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# ParaView MCP
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[](https://pypi.org/project/paraview-mcp-server/)
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Connect [ParaView](https://www.paraview.org/) to LLM assistants through the [Model Context Protocol](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/).
`paraview-mcp-server` has two runtime parts:
- a **ParaView plugin** (C++/Qt) that exposes a TCP bridge inside the ParaView GUI
- a **Python MCP server** that connects to the plugin and serves tools to any MCP client
## Prerequisites
- [ParaView 6.0.1](https://www.paraview.org/download/) with the MCP plugin loaded (see [Plugin Setup](#set-up-the-paraview-plugin))
- [uv](https://docs.astral.sh/uv/)
## Quick Start
Add to Claude Code in one command:
```bash
claude mcp add paraview -- uvx paraview-mcp-server
```
Then [set up the ParaView plugin](#set-up-the-paraview-plugin) and you're ready to go.
## Set Up the ParaView Plugin
Download a pre-built plugin binary from the [latest GitHub Release](https://github.com/failed33/paraview-mcp/releases/latest) for your platform (Linux x86_64 or macOS arm64). Extract the archive and follow the included `INSTALL.md`.
Alternatively, build the plugin from source against your ParaView 6.0.1 SDK. See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) for full build instructions.
Once installed:
1. Open **Tools > Manage Plugins** in ParaView.
2. Click **Load New...** and select `ParaViewMCP.so` from the plugin directory.
3. Enable **Auto Load**.
4. Open **Tools > ParaView MCP**.
5. Click **Start Server**.
The dock widget shows the connection status. Non-loopback binds require an auth token.
## Configure Your MCP Client
### Claude Code (CLI)
```bash
claude mcp add paraview -- uvx paraview-mcp-server
```
### Claude Desktop
Add to your `claude_desktop_config.json`:
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"paraview": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": ["paraview-mcp-server"]
}
}
}
```
### Cursor
Add to `.cursor/mcp.json` in your project root:
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"paraview": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": ["paraview-mcp-server"]
}
}
}
```
## Configuration
The server connects to the ParaView plugin using these environment variables:
| Variable | Default | Required | Description |
| --------------------- | ----------- | ----------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- |
| `PARAVIEW_HOST` | `127.0.0.1` | No | Host where the ParaView plugin is listening |
| `PARAVIEW_PORT` | `9877` | No | TCP port for the plugin bridge |
| `PARAVIEW_AUTH_TOKEN` | — | Non-loopback only | Authentication token (must match the plugin setting) |
Defaults work for a standard local setup. Override these when connecting to ParaView on a remote machine or non-standard port:
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"paraview": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": ["paraview-mcp-server"],
"env": {
"PARAVIEW_HOST": "192.168.1.10",
"PARAVIEW_PORT": "9877",
"PARAVIEW_AUTH_TOKEN": "your-token"
}
}
}
}
```
## Available Tools
| Tool | Description |
| ------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ |
| `execute_paraview_code(code)` | Execute Python code inside the active ParaView session |
| `get_pipeline_info()` | Return a JSON snapshot of the current pipeline |
| `get_screenshot(width, height)` | Capture the active render view as a PNG image |
## Inspired by
This project follows the approach of [Blender-MCP](https://github.com/ahujasid/blender-mcp) and [Slicer-MCP](https://github.com/pieper/SlicerMCP), both of which give LLMs direct code execution inside their respective application runtimes. The existing [Paraview_MCP](https://github.com/llnl/paraview_mcp) implementation[^1] takes a different approach, exposing a fixed set of high-level tools without access to the underlying Python runtime, which limits flexibility for custom workflows.
We instead provide an `execute_paraview_code` tool that runs arbitrary Python inside the ParaView session, giving the AI agent the same level of control a human scripter would have.
[^1]: S. Liu, H. Miao, and P.-T. Bremer, "Paraview-MCP: Autonomous Visualization Agents with Direct Tool Use," in _Proc. IEEE VIS 2025 Short Papers_, IEEE, 2025.
## Contributing
See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) for build instructions, development setup, and pull request guidelines.
## License
[MIT](LICENSE) — see [THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt](THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt) for dependency licenses.
