rachio-mcp

What it does

Exposes your Rachio irrigation system to any MCP client (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, etc.) so you can ask "is anything watering right now?", "run the front lawn for 10 minutes", or "put it on a 2-day rain delay" in natural language.

Uses the Rachio public API — cloud, token-based, works from anywhere (no need to be on the same network as the controller).

Related MCP server: opensprinkler-mcp

Tools

Zones and devices can be referenced by name or number, not just their API ids.

Requirements

• Python 3.12+

• uv

• A Rachio account and an API token

Get your API token

In the Rachio mobile app: Profile → Get API Key → Copy. It's a single bearer token tied to your account — treat it like a password.

Install

git clone https://github.com/rudy325/rachio-mcp.git
cd rachio-mcp
uv sync

Configure

export RACHIO_API_TOKEN=your-api-token

See .env.example.

Register with Claude Code

claude mcp add rachio \
  --env RACHIO_API_TOKEN=your-api-token \
  -- uv --directory /path/to/rachio-mcp run server.py

Or with Claude Desktop, in claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rachio": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["--directory", "/path/to/rachio-mcp", "run", "server.py"],
      "env": { "RACHIO_API_TOKEN": "your-api-token" }
    }
  }
}

Use with other clients (OpenAI, local models, etc.)

This is a standard MCP server — it speaks the open protocol over stdio and doesn't care which model or client drives it. Anything that supports MCP works:

• OpenAI — the Agents SDK and Responses API accept MCP servers. Point them at: command: "uv", args: ["--directory", "/path/to/rachio-mcp", "run", "server.py"], with RACHIO_API_TOKEN in the environment.

• Local / open-source models — via any MCP-capable client (Cline, Continue, LibreChat, Open WebUI, Goose, Zed, Cursor) running Ollama, Llama, Qwen, etc.

• Any other MCP client — same stdio command as the Claude examples above.

The only requirement is a model that's competent at tool/function calling; the large hosted models and stronger local ones (Llama 3.1+, Qwen 2.5+) handle it well.

Notes

• Multiple controllers: every tool takes an optional device argument (name or id), required only when the account has more than one controller.

• Durations: zone runs are capped at 180 minutes and rain delays at 7 days, matching the API limits.

• Standby: set_device_power(on=false) puts the controller in standby, pausing all scheduled watering until turned back on.

• Rate limits: the Rachio API allows 1700 calls/day per token; these tools are all single calls, so normal use is nowhere near the limit.

How it fits together

MCP client ──stdio──> server.py ──HTTPS──> api.rach.io/1 ──> your Rachio controller

License

MIT. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Rachio, Inc. "Rachio" is a trademark of Rachio, Inc.