Guide: How to make the Cutter plugin load other Python packages

[xxnuo]

I encountered similar issues on both Linux and macOS. Some Python packages are not built-in, and modifying the environment can be messy and problematic. So, I researched how to install third-party Python packages and run Python plugins without modifying the system, for the reference of newcomers.

Note:

• This method should theoretically work on Windows as well, though I haven't tested it.
• Using the home path may result in the error No such file or directory. Simply replace the home with the absolute path to your user directory.

Step 1: Get the Python plugin

This article uses this plugin as an example:
https://github.com/restkhz/CutterMCP-plus

The same applies to other plugins.

Step 2: Obtain the plugin path

Open Cutter, click on Edit > Preferences > Plugins from the menu bar.
The plugin directory will be displayed on the right.
Click to open and navigate to the python folder, then record the path.
This article uses my path as an example: home/Library/Application Support/rizin/cutter/plugins/python (Using the home path may result in a No such file or directory error; simply replace the home with the absolute path of your user directory)

Step 3: Obtain the Python version built into Cutter

Open terminal and execute (on macOS. Linux and Windows need to find it yourself):

ls /Applications/Cutter.app/Contents/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/

The output content shows that the built-in Python version of my Cutter is 3.12, remember it:

3.12	Current

Step 4: Modify the plugin's dependency files (not required when installing packages manually)

Take the plugin I downloaded as an example, it has a requirements.txt:

fastapi==0.116.1
mcp==1.12.2
pydantic==2.11.7
PySide6==6.9.1
requests==2.32.4
starlette==0.47.2
uvicorn==0.35.0

We need to remove the PySide6 plugin that is already built into Cutter to prevent conflicts (I also removed the version number constrained in the file, you can choose this yourself), the modified file content:

FastAPI
mcp
pydantic
#PySide6
requests
starlette
uvicorn

Step 5: Crucial, install dependencies to the plugin directory

Modify the following command

uv pip install -r requirements.txt --target "home/Library/Application Support/rizin/cutter/plugins/python/lib" --python-version 3.12 --only-binary=:all:

• uv pip is equivalent to pip3 and can be replaced by yourself; I'm just used to the faster uv
• Replace target with the Cutter python plugin directory obtained above
• Replace python-version with the Python version built into Cutter obtained above
• Using home path may cause error No such file or directory, just replace the home with the absolute path of your user directory

Step 6: Modify the plugin source code

Taking my project above as an example, its plugin file is mcp_plugin.py, open it with an editor and add the following code at the top of the file

import sys
import os

# ================= Import lib =================

current_dir = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))

lib_path = os.path.join(current_dir, "lib")

if lib_path not in sys.path:
    sys.path.insert(0, lib_path)

# ================= End of Import lib =================

this file has a from __future__ import annotations line that can be removed to prevent warnings. Other plugins generally do not have this warning.

Then copy the modified file to the plugin directory obtained above:

cp mcp_plugin.py "home/Library/Application Support/rizin/cutter/plugins/python"

Using the home path may result in a No such file or directory error. Simply replace the home with the absolute path to your user directory.

Step 7: Restart Cutter

Now plugins that depend on third-party Python packages can be loaded normally