ZWCAD Platform MCP

Control ZWCAD's Windows local service through the MCP protocol, available for WorkBuddy and other clients that support MCP stdio. The project provides 26 ZWCAD automation tools.

Features

Related MCP server: CAD MCP Server

Environment Requirements

• Windows 10/11

• ZWCAD, with at least one DWG open after startup

• Python 3.9 or higher

• It is recommended that Python and ZWCAD have the same bitness

When installing Python, check Add Python to PATH. You can also run py -3 --version from the command line to confirm the installation.

Installation

1. Extract the project to a fixed directory, e.g. D:\Tools\ZWCAD-Platform-MCP.

2. Double-click install.bat.

3. Wait for the script to create .venv and install dependencies.

Standalone Startup Test

1. Start ZWCAD and open a test DWG.

2. Double-click start.bat.

3. It is normal for the command window to keep running and wait for a client connection; the MCP stdio service itself has no web interface.

Configure WorkBuddy

Open workbuddy-mcp.json and replace the two occurrences of D:\\YOUR_PATH with the actual directory where the project is located. For example, when the project is located at D:\Tools\ZWCAD-Platform-MCP:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zwcad-platform": {
      "command": "D:\\Tools\\ZWCAD-Platform-MCP\\.venv\\Scripts\\python.exe",
      "args": ["D:\\Tools\\ZWCAD-Platform-MCP\\server.py"],
      "env": {"PYTHONUTF8": "1"}
    }
  }
}

Merge the mcpServers configuration into WorkBuddy's MCP configuration, save, and restart WorkBuddy.

First-Time Verification

It is recommended to call the following in sequence in a test DWG:

1. get_app_info

2. get_objects_in_model(limit=10)

3. draw_entity(entity_type="line", params={"x1":0,"y1":0,"x2":100,"y2":0})

4. zoom(mode="extents")

If the first step fails to connect, please confirm:

• ZWCAD has been started and a DWG is open;

• WorkBuddy is using .venv\Scripts\python.exe;

• WorkBuddy has been fully restarted after modifying the configuration;

• Antivirus software is not blocking Python from accessing the local COM service.

If an older version showed mbcs codec can't decode bytes, use the latest server.py from this project and fully restart WorkBuddy. The service now has comtypes generate the ZWCAD interface wrappers in memory, avoiding failures when the system ANSI code page reads generated files.

Usage Safety

Some tools directly modify the current drawing. Before performing deletion, closing documents, overwriting saves, or modifying system variables, it is recommended to save a backup first and require manual confirmation in WorkBuddy before the operation.

License

MIT License, see LICENSE for details.