bridge-mcp-server

Cross-platform intelligence bridge — correlate Ignition SCADA tags with Studio 5000 PLC logic end-to-end.

The Nodeblue open-source connectors

What This Does

bridge-mcp-server connects ignition-mcp-server and studio5000-mcp-server via the Model Context Protocol. It gives AI agents the ability to:

• Correlate — build a full tag-by-tag map between an Ignition SCADA project and a Studio 5000 L5X PLC export

• Trace — follow a single tag end-to-end from Ignition config → OPC item path → L5X tag → every rung of PLC logic that references it

• Find gaps — identify commissioning mismatches: Ignition OPC tags with no PLC counterpart, and L5X tags with no Ignition reference

It maps Ignition OPC tag paths to L5X tag names using convention-based normalization (with optional explicit mapping file override), then leverages the Studio 5000 cross-reference engine to find every line of PLC logic that references the matched tag.

Related MCP server: Studio5000 AI-Powered PLC Programming Assistant MCP Server

Why This Exists

Ignition and Studio 5000 are the two most common platforms in North American industrial automation, and they almost always exist together — yet there's no tooling that connects them. Commissioning engineers manually cross-reference tag databases in spreadsheets. This server automates that.

Built and maintained by Nodeblue. These connectors are early community tooling from our work on Nexus, where this capability ships production-grade — alongside cross-vendor correlation, live fault diagnosis, and a persistent memory of the operation.

Installation

pip install bridge-mcp-server

This also installs ignition-mcp-server and studio5000-mcp-server as dependencies. Requires Python 3.10+.

To install from source instead:

git clone https://github.com/Nodeblue-AI/bridge-mcp-server.git
cd bridge-mcp-server
pip install -e .

Quick Start

stdio (local — kiro-cli, Claude Desktop, Claude Code)

bridge-mcp-server

SSE (remote — server on one machine, agent on another)

bridge-mcp-server --transport sse --port 8082

Configuration

kiro-cli

Add to your ~/.kiro/settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bridge": {
      "command": "bridge-mcp-server",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop MCP config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bridge": {
      "command": "bridge-mcp-server",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

SSE (remote)

Start the server on your engineering workstation:

bridge-mcp-server --transport sse --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8082

Connect from any MCP client using the SSE URL: http://<host>:8082/sse

Available Tools

ping

Health check. Returns "pong".

correlate_projects(ignition_path, l5x_path, mapping_file?)

Build a full correlation map between an Ignition project and an L5X PLC project.

correlate_projects("/path/to/ignition-project", "/path/to/plc.l5x")

Returns:

{
  "matched": [
    {
      "ignitionPath": "Conveyors/Line1/Running",
      "opcItemPath": "ns=1;s=[PLC]Motor_1.Running",
      "l5xTag": "Motor_1",
      "l5xMember": "Motor_1.Running",
      "l5xDataType": "Motor_UDT",
      "l5xScope": "controller"
    }
  ],
  "ignitionOnly": [],
  "l5xOnly": [
    {"name": "EmergencyStop", "dataType": "BOOL", "scope": "controller"}
  ],
  "stats": {"matched": 3, "ignitionOnly": 0, "l5xOnly": 5, "totalIgnitionOpc": 3, "totalL5x": 8}
}

trace_tag(ignition_path, l5x_path, tag_name, mapping_file?)

Deep end-to-end trace of a single tag from SCADA to PLC logic.

trace_tag("/path/to/ignition-project", "/path/to/plc.l5x", "Running")

Returns the complete signal chain: Ignition tag config → OPC item path → L5X tag details → every rung/line of PLC logic that references it.

find_unmapped_tags(ignition_path, l5x_path, mapping_file?)

Identify commissioning gaps — tags that exist on one side but not the other.

find_unmapped_tags("/path/to/ignition-project", "/path/to/plc.l5x")

OPC Path Mapping

The bridge uses convention-based mapping by default:

For complex setups (aliased tags, scaled values), provide a JSON mapping file:

{
  "ns=1;s=[PLC]Custom_Alias": "Motor_1.Running",
  "ns=1;s=[PLC]Scaled_Speed": "LineSpeed"
}

Pass it via mapping_file parameter on any tool.

Use Cases

Pre-commissioning validation

"Show me every Ignition OPC tag and its matching PLC tag — I need to verify the full correlation before we go live."

Agent calls: correlate_projects("/projects/MyPlant", "/plc/MainPLC.l5x")

Alarm root-cause analysis

"The Conveyors/Line1/Running tag is triggering an alarm in Ignition. What PLC logic drives it?"

Agent calls: trace_tag("/projects/MyPlant", "/plc/MainPLC.l5x", "Running")

Agent: The Ignition tag Conveyors/Line1/Running maps to PLC tag Motor_1.Running
via OPC path ns=1;s=[SampleController]Motor_1.Running.

Motor_1 is a Motor_UDT instance. Motor_1.Running is referenced in:
- MainProgram/MainRoutine rung 1: Motor_Control AOI call
- MainProgram/MainRoutine rung 2: Fault detection branch
- MainProgram/FaultHandler line 1: IF Motor_1.Faulted THEN...

The Motor_Control AOI sets Running from MotorFeedback (rung 4).

Commissioning gap analysis

"Which PLC tags exist in the L5X but aren't wired up in Ignition yet? We need to close gaps before FAT."

Agent calls: find_unmapped_tags("/projects/MyPlant", "/plc/MainPLC.l5x")

Roadmap

v0.4 — Cross-Platform Correlation ✅

• correlate_projects — full tag-by-tag map between Ignition and L5X

• trace_tag — end-to-end signal chain from SCADA to PLC logic

• find_unmapped_tags — commissioning gap detection

• Convention-based OPC path → L5X tag name normalization

• Optional JSON mapping file for explicit overrides

• Correlation index caching per project pair

• stdio and SSE transport support

Maintenance

• Mapping file auto-generation from correlation results (contributions welcome)

• PyPI publication (pip install bridge-mcp-server)

• Bug fixes and OPC path-convention edge cases from real projects — issues welcome

This connector is feature-complete for its scope: one Ignition project against one L5X export. Development beyond that scope happens in Nexus.

This Connector vs. Nexus

The connector is the access layer. Nexus is the intelligence that sits on top of it — and of every other connector — as one system.

If you're evaluating this connector for more than one PLC, talk to us about Nexus.

Development

git clone https://github.com/Nodeblue-AI/bridge-mcp-server.git
cd bridge-mcp-server
pip install -e .
pip install pytest
pytest tests/ -v

Project Structure

src/bridge_mcp_server/
├── __init__.py       # v0.4.0
├── __main__.py       # CLI entry point (stdio/SSE)
├── server.py         # FastMCP with 4 tools (ping + 3 correlation tools)
└── correlator.py     # OPC path normalizer + correlation engine

tests/
└── test_correlator.py

License

MIT — see LICENSE.