nvidia-isaac-mcp

NVIDIA Isaac MCP

MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for NVIDIA Isaac Sim & Isaac Lab — enables AI tools like Windsurf, Claude Desktop, and Claude Code to control Isaac Sim through natural language.

Architecture

AI Client (Windsurf/Claude)  ←— MCP (stdio) —→  nvidia-isaac-mcp (this package)
                                                       │
                                                  TCP Socket :9876
                                                       │
                                                  isaacsim.mcp.server
                                                  (Extension inside Isaac Sim)

Two components:

1. Isaac Sim Extension (exts/isaacsim.mcp.server/) — runs inside Isaac Sim, listens on TCP port 9876
2. MCP Server (src/nvidia_isaac_mcp/) — external Python process that AI tools connect to

Prerequisites

• NVIDIA Isaac Sim 5.x
• Python 3.10+
• uv (recommended)

Setup

1. Start Isaac Sim with the extension

cd <your-isaac-sim-install>
bash isaac-sim.sh \
    --ext-folder <path-to-nvidia-isaac-mcp>/exts \
    --enable isaacsim.mcp.server

The extension will start listening on 127.0.0.1:9876.

2. Run the MCP server

cd <path-to-nvidia-isaac-mcp>
uv run nvidia-isaac-mcp

3. Configure your AI tool

Windsurf / Claude Desktop — add to MCP settings:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "isaac-sim": {
            "command": "uv",
            "args": ["run", "--directory", "<path-to-nvidia-isaac-mcp>", "nvidia-isaac-mcp"]
        }
    }
}

Available Tools

Core

| Tool | Description | |---|---| | ping | Check connectivity to Isaac Sim and return server version |

Scene Inspection

| Tool | Description | |---|---| | get_stage_info | Overview of the current USD stage (prims, up-axis, etc.) | | get_prim_info | Detailed info about a specific prim (attributes, transform, children) |

Prim CRUD

| Tool | Description | |---|---| | create_prim | Create a USD prim (Cube, Sphere, Cylinder, Cone, Plane, Capsule, Xform) | | modify_prim | Modify a prim's transform or visibility | | delete_prim | Remove a prim from the stage |

Code Execution

| Tool | Description | |---|---| | execute_code | Run arbitrary Python code inside Isaac Sim's runtime |

Physics & Simulation

| Tool | Description | |---|---| | create_physics_scene | Create a PhysicsScene prim to enable simulation | | add_rigid_body | Add rigid body physics to an existing prim | | add_ground_plane | Add a physics-enabled ground plane | | simulation_control | Play, pause, or stop the simulation |

Robots & Assets

| Tool | Description | |---|---| | spawn_robot | Spawn a built-in robot (franka, ur10, jetbot, etc.) | | list_available_robots | List available built-in robot assets | | load_usd_asset | Load any USD file as a reference into the stage |

Testing

# Direct TCP test (no MCP server needed, just the extension)
python tests/test_e2e.py

# MCP inspector
uv run mcp dev src/nvidia_isaac_mcp/server.py

Environment Variables

| Variable | Default | Description | |---|---|---| | ISAAC_SIM_HOST | 127.0.0.1 | Extension socket host | | ISAAC_SIM_PORT | 9876 | Extension socket port |