rpt-mcp

An MCP server for SAP Crystal Reports .rpt files.

An MCP server that lets AI assistants (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, …) read and edit SAP Crystal Reports .rpt files.

.rpt is a binary format, so an AI cannot edit it as text. This server wraps the official Crystal Reports .NET runtime (Engine + in-process Report Application Server) and exposes safe, structured edit operations as MCP tools.

Tools

Positions and sizes are in twips (1440 = 1 inch, 567 ≈ 1 cm), Crystal's native unit.

All tools accept subreport to work inside a subreport.

Safety

• Every edit overwrites the file in place only after copying the original to _rptmcp_backup/<name>_<timestamp>.rpt next to it. Pass output_path to write to a new file instead.

• delete_formula, delete_parameter and remove_table refuse while the field is still used (field objects, fields embedded in text objects, formulas, selection/conditional formulas, groups, sorts, SQL commands) and list where it is used. force: true deletes the bound objects too. Without this guard, Crystal silently drops every object bound to a deleted formula.

Related MCP server: Excel MCP Server

Requirements

• Windows

• .NET Framework 4.8

• SAP Crystal Reports runtime for .NET Framework (v13, 64-bit), or SAP Crystal Reports for Visual Studio (SP 20+ recommended). Download it free from SAP. The runtime is proprietary SAP software and is not included in this repository.

• To build from source: .NET SDK 6+ (it builds net48).

Install

1. Install the SAP Crystal Reports runtime (see Requirements).

2. Get rpt-mcp in one of these ways:

   • Zip: download rpt-mcp-<version>-win-x64.zip from Releases, unzip it anywhere (e.g. C:\Tools\rpt-mcp), then register rpt-mcp.exe with your MCP client (see below).

   • MCP Bundle: open rpt-mcp-<version>.mcpb from Releases in a client that supports MCP Bundles, such as Claude Desktop.

   • MCP Registry: rpt-mcp is listed in the official MCP Registry as io.github.ashafizullah/rpt-mcp.

Build from source

cd src
dotnet build -c Release
# -> src\bin\Release\rpt-mcp.exe

The project references the Crystal assemblies from the GAC (C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_MSIL). If yours are elsewhere, override with dotnet build -p:CrGacMsil=<folder>.

For a 32-bit Crystal runtime, build with -p:PlatformTarget=x86.

Run the tests with dotnet test RptMcp.sln -c Release. See CONTRIBUTING.md for the report tests.

Register with an MCP client

Claude Code:

claude mcp add rpt-mcp -- "C:\path\to\rpt-mcp.exe"

Claude Desktop / other clients (mcpServers config):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rpt-mcp": { "command": "C:\\path\\to\\rpt-mcp.exe" }
  }
}

Database connections (optional)

Editing does not need a database. export_report, set_command_sql and set_datasource usually do. Pass server / database / user / password / integrated directly, or create connections.json next to the exe (or point RPTMCP_CONNECTIONS at it) and pass connection: "<name>":

{
  "dev": { "server": "localhost\\SQLEXPRESS", "database": "Northwind", "integrated": true }
}

connections.json is git-ignored; never commit credentials.

Example prompts

• "Inspect C:\reports\Invoice.rpt and change the title to Tax Invoice, bold 14pt."

• "Add a formula {@FullName} = first + last name and put it in the detail section next to the customer code."

• "Point every table in all reports under C:\reports to server SQL02, database SalesProd."

• "Export Invoice.rpt to PDF with OrderNo = 1001 so I can check the layout."

Tips

• Old reports often use the legacy SQLOLEDB provider, which cannot connect to LocalDB or TLS 1.2-only servers. Use set_datasource with provider: "MSOLEDBSQL" (Microsoft OLE DB Driver for SQL Server) to fix that.

Limitations

• Creating a new SQL Command is not supported. The in-process Crystal runtime rejects it with "Failed to load database information", even though adding a plain table on the same connection works. set_command_sql can only edit a command that already exists, and it has not yet been verified against a report containing one.

• Charts, cross-tabs and OLAP grids can be inspected and moved, but not structurally edited.

• Line styles: the runtime rejects double, and draws dashed/dotted lines as hairlines. Pictures are stored as bitmaps (transparency is flattened to white).

• set_command_sql and set_datasource go through Crystal's table-location API, which connects to the database to validate the schema.

• Tested with Crystal Reports runtime 13.0.2000 (x64) on Windows 11 and SQL Server LocalDB.

Protocol

JSON-RPC 2.0 over stdio (newline-delimited). This is implemented by hand because the Crystal runtime only runs on .NET Framework. Logs go to stderr.

License and legal

• rpt-mcp is released under the MIT License.

• It is an independent project, not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by SAP SE. SAP and Crystal Reports are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE in Germany and other countries. They are used here only to describe compatibility.

• The SAP Crystal Reports runtime is not distributed with this project. Each user installs it from SAP and is bound by SAP's license terms. SAP describes the runtime as free for client (desktop) applications. rpt-mcp runs as a local, single-user process, which is that kind of deployment. If you run it as a shared server that several users reach, check SAP's licensing for server applications (e.g. the Crystal Reports Developer Advantage license).

• Third-party components are listed in THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md.