# Replicant

> An MCP server that gives AI agents autonomous access to Google Colab GPUs. Built in Rust.

Date: 2026-04-08

## What is it?

Replicant is an MCP server that lets AI agents run GPU-accelerated experiments on Google Colab without human intervention. The agent creates sessions (persistent workspaces on Drive), attaches GPU runtimes, submits code asynchronously, and polls for results.

Three Rust crates in a workspace: `replicant-api` handles the Colab runtime protocol and Drive API, `replicant-mcp-server` exposes 18 tools over stdio, and `replicant-mcp-client` provides a CLI for manual testing.

## Key concepts

- **Session**: a persistent experiment workspace (Drive folder) that survives runtime termination
- **Runtime**: an ephemeral GPU environment attached to a session
- **Execution**: async code jobs with polling-based result retrieval

Read the [full write-up](/articles/replicant-giving-ai-agents-gpu-access) for the motivation and technical details.