Isaacsim MCP Server

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.

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Highlights

• 43 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

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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.

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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 43 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.

Optional: Beaver3D / NVIDIA API keys for 3D generation

export BEAVER3D_MODEL="<your beaver3d model name>"

export ARK_API_KEY=" " export NVIDIA_API_KEY=" "

On Windows (PowerShell):

$env:BEAVER3D_MODEL = "<your beaver3d model name>"

$env:ARK_API_KEY = " " $env: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 Code (CLI)

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

Or edit ~/.claude.json / .mcp.json:

{

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

On Windows, wrap the PowerShell launcher:

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"] } } }

VS Code

Create .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace:

{

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

On Windows, wrap the PowerShell launcher:

{

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

Cursor

Open Cursor Settings > MCP, or edit ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{

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

On Windows, wrap the PowerShell launcher:

{

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

Claude Desktop

Edit the config file for your platform:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{

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

On Windows, wrap the PowerShell launcher:

{

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

Windsurf

Open Windsurf Settings > MCP or edit ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json:

{

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

On Windows, wrap the PowerShell launcher:

{

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

Antigravity

Open the agent side panel, click … > MCP Servers > Manage MCP Servers > View raw config, or edit ~/.gemini/config/mcp_config.json (global) or .agents/mcp_config.json (workspace):

{

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

On Windows, wrap the PowerShell launcher:

{

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

JetBrains IDEs

Go to Settings > Tools > AI Assistant > MCP Servers and add the server, with the command /path/to/isaacsim-mcp-server/scripts/run_mcp_server.sh. See the JetBrains MCP docs for details.

On Windows, set the command to powershell and the arguments to -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File C:\path\to\isaacsim-mcp-server\scripts\run_mcp_server.ps1.

4. Start prompting

Check the connection with get_scene_info.

If the scene is empty, create a physics scene. Add a Franka robot at the origin and a Go1 quadruped at [2, 0, 0].

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Architecture

MCP Client (IDE)

| v isaacsim-mcp-server (PyPI package / CLI) | v TCP socket (localhost:8766) | isaac.sim.mcp_extension (Omniverse extension) | v Handlers -> Adapter -> Isaac Sim 5.1 / 6.0 APIs

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Tools

43 tools across 9 categories:

Full tool list

Scene: get_scene_info create_physics_scene clear_scene list_prims get_prim_info list_environments load_environment

Objects: create_object delete_object transform_object clone_object

Lighting: create_light modify_light

Robots: create_robot list_available_robots refresh_robot_library get_robot_info set_joint_positions get_joint_positions

Sensors: create_camera capture_image create_lidar get_lidar_point_cloud

Materials: create_material apply_material

Assets: import_urdf load_usd search_usd generate_3d

Graphs: create_action_graph edit_action_graph

Simulation: play_simulation pause_simulation stop_simulation `step_simulation