OptiVibe

optivibe-mcp

optivibe-mcp is an experimental MCP server that provides tooling for a coding agent — such as Claude Code — to interface with Zemax OpticStudio.

*One unattended run: a 60× objective reworked into a 10× / NA 0.45 apochromat, polychromatic Strehl ≥ 0.935 at every field point. How it was done and measured.*

It exposes OpticStudio operations as typed MCP tools: loading designs, editing lens data, running analyses, optimization, and tolerancing, driven through the ZOS-API so the agent doesn't have to write raw API code. Alongside the tools is a reference layer the agent can query — operand and glass lookups, and full-text search over the OpticStudio manual.

Install it with pip install optivibe-mcp (on PyPI); the server is also listed in the official MCP Registry as io.github.chuang44-tiff/optivibe-mcp. See Install.

What's in it

• Tools (optivibe-mcp, in packages/optivibe-harness/) — more than 80 typed tools that drive OpticStudio over the ZOS-API. Each returns a uniform result envelope rather than raising, so the agent checks a read-back value instead of assuming a call succeeded. Beyond spherical surfaces it authors aspheres, coordinate breaks, fold mirrors, diffraction gratings, and gradient-index media. For a settled lens it can also show which elements carry the colour and field-curvature terms and trial glass swaps against a control (see Glass tools).
• Reference layer (optivibe-reference) — operand and glass lookups plus manual search, to help ground the agent's choices. Engine-free and license-free; its data is built locally (see Build the reference data).

The project ships code only. No vendor data (glass catalog, manual text, operand descriptions) is included — you generate it from your own licensed OpticStudio install.

Demos

Each demo ships its brief and its lens files, and the agent's stage log where one is included; demos/ lists them and has a script that re-measures a lens file.

An agent reworks a 60× objective into a 10× / NA 0.45 apochromat, unattended One run with no human in the loop produced a 10× / NA 0.45 objective with a polychromatic Strehl ratio of 0.935 or better at all four field points, measured afterwards by a separate script.

A local model does the same job with OptiVibe's skills and MCP server Qwen3.8-Flash-Next on a local server, given a brief tuned for this task, met the same targets with a polychromatic Strehl of 0.834 or better at all four field points. The page says where it trails Opus.

An agent refines a 20× zoom, and the promotion gate holds it back One run more than halved the blur at the zoom's worst position, missed its distortion target, and the server refused to promote the result over two thin filter plates. The headline figures reproduced on a re-read of the saved file.

Does the agent design a better lens when it can see the drawing? The same lens task, run with no human in the loop until each arm had three finished lenses: every run that used the layout review produced a shorter lens than every run that worked from numbers alone (70–100 mm against 140–221 mm), and every vision lens held an on-axis Strehl ratio of 0.93 or better at all four wavelengths.

The agent's glass step against OpticStudio's Hammer, on two microscope objectives On the 10× / NA 0.45 apochromat all three agent runs reached a lower merit than Hammer (by 12–19 %) and were better at every field, changing 3 to 5 of 14 glasses to Hammer's 10. On the 20× / NA 0.70 objective both agent runs kept the on-axis target that Hammer's lens fails; one also beat Hammer's merit and every field, with its last glass change made by hand. The page lists the limits.

An agent desensitizes a finished 10× objective so more built lenses pass On a 10× / NA 0.45 apochromat with every glass locked, three unattended runs raised the share of simulated builds that are diffraction-limited at every field from 57.50 % to 63.65–65.05 %. All three found the same lever, an angle-of-incidence ceiling on one surface, and paid up to 0.0018 waves of nominal wavefront for it.

Prerequisites

• Windows. OpticStudio and the ZOS-API .NET surface are Windows-only.
• Zemax OpticStudio, licensed for the ZOS-API. Developed against 2025 R1 (25.1.0, Premium); other versions are untested. Access is gated at first engine open on IsValidLicenseForAPI.
• Python 3.11+.
• .NET Framework — used automatically. The bootstrap sets PYTHONNET_RUNTIME=netfx and locates your install directory (via env override, registry, or a Program Files scan). No manual setup.

Install

From PyPI

In a Python 3.11+ virtual environment:

pip install optivibe-mcp "optivibe-reference[manual]"

optivibe-build-data --probe optivibe-doctor

Both packages are on PyPI: optivibe-mcp and optivibe-reference, released together with matching versions. optivibe-mcp is the server; it brings the reference layer (optivibe-reference) with it. The [manual] extra (PyMuPDF) is optional and reads your OpticStudio manual PDF (see Manual install). optivibe-build-data builds the reference data from your own OpticStudio install, and --probe also runs the two operand probes, which open OpticStudio and need the ZOS-API licence. optivibe-doctor checks the install. Then register the server with Claude Code.

optivibe-build-data writes into the installed package's data/ and data/captures/ directories, so install optivibe-mcp into a virtual environment (or with pip install --user) rather than into a system Python whose site-packages is not writable.

