Abaqus MCP Server

A local stdio MCP server that enables Claude Code to interact with Abaqus FEM software — model generation, job submission, log monitoring, and result extraction from ODB files.

🎓 Ideal for simulation automation, parametric studies, post-processing pipelines, and teaching FEM scripting through natural language.

✨ Features

• 11 MCP tools covering the full Abaqus workflow — from script generation to result extraction

• Workspace sandboxing — all file operations are scoped to a configurable directory

• ODB extraction via generated Abaqus Python scripts (no direct binary parsing — uses odbAccess)

• Security-first — no arbitrary shell execution, path traversal blocked, confirmation required for destructive operations

• Windows support — correctly handles Abaqus .bat file execution via cmd.exe /c call

• Output truncation — prevents token blowout in LLM context windows

• 85 tests across unit, mocked integration, and MCP protocol layers

Related MCP server: ansys-mcp-server

📋 Requirements

• Python 3.10+

• Abaqus (tested with Abaqus 2025; the abaqus command must be available)

• The mcp Python SDK (≥1.28.0) is installed automatically as a dependency

🚀 Quick Start

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/abaqus-mcp-server.git
cd abaqus-mcp-server

# Install in editable mode with dev dependencies
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# Copy and edit environment config (optional)
copy .env.example .env

# Run the server
abaqus-mcp serve

🔌 Claude Desktop Integration

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "abaqus": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "abaqus_mcp_server.cli", "serve"],
      "env": {
        "ABAQUS_COMMAND": "abaqus",
        "ABAQUS_MCP_WORKSPACE_DIR": "./abaqus_work"
      },
      "timeout": 600000
    }
  }
}

Or with Claude Code, add to your project's .mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "abaqus": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "abaqus_mcp_server.cli", "serve"],
      "env": {
        "ABAQUS_COMMAND": "D:\\SIMULIA\\Commands\\abaqus.bat",
        "ABAQUS_MCP_WORKSPACE_DIR": "${CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR:-.}/abaqus_work"
      }
    }
  }
}

⚙️ Configuration

All settings via environment variables (prefix ABAQUS_MCP_):

🛠️ Tools

🏗️ Architecture

src/abaqus_mcp_server/
├── app.py                  # FastMCP singleton — all tools register here
├── cli.py                  # argparse entry point
├── config.py               # pydantic Settings (ABAQUS_MCP_ prefix)
├── security.py             # Workspace sandboxing & path validation
├── abaqus_cli.py           # Abaqus subprocess abstraction (all calls go here)
├── log_parser.py           # .sta/.msg/.dat parsers
├── odb_script_templates.py # Generate Abaqus Python scripts for ODB extraction
├── constants.py            # Status strings, file extensions, error keywords
└── tools/                  # 11 MCP tool implementations (one per file)

Key Design Decisions

1. FastMCP — high-level MCP SDK with auto-generated JSON schemas from type annotations

2. ODB extraction via generated scripts — the server generates temporary Python scripts that run under abaqus python (which has odbAccess); system Python cannot import odbAccess

3. Windows subprocess — Abaqus .bat files require cmd.exe /c "call abaqus.bat ..." (no shell=True)

4. Workspace sandboxing — security.validate_path() enforces all file ops stay within the workspace

5. Confirmation gates — destructive tools require confirmed=True as an explicit user gate

🔒 Security

• All file paths are validated against the workspace directory

• Path traversal (../../) is blocked

• Dangerous shell characters (;, |, &, `, $, etc.) are rejected

• submit_job, run_script, and clean_job require explicit confirmed=True

• No arbitrary shell execution — all Abaqus calls use explicit argument lists

• Output is truncated to ABAQUS_MCP_MAX_OUTPUT_CHARS to prevent context overflow

🧪 Testing

# Run all tests
python -m pytest tests/ -v

# Run a specific area
python -m pytest tests/test_security.py -v

# Run with coverage
python -m pytest tests/ --cov=abaqus_mcp_server --cov-report=html

Test Layers

📁 Example: Cantilever Beam

examples/simple_beam/ contains a complete cantilever beam analysis:

1. beam.inp — linear elastic beam with C3D8 elements

2. Ask Claude Code: "Submit the beam.inp and extract the maximum Mises stress"

The server will: validate the workspace → submit the job → check status → extract ODB summary → extract field output.

🐛 Troubleshooting

Abaqus not found

Set ABAQUS_COMMAND to the full path:

set ABAQUS_COMMAND=D:\SIMULIA\Commands\abaqus.bat

ODB extraction fails

• The .odb file may be locked (job still running) — check with job_status first

• Abaqus Python must be able to read the workspace directory

• The generated temp scripts run under abaqus python, not system Python

Path traversal errors

All file paths must be relative to ABAQUS_MCP_WORKSPACE_DIR.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup, project structure, and guidelines.

📄 License

MIT — see LICENSE for details.