Isaac Sim MCP Server

Natural language control for NVIDIA Isaac Sim through the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

Connect any MCP-compatible IDE (Cursor, VS Code, Claude Code, Windsurf, Antigravity, JetBrains) to a running Isaac Sim instance and control it with plain-English prompts -- create robots, build scenes, run simulations, and debug physics all from your editor.

Highlights

• 42 tools across 9 categories -- scene, objects, lighting, robots, sensors, materials, assets, simulation, graphs
• 107+ robots auto-discovered from the Isaac Sim asset library (Franka, UR, Unitree, Boston Dynamics, and more)
• Step-and-observe debugging -- step the simulation and inspect prim positions, joint states, and physics in one call
• Hot-reload -- iterate on Python controllers without restarting Isaac Sim
• Multi-instance -- run multiple Isaac Sim sessions side by side on different ports
• Built for Isaac Sim 5.1.0 - 6.0.1 (PhysX + Newton) with a modular adapter layer for version isolation

Installation

Option A: pip install (recommended)

pip install isaacsim-mcp-server

This installs the MCP server and the isaacsim-mcp-server CLI. You still need the Isaac Sim extension from the repo (see Launching Isaac Sim below).

Option B: From source

git clone https://github.com/whats2000/isaacsim-mcp-server
cd isaacsim-mcp-server
./scripts/setup_python_env.sh

Requirements

[!IMPORTANT] Linux and Windows are supported. On Windows, use the PowerShell launcher scripts/run_isaac_sim.ps1 in place of the .sh scripts (see below). macOS is not supported because NVIDIA Isaac Sim does not run on macOS.

[!NOTE] We are welcoming contributions to support other Isaac Sim versions. The adapter layer is designed for easy version isolation.

Quick Start

1. Set up the environment

If you installed from source:

./scripts/setup_python_env.sh

On Windows, uv sync creates the virtual environment (.venv) and installs the package plus its dependencies:

uv sync

2. Launch Isaac Sim with the extension

./scripts/run_isaac_sim.sh

You should see in the logs:

Registered 42 command handlers
Isaac Sim MCP server started on localhost:8766

The script looks for Isaac Sim in $HOME/isaacsim; set ISAACSIM_ROOT to use a different install.

Choosing the physics engine. Isaac Sim 6.0+ ships PhysX (default) and Newton backends. Select one with --newton / --physx, or ISAACSIM_ENGINE:

./scripts/run_isaac_sim.sh                  # PhysX (default)
./scripts/run_isaac_sim.sh --newton         # Newton
ISAACSIM_ENGINE=newton ./scripts/run_isaac_sim.sh

The same flags work with scripts/launch_isaac_sim_mcp.sh. Everything else on the command line is forwarded to Kit untouched. The server auto-detects the active engine, so no MCP-side configuration changes. Newton requires 6.0 or newer; asking for it on 5.1.0 fails with a clear message.

On Windows, use the PowerShell launcher instead. It takes the same engine selection and forwards extra arguments to Kit:

.\scripts\run_isaac_sim.ps1                          # PhysX (default)
.\scripts\run_isaac_sim.ps1 -Engine newton           # Newton
$env:ISAACSIM_ENGINE = 'newton'; .\scripts\run_isaac_sim.ps1

The script resolves the install from -IsaacSimRoot, then $env:ISAACSIM_ROOT, then a local source build, then C:\isaacsim, then %USERPROFILE%\isaacsim. It also creates a writable USD working directory (.cache\usd) since Windows has no /tmp.

export BEAVER3D_MODEL="<your beaver3d model name>"
export ARK_API_KEY="<your beaver3d api key>"
export NVIDIA_API_KEY="<your nvidia api key>"

$env:BEAVER3D_MODEL = "<your beaver3d model name>"
$env:ARK_API_KEY = "<your beaver3d api key>"
$env:NVIDIA_API_KEY = "<your nvidia api key>"

3. Connect your IDE

Add the MCP server to your editor. Replace the path with your actual repo location. The command examples are for Linux/macOS; each guide shows the Windows equivalent, which wraps the PowerShell launcher scripts\run_mcp_server.ps1.

claude mcp add isaac-sim /path/to/isaacsim-mcp-server/scripts/run_mcp_server.sh

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "isaac-sim": {
      "command": "/path/to/isaacsim-mcp-server/scripts/run_mcp_server.sh"
    }
  }
}

claude mcp add isaac-sim -- powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File C:\path\to\isaacsim-mcp-server\scripts\run_mcp_server.ps1

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "isaac-sim": {
      "command": "powershell",
      "args": ["-NoProfile", "-ExecutionPolicy", "Bypass", "-File", "C:\\path\\to\\isaacsim-mcp-server\\scripts\\run_mcp_server.ps1"]
    }
  }
}

{
  "servers": {
    "isaac-sim": {
      "command": "/path/to/isaacsim-mcp-server/scripts/run_mcp_server.sh"
    }
  }
}

{
  "servers": {
    "isaac-sim": {
      "command": "powershell",
      "args": ["-NoProfile", "-ExecutionPolicy", "Bypass", "-File", "C:\\path\\to\\isaacsim-mcp-server\\scripts\\run_mcp_server.ps1"]
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "isaac-sim": {
      "command": "/path/to/isaacsim-mcp-server/scripts/run_mcp_server.sh"
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "isaac-sim": {
      "command": "powershell",
      "args": ["-NoProfile", "-ExecutionPolicy", "Bypass", "-File", "C:\\path\\to\\isaacsim-mcp-server\\scripts\\run_mcp_server.ps1"]
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "isaac-sim": {
      "command": "/path/to/isaacsim-mcp-server/scripts/run_mcp_server.sh"
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "isaac-sim": {
      "command": "powershell",
      "args": ["-NoProfile", "-ExecutionPolicy", "Bypass", "-File", "C:\\path\\to\\isaacsim-mcp-server\\scripts\\run_mcp_server.ps1"]
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "isaac-sim": {
      "command": "/path/to/isaacsim-mcp-server/scripts/run_mcp_server.sh"
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "isaac-sim": {
      "command": "powershell",
      "args": ["-NoProfile", "-ExecutionPolicy", "Bypass", "-File", "C:\\path\\to\\isaacsim-mcp-server\\scripts\\run_mcp_server.ps1"]
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "isaac-sim": {
      "command": "/path/to/isaacsim-mcp-server/scripts/run_mcp_server.sh"
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "isaac-sim": {
      "command": "powershell",
      "args": ["-NoProfile", "-ExecutionPolicy", "Bypass", "-File", "C:\\path\\to\\isaacsim-mcp-server\\scripts\\run_mcp_server.ps1"]
    }
  }
}

4. Start prompting