From a clone

Clone the repository, then run one command from its root:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File install.ps1

It creates a virtual environment in .venv, installs both packages, builds the reference data from your OpticStudio install, runs the doctor, and prints the command that registers the server with Claude Code. It opens no OpticStudio session. Options:

• -Python : the Python 3.11+ to build the environment from, when the python on PATH is older;
• -Probe: also run the two operand probes, which open OpticStudio and need the ZOS-API licence (see Build the reference data);
• -Register: run the claude mcp add command for you.

The script only runs the steps below, which you can also do by hand.

Manual install

From packages/optivibe-harness/:

pip install -e ../optivibe-reference   # reference layer first

pip install -e . # then the harness

Install the reference package first — the harness loads it in-process, and without it the reference and lookup tools won't be available.

The [manual] extra (PyMuPDF) reads your OpticStudio manual PDF. It is needed for both manual search and the operand/tolerance description enrichment (the build extracts verbatim descriptions from the PDF). Without it, the operand and tolerance catalogs build synonyms-only (grounding still works — every entry is searchable by its synonyms — but carries no manual descriptions). To get the full enriched build, install it:

pip install -e "../optivibe-reference[manual]"

A per-package environment.yml (Python 3.11) is provided if you prefer conda.

Then check the install:

python -m optivibe_doctor

It checks the interpreter, the two packages, their dependencies, the reference data and your OpticStudio install directory, and prints one line per check with a remedy for anything that is wrong. It opens no OpticStudio session unless you ask: --engine also opens one and proves the ZOS-API licence, and --boot starts the real server once. On a fresh install the reference-data checks read WARN until you build the reference data, and the exit code is 1 while any check warns.

Register with Claude Code

claude mcp add optivibe -- /path/to/python -m optivibe_harness

/path/to/python is the interpreter of the environment you installed into — pointing it at a different Python is a common cause of silent failures. You can find it with:

python -c "import sys; print(sys.executable)"

The equivalent JSON configuration:

{ "command": "/path/to/python", "args": ["-m", "optivibe_harness"] }

After a PyPI install you can register the optivibe-mcp command instead. Give its full path (where optivibe-mcp prints it while the environment is active):

claude mcp add optivibe -- C:/path/to/venv/Scripts/optivibe-mcp.exe

Glass tools

Once the optimizer has settled a lens, three tools help with the glass step. explain_glass_swaps is read-only: it lists which glass elements carry the colour and Petzval terms. trial_glass_swaps tries up to four swap sets, each re-optimized beside an unchanged control, and judges them on measured image quality; it edits the open lens while it runs and restores it at the end. substitute_glass makes one swap and leaves it in place. The design-glass-matching skill runs this step.

To have Claude Code ask you before either tool that edits the lens runs, add an ask rule to your settings (for example .claude/settings.json):

{

"permissions": { "ask": ["mcpoptivibetrial_glass_swaps", "mcpoptivibesubstitute_glass"] } }

An ask rule takes precedence over an allow rule and still asks under bypassPermissions. In a headless run (claude -p) or in dontAsk mode there is no one to ask, so a matching call is denied.

Build the reference data

The reference layer's data is built locally from your own licensed install; nothing vendor-derived is committed. After a PyPI install, run optivibe-build-data (add --probe to run the two probes below first); it needs no clone. From a clone, run it from the repository root:

python packages/optivibe-reference/scripts/build_vendor_data.py

This reads the glass catalog from your .agf files (ZEMAX_GLASSCAT) and, if you point it at the manual PDF (OPTIVIBE_MANUAL_PDF), indexes it for search.

The operand and tolerance catalogs are built from a live probe of your install's ZOS-API enum surface. Run the two probes once first (each boots a headless OpticStudio session, reads the operand/tolerance surface, and reaps it):

python packages/optivibe-reference/scripts/probe_operands.py

python packages/optivibe-reference/scripts/probe_tolerances.py

If an input is missing the corresponding step is skipped: that tool (glass or manual search, or operand/tolerance lookup) returns a typed "unavailable" result and the rest of the server keeps working. Details and the data-source ledger are in PROVENANCE.md.

Running it

OpticStudio is not opened at startup — the engine is launched on the first tool call that touches a design, and it works with one design at a time. The reference and lookup tools work with no engine running — so install, registration, the reference build, and every lookup succeed regardless of license tier; the ZOS-API license is checked only when the engine opens.

A note on trust: tools return a result envelope and don't raise on failure, so a call completing is not proof it did what you intended. Che