Set up Claude Code — wc3-forge

The MCP server is built into the wc3-forge binary. Passing --mcp runs it as an MCP stdio server — a thin proxy to a running editor instance. No Node, no extra install: you point Claude Code at the same executable you launch.

1. Register the MCP server

# Installed binary:
claude mcp add wc3-forge --scope user -- "C:\Program Files\wc3-forge\wc3-forge.exe" --mcp

# ...or a local build:
claude mcp add wc3-forge --scope user -- "$PWD\build\bin\wc3-forge.exe" --mcp

There is no prebuilt macOS binary — point Claude Code at the app you built from source (and in-app updates aren't available on macOS):

claude mcp add wc3-forge --scope user -- "$PWD/build/bin/wc3-forge.app/Contents/MacOS/wc3-forge" --mcp

--scope must come before --; everything after -- is the command Claude launches. Verify with claude mcp list — wc3-forge should show ✓ Connected.

2. Launch and talk to it

Open the editor, load a map (File → Open Map…), then talk to it in Claude Code:

What's the current map?
> map_status → "Fountain of Manipulation", 184 units, 2031 doodads

Move the gold mine at position 0,0 to where the player 1 start location is.
> units_list → finds creation_number 17 (typeid 'ngol' at -512, 384, 0)
> camera_set_view → pans to confirm
> units_move → applied

Save it.
> map_save → ok

The Agent Console (Ctrl+ ` in the editor) streams every bridge call live — names, durations, params, and results. Use it to watch what an agent is doing in real time.

Running several editors at once

Multi-instance is a primary use case. Each wc3-forge picks an unused port and writes its own per-pid lockfile at ~/.wc3-forge/mcp/<pid>.lock.

sessions_list enumerates running instances.
session_select pins subsequent tool calls to one.
window_set_title labels an instance so parallel agents can tell them apart.

See the full MCP tool reference for everything Claude can do.