vb6-mcp 1.2.0

Two additions to the running-program tools. Only vb6mcp.exe changed: the add-in is the same build as in 1.1.0 and still reports 1.1.0.

Upgrading: run install.ps1 from the new package. Restart a running --stay watchdog so it runs the new build too.

• app_tree lists the items of list and combo boxes: itemCount, the first 20 items, and selected. For a program in the IDE they're read through the add-in, because Windows blocks list messages from the non-elevated server. An event log kept in a ListBox used to show as text: "".
• app_screenshot takes region (client coordinates) or control (a handle from app_tree) and returns only that part, at full resolution, with crop for mapping image positions back to app_mouse coordinates. Checking a few pixels no longer means reading the whole form.

vb6-mcp 1.1.2

A fix for the shell guard. Only vb6mcp.exe changed: the add-in is the same build as in 1.1.0 and still reports 1.1.0.

Upgrading: run install.ps1 from the new package. Restart a running --stay watchdog to get the fix. Claude Code runs the hook binary afresh on every call, so the new rules apply as soon as it is installed — but hook configuration is read when a session starts, so a session that opened before the hook was registered stays unguarded until it is restarted.

Shell guard

Two shapes an agent reaches for naturally got past ShellPolicy, both found by replaying a real session's commands through vb6mcp.exe hook.

• A build whose executable sits in a variable and whose switch is an array element, as PowerShell usually writes it (Start-Process -FilePath $exe -ArgumentList '/make','App.vbp', or & $exe /make App.vbp): the old rule wanted vb6 and /make next to each other. A standalone /make now counts when the command also names a project file or VB6, so a Start-Process that merely mentions a .vbp, and a path that happens to contain "make", stay allowed.
• unix2dos / dos2unix / todos / fromdos / flip on a VB6 source, which rewrite the file in place. A .vbp rewritten with LF leaves VB6 unable to parse it: the project loses its references and the build fails with a misleading "User-defined type not defined" in an unrelated .bas. Only at a command position, because "flip" is an ordinary word.

vb6-mcp 1.1.1

A fix for the watchdog tray. Only vb6mcp.exe changed: the add-in is the same build as in 1.1.0 and still reports 1.1.0.

Upgrading: run install.ps1 from the new package. Restart a running --stay watchdog to get the fix.

• Watchdog tray: Restart as administrator no longer leaves a console window open, and the log no longer calls the restart "stopped from the tray". The restart is now verified live.

vb6-mcp 1.1.0

New projects, VB6 without administrator rights, and a watchdog you can see. One new tool (project_new, 95 in all). Details per tool: docs/tools.md.

Upgrading: run install.ps1 from the new package (roots are kept), then restart VB6 and Claude Code. The add-in reports version 1.1.0 and has two new verbs (PRJNEW, PRJSAVEAS); its ProgID, CLSIDs and the existing wire format are unchanged. A running --stay watchdog keeps the old version until you restart it.

New

• project_new creates an EXE, ActiveX EXE, ActiveX DLL or ActiveX control project at a new .vbp path under the roots, also in an IDE with no project open. project_save takes path for a project that was never saved, such as the New Project chooser's Project1 (spike 43). VB writes a new project's .vbp without its never-saved components, and still counts it as saved. So each component is saved first, and the server checks that the .vbp lists them all.
• VB6 without elevation is supported and tested (spike 41): everything works except registering components, and the README's "Elevated or not?" table says what changes.
• Registration without an elevated VB6: com_register / com_unregister run through an elevated VB6's add-in, else the elevated watchdog (no IDE needed), else with elevate: true through a UAC prompt you answer. Otherwise they refuse before running anything. build_make hands a build to an elevated watchdog when the running VB6 isn't elevated, so ActiveX builds still register.
• Watchdog tray icon: a "VB" tile in the notification area, with a shield when the watchdog runs as administrator. Its menu has Open log, Restart as administrator and Stop watchdog; --no-tray leaves the icon out.

