ignition-mcp

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for Inductive Automation Ignition. It gives an AI assistant, Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or any MCP client, structured access to an Ignition gateway: browse and write tags, query history and alarms, manage projects, and deploy full Perspective views.

Tested against Ignition 8.3. 43 tools spanning tags, history, alarms, projects, gateway administration, and Perspective. The server is read-only by default; every write is gated behind an explicit opt-in.

You:    "Deploy a Perspective dashboard to a new project called LineOverview with a
         gauge bound to [default]Line1/Speed."
Claude: (bootstraps the project, writes the view, wires the tag binding, triggers a scan)
        -> https://gateway:8088/data/perspective/client/LineOverview

Why two planes

Ignition 8.3 ships a native REST API, but it doesn't expose live tag values, tag history, alarm queries, or Perspective view resources. ignition-mcp covers the gap with two transport planes:

• REST plane. The gateway's native /data/api/v1 API, authenticated with an API key, used for projects, gateway configuration, modules, logs, backups, and Perspective session diagnostics.

• Bridge plane. A small WebDev project (mcp-bridge) you install once on the gateway. It exposes the gateway scripting surface (system.tag.*, system.alarm.*, system.db.*, and project file I/O) over HMAC-signed HTTP requests.

Tools that need the bridge degrade with a clear message if it isn't installed. Run ignition_diagnose any time to see what's configured and what's missing.

Related MCP server: MCP PLC Core

Quickstart

1. Create an API key on the gateway

Gateway web UI -> Config -> Security -> API Keys -> Create. Give it a name, for example claude. Copy the full token; it looks like claude:AbCd....

The key's auto-created security level (Authenticated/<key-name>) needs to be granted gateway read/write access under Config -> Security -> General -> Gateway Read/Write Permissions. Skip this step and calls return HTTP 403; ignition_diagnose will tell you and give the exact fix.

2. Install ignition-mcp

pipx install ignition-mcp
# or: uvx ignition-mcp
# or: pip install ignition-mcp

3. Configure your MCP client

Claude Desktop (claude_desktop_config.json) or Claude Code (.mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ignition": {
      "command": "ignition-mcp",
      "env": {
        "IGNITION_URL": "http://localhost:8088",
        "IGNITION_API_TOKEN": "claude:YOUR_SECRET_HERE"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart the client and ask it to run ignition_diagnose. You should get an all-green checklist, aside from a warning about the bridge, which is the next step.

4. Install the bridge (recommended, needed for live data and Perspective deploys)

Generate a random secret, enable writes, and let the server install the bridge for you:

"env": {
  "IGNITION_URL": "http://localhost:8088",
  "IGNITION_API_TOKEN": "claude:YOUR_SECRET_HERE",
  "IGNITION_BRIDGE_SECRET": "a-long-random-string",
  "IGNITION_ALLOW_WRITES": "true"
}

Ask your assistant to install the bridge (this runs the bridge_install tool), then run ignition_diagnose again to confirm the bridge check is green. See docs/bridge.md for the manual install path and troubleshooting.

Configuration

Safety model

• Read-only by default. Mutating tools refuse to run unless IGNITION_ALLOW_WRITES=true and the call passes confirm=true. Your assistant sets confirm after you approve the action.

• Destructive operations echo the name back. Deleting a project or view requires re-sending its exact name.

• A tag-write allowlist lets you restrict writable tags to specific path globs.

• REST mutations carry the API key's identity into Ignition's own audit log; bridge mutations log to the mcp-bridge logger. Secrets are never logged or echoed back.

• The bridge's file endpoints are confined to data/projects/; nothing outside that tree is reachable.

Tool catalog

The server also exposes MCP resources the assistant can read to author valid Perspective views: ignition://docs/view-schema and ignition://templates/view/{flex-basic,coordinate-basic,tag-bound-dashboard}.

Building Perspective views

See docs/perspective-authoring.md for the full writeup. In short: the assistant reads the view-schema resource, starts from a template, validates offline with perspective_validate_view, then deploys with perspective_upsert_view, which validates again, writes the view, and triggers a project scan. A full round-trip example is in examples/deploy-dashboard.md.

Development

git clone https://github.com/jsgorana/ignition-mcp
cd ignition-mcp
python -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[dev]"

ruff check src tests          # lint
ruff format --check src tests # format check
mypy src                      # type check
pytest tests/unit             # unit tests, no gateway needed
python bridge/build_zip.py    # rebuild the bridge project archive

# Live integration suite (needs a real 8.3 gateway with the bridge installed):
IGNITION_URL=... IGNITION_API_TOKEN=... IGNITION_BRIDGE_SECRET=... \
IGNITION_ALLOW_WRITES=true python tests/live/live_check.py

Acknowledgments

Built on the Model Context Protocol and its Python SDK, using httpx for HTTP. The ignition-sdk-examples repository was a useful reference while working out how Ignition's module and scripting APIs fit together.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.

Disclaimer

This project is independent and community-built. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Inductive Automation. "Ignition" and "Perspective" are trademarks of Inductive Automation, LLC, used here only to describe compatibility. Test any write-enabled tool against a non-production gateway before pointing it at something that matters.