Onshape

Onshape MCP server

Drive Onshape CAD from an AI assistant. 93 tools for documents, part studios, sketching, solid features, assemblies, drawings, measurement and export — and no setup beyond installing it: the first tool call that needs Onshape opens a browser and asks you to connect.

"Make a 60 × 40 × 10 mm bracket with 4 mm mounting holes and 2 mm fillets, then show me a render"

The assistant sketches it, extrudes it, fillets the edges, measures the result, renders it back into the conversation, and exports an STL you can print.

Install

Claude Code

claude mcp add onshape -- npx -y @gpambrozio/onshape-mcp

Claude Desktop — download onshape-mcp- .mcpb from the latest release and double-click it. Nothing else to install.

Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, Zed and other MCP clients — add the server to the client's MCP config:

{

"mcpServers": { "onshape": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "@gpambrozio/onshape-mcp"] } } }

The file differs per client: ~/.cursor/mcp.json (Cursor), .vscode/mcp.json (VS Code), ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json (Windsurf), ~/.config/zed/settings.json under context_servers (Zed).

Node 20 or newer is required. npx fetches the package on first run.

Signing in

Nothing to configure. The first tool call that needs Onshape starts a sign-in and asks your client to show you the link; clients that support MCP's URL elicitation render it as a prompt, and the rest get the URL in the reply. The page that opens links straight to the key page for your Onshape stack and takes the pasted pair; tick Read, Write and Delete when you create the key so every tool here works. Keys are verified against Onshape, then stored in your OS keychain.

Your credentials never pass through the assistant, the model or this project's authors — the exchange happens between your browser and a server bound to 127.0.0.1 in this process, which is exactly why MCP has URL elicitation.

Other ways in, if you prefer:

• `onshape_login` — start the same flow deliberately.
• `onshape_set_api_key` — paste a key pair you already have.
• OAuth 2.0 — onshape_login with method: "oauth", for an app you registered at the Onshape developer portal with redirect URL http://localhost:8471/oauth/callback. Tokens refresh automatically.
• Environment variables — set ONSHAPE_ACCESS_KEY and ONSHAPE_SECRET_KEY for unattended installs, and ONSHAPE_MCP_AUTO_LOGIN=0 to stop the server ever opening a browser.

An existing onshape-cli credential at ~/.onshape/credentials.json is picked up automatically.

onshape_auth_status shows what is in use (redacted); onshape_logout forgets it.

Tools

All names are prefixed onshape_, and every tool returns {"ok": true, "result": …} or {"ok": false, "error": …, "detail": …}.

Worth knowing:

• Units are inches and degrees throughout, except STL exports, which are millimetres by default because that is what slicers assume.
• Feature tools validate by default. Onshape answers 200 for a feature that fails to regenerate, so each tool re-reads the feature state and fails loudly instead. update_feature also fails when the edit puts another feature into ERROR; errors that were already there before the edit are listed in validation.preexistingErrors instead. Pass validate: false to skip it.
• Assemblies: assembly_mate joins Part Studio mate connectors directly ({path: [instance id], connector: "FabC_0.mcPinion"}, as get_assembly lists them), insert_instance takes fixed: true to ground an instance, and assembly_relation couples mates as gear, rack and pinion, screw or linear. set_mate_values drives mates in inches and degrees and fails when Onshape ignores a value, which it does for mates with limits enabled.
• Part Studio writes acknowledge applied changes. Creation replies include creationApplied: true; updates include updateApplied: true after the POST completes. Validation errors do not undo the change: inspect the model before retrying. A failed POST does not establish whether the server applied a change. Large replies retain the feature ID and validation outcome inline, with the full response in saved_to. If that file cannot be saved, responseStorageError reports the storage problem without changing the write/validation outcome. validate: false is reported as validationSkipped: true.
• Renders come back as images. shaded_view and get_thumbnail return the PNG inline as well as writing it, so the model can see the part.
• Big reads spill to disk. Anything over ONSHAPE_MCP_MAX_RESPONSE_BYTES (default 200 kB) is written to a file and summarised, keeping a feature tree from swallowing the context window.
• onshape_request reaches any REST endpoint the dedicated tools miss.

Configuration

Every setting is optional.

Secrets go to the OS keychain (service onshape-mcp) when one is available, and the config file then holds only non-secret metadata. Without a keychain the file holds the secret and is written 0600 inside a 0700 directory.

Onshape account limits

These come from Onshape, not from this server:

• Free accounts can only create public documents — pass public: true to onshape_create_document.
• Deleting needs a key with delete permission. Without it Onshape answers 403 Invalid API key state; re-create the key at cad.onshape.com/user/developer/apiKeys with Delete ticked.
• An instance can only be fixed when it is inserted. There is no public call to fix or unfix one later; insert it again with fixed and delete the old one.
• Mate values need API version 10. Older versions accept a write and ignore it; get_mate_values and set_mate_values use v10.
• The variable-table endpoint 404s on some accounts. onshape_set_variable and onshape_get_variables fall back to assignVariable features, which work everywhere; result.route / result.source says which path was taken. Setting a name that already has a Variable feature rewrites that feature in place.

Development

npm install

npm run check # type-check npm test # unit tests, no network and no browser npm run build npm run bundle # build the Claude Desktop .mcpb

node scripts/smoke.mjs # live read-only check against your account node scripts/smoke.mjs --write # also builds a throwaway part node scripts/smoke.mjs --assembly # rack and pinion assembly in a scratch document

Layout: src/auth (credential store, keychain, login flows, OAuth, elicitation), src/api (REST wrappers), src/builders (Onshape BTM feature payloads), src/tools (the MCP surface), src/server.ts (registration and the auth gate).

Contributions welcome — see CONTRIBUTING.md. Security reports: SECURITY.md.

Licence

MIT. Portions derived from onshape-cli — see NOTICE.

Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or supported by Onshape or PTC. "Onshape" is a trademark of PTC Inc.