FreeCAD MCP Server mcpfreecad

mcpfreecad is an MCP server for driving a running FreeCAD session. It exposes document management, modeling, inspection, snapshot, and optional workbench operations to MCP clients over stdio or authenticated remote HTTP.

The server is designed around a small Python bridge that is loaded into FreeCAD's embedded interpreter. The MCP process then talks to that bridge over localhost.

Features

• stdio and API-key authenticated remotehttp transports

• document lifecycle tools for opening, saving, closing, and enumerating FreeCAD documents

• explicit model inspection via document tree, topology, sketch status, and sketch details tools

• modeling support for Part primitives, PartDesign bodies/pads/pockets, spreadsheets, Draft arrays, and snapshots

• reusable object library backed by BREP plus JSON metadata

• optional workbench integration for helpers such as freecad.gears, Fasteners, Curves sketch-on-surface workflows, and A2plus assembly operations when available

• remote snapshot retrieval through authenticated URLs or tokenized snapshot download URLs

For LLM-facing operating guidance, see LLM_USAGE.md.

Related MCP server: FreeCAD Robust MCP Server

Further Information

There is an accompanying blog article that describes some of the usage and motivation behind this project.

Installation

Install from PyPI:

pip install mcpfreecad

To enable remote HTTP mode:

pip install "mcpfreecad[remote]"

For local development:

git clone <repository-url>
cd mcpFreeCAD
pip install -e .
pip install -e ".[remote]"

Quick Start

1. Start FreeCAD.

2. Load the bridge module inside the FreeCAD Python console.

3. Start mcpfreecad in stdio mode or remotehttp mode.

4. Connect your MCP client and call bridge_status.

Example bridge loading from a checkout:

exec(open("/path/to/mcpFreeCAD/examples/freecad_bridge_loader.py").read(), globals(), globals())

The loader starts the bridge on 127.0.0.1:48111 with token change-me. Adjust the example or call start_bridge_server(...) directly if you need different values.

Configuration

The default configuration path is ~/.config/mcpfreecad.conf.

Example configuration:

{
  "mode": "remotehttp",
  "logging": {
    "level": "INFO"
  },
  "bridge": {
    "host": "127.0.0.1",
    "port": 48111,
    "token": "change-me",
    "timeout_seconds": 30.0
  },
  "remote_server": {
    "transport": {
      "uds": "/var/run/mcpfreecad.sock"
    },
    "url_prefix": "https://mcp.example.com/freecad/"
  },
  "stdio": {
    "library_root": "/srv/mcpfreecad/stdio-library",
    "allow_code_execution": true,
    "allow_library_write": true,
    "allow_snapshots": true
  },
  "api_keys": [
    {
      "id": "cad-agent",
      "kdf": {
        "algorithm": "argon2id",
        "salt": "BASE64",
        "time_cost": 3,
        "memory_cost": 65536,
        "parallelism": 1,
        "hash_len": 32,
        "hash": "BASE64"
      },
      "library_root": "/srv/mcpfreecad/cad-agent-library",
      "allow_code_execution": true,
      "allow_library_write": true,
      "allow_snapshots": true
    }
  ]
}

Generate or rotate a remote API key:

mcpfreecad --config ~/.config/mcpfreecad.conf --genkey cad-agent

Running

StdIO mode:

mcpfreecad --config ~/.config/mcpfreecad.conf

Remote HTTP mode:

mcpfreecad --config ~/.config/mcpfreecad.conf --transport remotehttp

The remote HTTP wrapper accepts:

• Authorization: Bearer <token>

• X-API-Key: <token>

• ?mcp=<token>

• legacy ?api_key=<token>

/status is intentionally public so it can be used for health checks.

Reverse Proxy Notes

The FastMCP instance is created with:

TransportSecuritySettings(enable_dns_rebinding_protection=False)

That is intentional for reverse-proxy deployments.

Example Apache layout:

ProxyPass        /freecad/status      http://127.0.0.1:18080/status
ProxyPassReverse /freecad/status      http://127.0.0.1:18080/status

ProxyPass        /freecad/mcp/        http://127.0.0.1:18080/mcp/
ProxyPassReverse /freecad/mcp/        http://127.0.0.1:18080/mcp/

ProxyPass        /freecad/snapshots/  http://127.0.0.1:18080/snapshots/
ProxyPassReverse /freecad/snapshots/  http://127.0.0.1:18080/snapshots/

When remote_server.url_prefix is configured, snapshot download URLs are returned as absolute URLs rooted there. Otherwise they fall back to relative ../snapshots/... paths.

Snapshot Retrieval

capture_snapshot(...) returns:

• snapshot_id

• download_url

• download_url_with_token

download_url requires normal MCP auth again.

download_url_with_token is an easier direct-fetch URL for clients that cannot conveniently resend MCP auth. It contains a random in-memory token and returns image/png.

You can also retrieve a registered snapshot inline through:

get_snapshot_base64(snapshot_id="...")

Snapshots are exposed only if they were created through capture_snapshot(...). Arbitrary server files are not downloadable through the snapshot route.

FreeBSD rc.d Service

A sample rc.d script is included at freebsd/rc.d/mcpfreecad.

Install it as:

install -m 0555 freebsd/rc.d/mcpfreecad /usr/local/etc/rc.d/mcpfreecad

Default rc.conf settings:

mcpfreecad_enable="YES"
mcpfreecad_config="/usr/local/etc/mcpfreecad.conf"

Optional overrides:

mcpfreecad_daemon_user="mcpfreecad"
mcpfreecad_command="/usr/local/bin/mcpfreecad"
mcpfreecad_transport="remotehttp"
mcpfreecad_flags=""
mcpfreecad_pidfile="/var/run/mcpfreecad.pid"

Optional Workbenches

mcpfreecad only surfaces optional workbench tools when the corresponding workbench is available on the host. This currently includes support for areas such as:

• freecad.gears

• Fasteners

• Curves

• A2plus

Repository Layout

• mcpfreecad/: package source

• examples/: bridge loader and smoke examples

• freebsd/: FreeBSD service helper

• tests/: automated test suite

• skill/: Codex skill material

Testing

Run the Python test suite with:

pytest -q

For bridge-side smoke testing from a checkout:

python3 examples/freecad_bridge_smoke.py
python3 examples/freecad_bridge_smoke.py --with-fasteners