OpenSTAAD MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Bentley STAAD.Pro that enables AI agents like Claude Desktop, Gemini, or VSCode Copilot to interact with your STAAD.Pro models and perform various time-consuming tasks like load cases definition, data extraction, repetitive property setting and more.

This MCP server was introduced as part of Bentley's Infrastructure AI Co-Innovation Initiative to help our users and accounts discover opportunities and innovate faster, while connecting Bentley's unique engineering tool capabilities to their emerging agentic workflows.

Key Features

• Fast and flexible: Enjoy minimal latency, interact with every STAAD.Pro features covered by the OpenSTAAD API.
• AI-friendly: Provides documentation, guidance and feedback via dedicated tools to help your AI agent ramp up quickly on the STAAD.Pro API.
• Multi-instance support: Connects to multiple running STAAD.Pro instances simultaneously to parallelize tasks across models.
• Privacy-first: All processing happens locally on your machine. No data is sent to the cloud. No telemetry.

Prerequisites

• OS: Windows 11 or newer
• STAAD.Pro 2025 or newer installed and running

Quick Start with Claude Desktop (<2min)

1. Download the latest openstaad-mcp.mcpb file from the GitHub Releases page.
2. Open Claude Desktop.
3. Click the ☰ menu (top-left) → File → Settings → Extensions.
4. Click Advanced → Install Extensions.
5. Select the downloaded .mcpb file.
6. Click the ☰ menu (top-left) → File → Exit
7. Restart Claude Desktop.

Claude Desktop will install the server automatically. Open a new conversation and ask Claude to interact with your STAAD.Pro model.

Tip: Make sure STAAD.Pro is running with a model open before you start chatting.

Other Clients & Configuration

TL;DR:

If not already installed, install uv with the command:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex"

Configure your client to start the server in stdio mode with the command:

uvx --from git+https://github.com/BentleySystems/openstaad-mcp openstaad-mcp

VS Code with GitHub Copilot

• For stdio: Open the Command Palette → MCP: Add Server... → Command (stdio) and enter the following command:

  powershell

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  uvx --from git+https://github.com/BentleySystems/openstaad-mcp openstaad-mcp
  

• For http: First, start the server in a terminal:

  powershell

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  uvx --from git+https://github.com/BentleySystems/openstaad-mcp openstaad-mcp --transport http
  

  Look for the generated token and URL in the terminal output. It should look like this:

  Code

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  WARNING: No --token provided. Auto-generated token: abc123def456ghi789jkl012mno345pq
  INFO:  Starting MCP server 'OpenSTAAD MCP' with transport 'http' (stateless) on http://127.0.0.1:18120/mcp
  

  Then, in VS Code, open the Command Palette → MCP: Add Server... → HTTP URL and enter the URL shown in the terminal (e.g. http://127.0.0.1:18120/mcp). 18120 is the default port, but yours may differ if you have multiple instances running or if you changed the default. Add the header Authorization: Bearer <token> with the token shown in the MCP server terminal.

GitHub Copilot CLI

Use the /mcp add command inside a Copilot CLI session to add the server. See the Copilot CLI documentation for more details.

• For stdio transport, use the command:

  powershell

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  uvx --from git+https://github.com/BentleySystems/openstaad-mcp openstaad-mcp
  

• For HTTP transport, first start the server in a terminal:

  powershell

  Copy

  uvx --from git+https://github.com/BentleySystems/openstaad-mcp openstaad-mcp --transport http
  

  Look for the generated token and URL in the terminal output. It should look like this:

  Code

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  WARNING: No --token provided. Auto-generated token: abc123def456ghi789jkl012mno345pq
  INFO:  Starting MCP server 'OpenSTAAD MCP' with transport 'http' (stateless) on http://127.0.0.1:18120/mcp
  

  Then add the server in Copilot CLI using the URL shown in the terminal (e.g. http://127.0.0.1:18120/mcp). 18120 is the default port, but yours may differ if you have multiple instances running or if you changed the default. Add the header Authorization: Bearer <token> with the token shown in the MCP server terminal.

Claude Desktop (manual configuration)

If you prefer manual setup over the .mcpb bundle, edit the Claude Desktop config file directly:

• Windows (MSIX): %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Claude_<id>\LocalCache\Roaming\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows (classic): %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openstaad": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--from", "git+https://github.com/BentleySystems/openstaad-mcp", "openstaad-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code (CLI)

• For stdio transport, use the command:

  Terminal

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  claude mcp add --transport stdio openstaad -- uvx --from git+https://github.com/BentleySystems/openstaad-mcp openstaad-mcp
  

• For HTTP transport, first start the server in a terminal:

  powershell

  Copy

  uvx --from git+https://github.com/BentleySystems/openstaad-mcp openstaad-mcp --transport http
  

  Look for the generated token and URL in the terminal output. It should look like this:

  Code

  Copy

  WARNING: No --token provided. Auto-generated token: abc123def456ghi789jkl012mno345pq
  INFO:  Starting MCP server 'OpenSTAAD MCP' with transport 'http' (stateless) on http://127.0.0.1:18120/mcp
  

  Then add the server in Claude Code with the command:

  Terminal

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  claude mcp add --transport http openstaad http://127.0.0.1:18120/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer <your-token>"
  

  18120 is the default port, but yours may differ if you have multiple instances running or if you changed the default.

Gemini CLI

• For stdio transport, use the command:

  powershell

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  gemini mcp add openstaad uvx --from git+https://github.com/BentleySystems/openstaad-mcp openstaad-mcp
  

• For HTTP transport, first start the server in a terminal:

  powershell

  Copy

  uvx --from git+https://github.com/BentleySystems/openstaad-mcp openstaad-mcp --transport http
  

  Look for the generated token and URL in the terminal output. It should look like this:

  Code

  Copy

  WARNING: No --token provided. Auto-generated token: abc123def456ghi789jkl012mno345pq
  INFO:  Starting MCP server 'OpenSTAAD MCP' with transport 'http' (stateless) on http://127.0.0.1:18120/mcp
  

  Then add the server in Gemini CLI with the command:

  powershell

  Copy

  gemini mcp add --transport http --header "Authorization: Bearer <your-token>" openstaad http://127.0.0.1:18120/mcp
  

  18120 is the default port, but yours may differ if you have multiple instances running or if you changed the default.

Transport Modes

The server supports two transport modes:

CLI Options

Available MCP Tools

File I/O

The execute_code tool supports optional server-side file I/O for bulk data workflows. Instead of passing large datasets through the agent's context window, the server reads/writes CSV and XLSX files directly and injects the data into the sandbox as the input_data variable.

input_data has a stable, extension-specific shape:

• CSV: a list of row lists. If a header is detected, it is input_data[0] and data rows start at input_data[1:].
• XLSX: a dict: {sheet_name: {"columns": list, "rows": list_of_rows}}.

Path containment: File paths must resolve inside a configured allowed boundary before any read/write occurs. The server supports both client-configured MCP roots and server-configured allowed directories (via --allowed-dirs or user_config.allowed_directories in the manifest). The server validates paths against these boundaries before any file access.