RobotStudioMCP

An MCP server and CLI for automating ABB RobotStudio.

• A watchdog (RobotStudioMCP.Watchdog) that runs as a separate process, manages RobotStudio's lifecycle (start/stop), handles .rspak package install/uninstall, and verifies the MCP add-in's readiness — exposed both as an MCP stdio server and as a CLI. For add-in developers: it can also launch RobotStudio with an add-in you're developing and track its load state independently, as a dev-loop tool. The watchdog is the only process that speaks MCP to external clients.

• A core add-in (RobotStudioMCP.AddinMain) that runs inside RobotStudio and exposes station-readiness tools (check_active_station, robotstudio_assembly_list), with a plugin seam for optional station-editing tool modules. The add-in doesn't speak MCP itself — it exposes its tools over an internal named pipe that the watchdog forwards calls through, since RobotStudio's own process never declares the ASP.NET Core shared framework an in-process MCP/HTTP server would need.

Prerequisites

• RobotStudio 2026

• .NET 10 SDK

• The Lagun271.RobotStudio.* NuGet packages (Sdk.Ref, RspakTool), published publicly from Lagun271/robotstudio-sdk-nuget.

Related MCP server: OpenFab MCP

Install

Add-in — build and install the .rspak distribution package:

dotnet build .\src\RobotStudioMCP.AddinMain\RobotStudioMCP.AddinMain.csproj -c Debug
dotnet msbuild .\src\RobotStudioMCP.AddinMain\RobotStudioMCP.AddinMain.csproj -t:PackRspak -p:Configuration=Debug -p:RspakVersion=0.1.0

This produces RobotStudioMCP-<version>.rspak — install it via RobotStudio's Package Manager.

Watchdog — build it and add the output folder to PATH:

dotnet build .\src\RobotStudioMCP.Watchdog\RobotStudioMCP.Watchdog.csproj -c Debug

Output: src\RobotStudioMCP.Watchdog\bin\Debug\net10.0\RobotStudioMCP.Watchdog.exe.

Quick start

CLI — start RobotStudio and wait until the add-in is ready:

RobotStudioMCP.Watchdog.exe start --wait-ready

MCP — point an MCP client at the watchdog's stdio server (RobotStudioMCP.Watchdog.exe mcp, or no arguments). It exposes lifecycle/readiness/package tools directly, and forwards the add-in's station-readiness tools (check_active_station, robotstudio_assembly_list) over its internal pipe to the running add-in — there is no separate endpoint to point at for those.

Developing your own add-in

Launch RobotStudio with an add-in you're building, and track its load state independently of the installed MCP add-in — no need to install it first. Try it with the repo's own test fixture:

dotnet build .\test\DummyRobotStudioAddin\DummyRobotStudioAddin.csproj -c Debug
RobotStudioMCP.Watchdog.exe start --rsaddin-path "<repo>\test\DummyRobotStudioAddin\bin\Debug\net10.0-windows\DummyRobotStudioAddin.rsaddin" --wait-ready

(Use the path under bin\Debug\net10.0-windows\, not the one next to the .csproj — see the note below.)

The JSON response's runtimeReadiness carries both load states independently: mcpAddinLoad for the installed MCP add-in, rsaddinLoad for the one you just pointed at.

Note: --rsaddin-path must point at an .rsaddin file with its assembly in the same folder — RobotStudio resolves <Assembly><FileName> relative to the manifest's own directory, not the project source tree. For an SDK-style project, that's the dotnet build output folder, not the one next to the .csproj.

Learn more

• docs/architecture.md — component map, transport choices, plugin model, readiness handshake.

• docs/mcp-cli-conventions.md — MCP tool naming/result conventions, CLI conventions.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.