Fewer surprises

• Slow vs dead: during calls longer than 5 s the server sends a progress heartbeat every 10 s, and the installers set Claude Code's idle timeout to 2 minutes. A frozen or dead server now shows up as an error within 2 minutes instead of a 30-minute wait (spike 42). After server_restart, new calls are refused at once with "restarting".
• A non-elevated VB6's startup dialogs (another add-in's error before ours loads) are answered by the server itself.

Other agents

• Tested in GitHub Copilot CLI and OpenCode (spike 40): all tools load. In clients other than Claude Code, debug_eval's approval for side effects now asks through MCP elicitation, and is refused where the client can't ask. Before, such a client could run a side-effect expression with no prompt. The README lists what works where.

Docs

• README: requirements as needed, tested on, and known untested limits (VB6 in another language, DBCS code pages); a screenshot of the tray icon.

vb6-mcp 1.0.0

The first public release. Nothing new to learn compared with 0.2.0: the same 94 tools, with the bugs and surprises found in six more benchmark tasks (T13-T18: a change shared by a DLL and two EXEs, debugging a reported wrong total, binary compatibility, a cause hidden in a compiled DLL, breakpoints, stepping) and in real use fixed. Every fix of the last round was re-tested in a live IDE. Details per tool: docs/tools.md; what's next: docs/roadmap.md.

Upgrading: run install.ps1 from the new package (roots are kept), then restart VB6 and Claude Code. The add-in reports version 1.0.0; its ProgID, CLSIDs and the wire protocol are unchanged.

Safety

• project_save refuses code that no tool edited (stray keystrokes in a code window, someone else's edit) and shows the diff; outside_edits: true saves it anyway. syntax_check reports such edits too.
• app_keys never types into the IDE: without control, keys go to the program's focused control or its form, not to the Immediate window or a code pane.
• app_tree marks controls the user can't see (clipped: outside a container's visible area, or less than 4 pixels showing), and app_click refuses them unless force: true.
• run_start warns about DLLs the project's controls and references need that aren't installed (missingDlls). A missing delay-loaded DLL ends the IDE process the moment the program uses it, unsaved work included (spike 39). com_diagnose names the missing chain too.
• The hook also catches the agent ending VB6 through pipelines, wmic, CIM and .Kill(): a non-elevated process can end the elevated IDE (spike 38).

Fewer surprises

• server_restart hands the session's IDEs and the runs it started to the next server, so ide_quit and run_end don't ask for ide_claim or force afterwards.
• Dialogs: ide_launch and project_open wait for the follow-up dialogs VB shows after loading and report them; app_wait stops as soon as a dialog blocks the program; batch_run stops at a dialog even with continue_on_error; ide_dialog_respond presses once more when the first click didn't take (retried).
• The program's own InputBox can be typed into (app_set_text / app_keys with window naming it).
• app_click says when nothing changed after the click (changed: false); lists of a program in the IDE are read through the add-in.
• app_screenshot returns clientOrigin and imageScale, so image positions convert to app_mouse coordinates.
• app_keys: a form with only Labels takes the keys itself; control may be a form; real_input types characters as their keys, so KeyDown sees the real KeyCode.
• Editing: an edit with "" no longer reports an error after it was applied; a failed edit says what state the module is in; a fresh module's trailing line is addressable.
• debug_locals survives private user-defined types; debug_locals and debug_eval close the compile error their own line caused.
• Step results say where they stopped (at); bp_toggle works while the program runs.
• app_set_text index follows reading order; app_tree shows each text box's index and flags a Locked one (readOnly).
• app_select without control picks the only list or combo box (or the only one with the item).
• Missing required arguments are named all at once, with the right names.
• markedChangedByRun names listed forms whose designer is open (designerOpen).

Shorter results

• symbol_refs returns each file's hash, so edits need no file_read first.
• form_add_control without a position counts overlaps instead of listing them.
• com_search matches at word starts (match: substring for the old way) and marks VB's .oca cache files.
• com_describe lists the methods of VB-built classes without include_hidden, and leaves out the IUnknown/IDispatch methods even with it.

Development

• Benchmarks T13-T18 with their fixtures, generators, replays and scoring (bench/, docs/benchmarks).

Install: download vb6mcp-1.0.0.zip, unpack it, and run install.ps1 as yourself (one UAC prompt). See the README.