py

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File layout (if you want to inspect the code)

~/.elm-mcp/
├── setup.py                  # Installer (this is what install.sh runs)
├── doors_mcp_server.py       # The MCP server itself (84 tools)
├── doors_client.py           # ELM REST client (DNG + EWM + ETM + GCM + SCM)
├── BOB.md                    # Instructions Bob reads automatically
├── README.md                 # This file
├── .env                      # YOUR credentials (gitignored, local only)
└── probe/                    # Live-server probes + research notes

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Help / issues / contributing

• Issues: https://github.com/brettscharm/elm-mcp/issues
• Email: brett.scharmett@ibm.com (personal capacity, not IBM support)

PRs welcome. The probes in probe/ document the live ELM API surface; new tools should follow the patterns in doors_client.py (GET-with-ETag → modify → PUT-with-If-Match for updates; service-provider-discovery → POST to creation factory for creates).

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Share with your team

Copy-paste-ready blurb:

🤖 ELM MCP — drive IBM DOORS Next, EWM, and ETM from Bob (or any AI assistant) instead of clicking around the web UI.

Install in 30 seconds:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/brettscharm/elm-mcp/main/install.sh | bash

Restart Bob. Say "connect to ELM and list my projects."

84 tools, 15 prompts. Read/write requirements (rich text + tables + images), build full projects end-to-end with traceable code, import Jira epics, see what your team's been up to. Full details: https://github.com/brettscharm/elm-mcp

⚠️ Personal passion project — NOT an official IBM tool.