ArcGIS Pro MCP — Claude plugin

Drive a live, open ArcGIS Pro session from Claude using arcpy. Claude can list layers, describe datasets, run geoprocessing, and inspect the current project — executing directly against whatever project you have open in Pro.

Because it runs inside your open Pro session, everything happens locally on your Windows machine. This plugin is a distribution wrapper; the actual arcpy work still requires ArcGIS Pro running in front of you.

Prerequisites (required — this will not work without them)

• Windows (ArcGIS Pro is Windows-only)

• ArcGIS Pro installed with a valid license

• Claude Code or the Claude desktop / Cowork app on the same machine

• A one-time mcp package install into Pro's Python (handled by install.ps1)

If you don't have ArcGIS Pro installed and licensed, this plugin cannot do anything.

Related MCP server: ArcGIS Pro Bridge MCP Server

What you get

An MCP server (arcgis-pro) exposing:

Plus a bundled skill (arcgis-pro-workflow) that teaches Claude the per-session listener startup, credit-gating etiquette, and releasing Pro's UI when done.

Install

1. Install the plugin

From a local folder (e.g. this OneDrive copy):

/plugin marketplace add "C:\Users\<you>\OneDrive - Econsult Solutions Inc\Documents\Claude\plugins\arcgis-pro-mcp"
/plugin install arcgis-pro-mcp@arcgis-pro-mcp-dev

Then restart Claude Code / the desktop app so the MCP server loads.

In the Claude desktop / Cowork app you can also add the marketplace folder through the plugin UI instead of the slash command.

2. One-time environment setup

The MCP server runs under Pro's Python and needs the mcp package there. Run:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\install.ps1

This finds arcgispro-py3\python.exe, installs mcp into it, and prints the exact listener line to use each session. If your Pro is on a non-standard path, update the command field in .claude-plugin/plugin.json to the path the script reports.

Using it (every session)

1. Open your project in ArcGIS Pro.

2. In Pro's Python window (View → Python), paste this self-locating snippet. It finds pro_listener.py wherever Cowork / Claude Desktop installed the plugin — you don't need to know the path (it differs per machine and per install):

   import glob, os
   _hits = sorted(
       glob.glob(os.path.join(os.environ["APPDATA"], "Claude", "**", "pro_listener.py"), recursive=True),
       key=os.path.getmtime, reverse=True)
   if not _hits:
       raise SystemExit("pro_listener.py not found. Is the arcgis-pro-mcp plugin installed?")
   print("Starting listener from:", _hits[0])
   exec(open(_hits[0]).read())

   The Python window will show "listener ready" and then appear busy — that's expected; the pump is running.

3. Ask Claude to do GIS work ("what layers are in my map?", "describe the parcels layer", "reproject X to Y").

4. Claude calls listener_stop() when finished to free Pro's UI. Re-run the snippet next time.

Notes on credits

execute_arcpy refuses Esri credit-consuming functions (geocoding, EnrichLayer, network solves, agolservices, drive-time areas, etc.). Those must go through execute_arcpy_credit with confirm_credit=True, which Claude sets only after you explicitly approve the credit cost.

Troubleshooting

Sharing with your organization

To let coworkers install with one command, put this folder in a GitHub repo and have them run:

/plugin marketplace add your-org/arcgis-pro-mcp
/plugin install arcgis-pro-mcp@arcgis-pro-mcp-dev

Each coworker still needs the prerequisites above (Pro + license) and must run install.ps1 once. You can also pre-wire the marketplace for a team via extraKnownMarketplaces in a shared .claude/settings.json.

Author: Angel Zhong