GhostAPI

The local internet for AI coding agents.

A local API sandbox, dashboard, and MCP control plane for building third-party integrations without touching production.

Quickstart · MCP Setup · How It Works · SDK Recipes · Contributing

npx @yiaany/ghostapi start --open

The Problem

AI coding agents are now strong enough to write Stripe checkouts, OpenAI workflows, GitHub automations, Twilio messaging, and email integrations. The dangerous part is that they also run the code they write.

That creates a bad default loop:

Agent action	Production risk
Tests a Stripe flow	Real money movement or broken payment state.
Tests Twilio or Resend	Real SMS or email sent to real people.
Tests GitHub automation	Real issues, branches, releases, or repo mutations.
Tests OpenAI calls	Real token spend and possible prompt/data leakage.
Logs request/response payloads	Secrets leak into terminals, prompts, screenshots, or cache.

GhostAPI gives agents a local universe where integrations behave like real providers, but every request stays on your machine.

What GhostAPI Does

GhostAPI is a local API control layer for agent-driven development.

Local API Sandbox Run provider-shaped APIs on 127.0.0.1:8080 instead of live Stripe, OpenAI, Twilio, Resend, GitHub, Discord, or random REST services.	Live Dashboard Watch every request, inspect request and response bodies, replay scenarios, generate setup snippets, and verify what your agent actually did.
MCP Control Plane Let agents inspect state, read traffic logs, force deterministic responses, and toggle Chaos Mode through MCP tools.	Safe Failure Testing Force card declines, rate limits, upstream errors, latency, and provider-shaped edge cases without waiting for real APIs to fail.
Secret Masking Mask secret-looking headers, query params, bodies, cache keys, dashboard payloads, events, and prompt inputs.	Repo Setup Generator Generate MCP config, agent instructions, environment snippets, and SDK patches for the current project.

Quickstart

Run GhostAPI instantly:

npx @yiaany/ghostapi start --open

Install globally:

npm i -g @yiaany/ghostapi
ghostapi start --open

Open the dashboard:

http://127.0.0.1:8080/dashboard

Health check:

curl http://127.0.0.1:8080/health

30 Second Demo

Start the local API world:

npx @yiaany/ghostapi start --open

Send a Stripe-shaped request locally:

curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:8080/v1/customers \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -H "authorization: Bearer stripe_test_ghostapi" \
  -d '{"email":"ada@example.com","name":"Ada Lovelace"}'

Inspect the captured request in the dashboard:

http://127.0.0.1:8080/dashboard

One-Command Repo Setup

Run setup inside any project:

npx @yiaany/ghostapi setup --write

This generates local setup assets for agent workflows:

Output	Why it matters
Agent instructions	Tell coding agents to keep provider calls local.
MCP snippets	Configure Cursor, Claude, Cline, Aider, Codex, OpenCode, Gemini CLI, Goose, OpenClaw, Hermes, and generic MCP clients.
Environment snippets	Point SDKs at http://127.0.0.1:8080.
SDK patches	Show how to route Stripe and OpenAI SDKs into GhostAPI.
Safety guidance	Warn before live providers or live-looking keys enter the loop.

MCP Setup

Start the MCP server:

npx @yiaany/ghostapi mcp

Universal MCP config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ghostapi": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@yiaany/ghostapi", "mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Agent prompt:

Use the GhostAPI MCP server.

Keep all third-party API calls local on http://127.0.0.1:8080.
Do not call real providers.

Use GhostAPI MCP tools to inspect state, read traffic logs, configure deterministic responses, and test failure scenarios.

MCP tools:

Tool	Purpose
inspect_state	Read local API objects from .ghostapi/state.json.
get_traffic_logs	Inspect recent local traffic.
set_api_behavior	Force deterministic responses for method + path.
toggle_chaos_mode	Enable local latency and provider-shaped errors.

How It Works

Your app or agent
  -> http://127.0.0.1:8080
  -> GhostAPI proxy
  -> provider detection
  -> local state / scenarios / deterministic behavior
  -> dashboard + MCP inspection

GhostAPI does five things in the loop:

Step	What happens
Detect	It infers the provider from routes, headers, SDK shapes, and request bodies.
Normalize	It converts requests into safe, inspectable local events.
Mask	It strips secret-looking values before logs, cache, dashboard, and prompts.
Respond	It returns provider-shaped mock responses, errors, or saved state.
Control	MCP and dashboard tools let agents force behavior and replay flows.

SDK Recipes

Stripe:

import Stripe from "stripe";

export const stripe = new Stripe(process.env.STRIPE_SECRET_KEY ?? "stripe_test_ghostapi", {
  host: process.env.GHOSTAPI_HOST ?? "127.0.0.1",
  port: Number(process.env.GHOSTAPI_PORT ?? "8080"),
  protocol: process.env.GHOSTAPI_PROTOCOL ?? "http"
});

OpenAI:

import OpenAI from "openai";

export const openai = new OpenAI({
  apiKey: process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY ?? "sk-ghostapi",
  baseURL: process.env.GHOSTAPI_OPENAI_BASE_URL ?? "http://127.0.0.1:8080/v1"
});

Generic REST:

curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:8080/tasks \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{"title":"Write integration tests","status":"open"}'

Built For

Audience	Use GhostAPI to
AI coding agents	Build integrations without accidentally touching production.
SaaS developers	Test provider happy paths and failure paths locally.
API-heavy teams	Turn captured traffic into repeatable scenarios and tests.
Open-source maintainers	Give contributors safe examples that do not require live provider accounts.

Safety Model

• No real provider calls by default.
• Keep SDKs pointed at http://127.0.0.1:8080.
• Use fake local keys like stripe_test_ghostapi and sk-ghostapi.
• Secrets are masked before logs, cache, dashboard, events, and prompts.
• Chaos Mode is opt-in.
• Local state lives under .ghostapi/ and is gitignored.

Local Files

Path	Purpose
.ghostapi/config.json	Local GhostAPI config.
.ghostapi/state.json	Simulated API object state.
.ghostapi/events.jsonl	Captured local request events.
.ghostapi/behaviors.json	Deterministic behavior overrides.
.ghostapi/cache/	Local response cache.

CLI Reference

npx @yiaany/ghostapi start --open
npx @yiaany/ghostapi open
npx @yiaany/ghostapi setup --write
npx @yiaany/ghostapi mcp
npx @yiaany/ghostapi report
npx @yiaany/ghostapi doctor --port 8080
npx @yiaany/ghostapi clear cache|state|events|all
npx @yiaany/ghostapi providers list
npx @yiaany/ghostapi providers inspect stripe

Repository About

Use this for the GitHub repository description:

The local internet for AI coding agents. Simulate Stripe, OpenAI, Twilio, Resend, GitHub, Discord, and REST APIs locally with a dashboard, MCP tools, scenarios, and secret masking.

Recommended topics:

mcp, ai-agents, stripe, openai, mock-server, api-testing, sandbox, proxy, local-development, typescript, cursor

Docs

• MCP setup
• Usage guide
• Release checklist
• Contributing
• Security policy

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. GhostAPI should stay local-first, safe by default, and useful for real agent workflows.

Before opening a pull request:

npm run typecheck
npm test
npm run build

Do not add tests or examples that call live providers by default. See CONTRIBUTING.md for the full guide.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.