ignition-mcp-server

The first AI-powered development tool for Ignition SCADA — an MCP server that lets any AI agent read, understand, and interact with your Ignition projects and gateways.

[!NOTE] This connector is early community tooling from Nodeblue. The complete system is Nexus, our industrial intelligence platform — these repos are just its connector layers.

Nexus reads and reasons over your entire operation: PLC logic, SCADA systems, live controller data, documentation, fault history, and MES/ERP records. It works across vendors — Rockwell, Siemens, Ignition, the CODESYS family, and 500+ more brands through PLCopen. It diagnoses faults on the running line, holds a persistent memory of the operation, and answers in plain English, cited to the source.

The Nodeblue open-source connectors

Connector	What it does
studio5000-mcp-server	Rockwell/Allen-Bradley Studio 5000 — parse L5X exports: tags, UDTs, routines, AOIs, cross-references
ignition-mcp-server (this repo)	Ignition SCADA — views, scripts, tags, UDTs, alarms, live gateway read/write
bridge-mcp-server	Correlates Ignition SCADA tags with Studio 5000 PLC logic end-to-end

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What This Does

ignition-mcp-server connects AI agents (Claude, GPT, local LLMs) to your Ignition SCADA projects via the Model Context Protocol. It gives the AI structured access to:

• Tags — browse tag hierarchies, filter by folder path, see data types and values
• Perspective Views — read component trees, bindings, event handlers, and styles
• Scripts — read project library scripts and gateway event scripts with scope info
• UDTs — list and inspect User Defined Type definitions with member details
• Alarm Pipelines — read alarm notification configurations with stages, profiles, and transitions
• Named Queries — read SQL query definitions with parameters, database targets, and types
• Live Tag Read/Write — read tag values on a running Ignition gateway via WebDev; writes are opt-in (--enable-writes)
• Script Execution — run Python scripts on the gateway in gateway scope (opt-in, --enable-writes)
• Tag History — query historical tag data with time range filtering

Works with both Ignition 8.1+ project exports (.zip files) and 8.3+ filesystem-based projects (direct directory access).

Why This Exists

Ignition has ~300,000+ installations worldwide and zero AI tooling — no vendor copilot, no third-party tools, no academic research. Every other major automation platform (Siemens, Rockwell, Schneider) has AI assistants. Ignition has nothing.

This server fills that gap. It's open-source, agent-agnostic, and works offline.

Built and maintained by Nodeblue. These connectors are early community tooling from our work on Nexus, where this capability ships production-grade — alongside cross-vendor correlation, live fault diagnosis, and a persistent memory of the operation.

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Installation

Install from source:

git clone https://github.com/nodeblue-ai/ignition-mcp-server.git
cd ignition-mcp-server
pip install .

Requires Python 3.10+.

Note: pip install ignition-mcp-server from PyPI is coming soon. For now, install from source as shown above.

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Quick Start

stdio (local — kiro-cli, Claude Desktop, Claude Code)

ignition-mcp-server

SSE (remote — server on one machine, agent on another)

ignition-mcp-server --transport sse --port 8080

With live gateway connection

ignition-mcp-server --gateway-url https://my-gateway:8088 --gateway-username admin --gateway-password changeme

This enables the read-only live tools: read_tag and get_history. Requires the WebDev module on the gateway with API endpoints configured (see Gateway Setup below).

[!WARNING] Live writes are disabled by default. write_tag and execute_script can change values on a running SCADA system and actuate real equipment. To enable them, you must explicitly opt in with --enable-writes:

ignition-mcp-server --gateway-url https://my-gateway:8088 --enable-writes

Only do this against non-production gateways, or when you fully understand what the connected AI agent is allowed to touch. Gated, audited, human-approved live writes are part of Nexus.

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Configuration

kiro-cli

Add to your ~/.kiro/settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ignition": {
      "command": "ignition-mcp-server",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

With live gateway access:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ignition": {
      "command": "ignition-mcp-server",
      "args": ["--gateway-url", "https://my-gateway:8088"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop MCP config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ignition": {
      "command": "ignition-mcp-server",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

SSE (remote)

Start the server on your engineering workstation:

ignition-mcp-server --transport sse --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8080

Connect from any MCP client using the SSE URL: http://<host>:8080/sse

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Available Tools

ping

Health check. Returns "pong".

get_tags(project_path, tag_path?, provider?)

Browse tags in the project. Optionally filter by folder path and tag provider.

get_tags("/path/to/project", "Conveyors/Line1")
get_tags("/path/to/project", "", "edge")

Returns tag names, types, data types, values, and documentation.

list_tag_providers(project_path)

List all tag provider names in the project (e.g. default, edge, MQTT).

list_views(project_path)

List all Perspective view paths in the project.

get_view(project_path, view_path)

Get a Perspective view's component tree with bindings and events.

get_view("/path/to/project", "Overview")

Returns component hierarchy, property bindings, and event handler counts.

list_scripts(project_path)

List all scripts with their scope (gateway, client, all).

get_script(project_path, script_path)

Get the source code of a project script.

get_script("/path/to/project", "ignition/script-python/utils")

list_udts(project_path)

List all UDT (User Defined Type) definition names.

get_udt(project_path, udt_name?)

Get UDT definition(s) with member details, parameters, and documentation.

get_udt("/path/to/project", "Motor_UDT")

list_alarms(project_path)

List all alarm pipeline names in the project.

get_alarm(project_path, pipeline_name)

Get an alarm pipeline's configuration including stages, notification profiles, and transitions.

get_alarm("/path/to/project", "MainAlarmPipeline")

Returns pipeline stages with type (delay, notification), notification profile names, contact info, consolidation periods, and transition counts.

list_named_queries(project_path)

List all named query names in the project.

get_named_query(project_path, query_name)

Get a named query's SQL, parameters, database connection, and type (Query vs Update).

get_named_query("/path/to/project", "GetActiveFaults")

Returns the SQL text, parameter definitions with data types and defaults, target database, and description.

read_tag(tag_path)

Read the current value of one or more tags from a live gateway. Comma-separate for multiple tags.

read_tag("[default]Conveyors/Line1/Speed")
read_tag("[default]Conveyors/Line1/Speed, [default]Conveyors/Line1/Running")

Requires --gateway-url at startup.

write_tag(tag_path, value)

Write a value to a tag on a live gateway. Handles boolean/numeric coercion automatically.

write_tag("[default]Conveyors/Line1/Speed", "1800")

Disabled by default. Requires --gateway-url and --enable-writes at startup.

execute_script(code)

Execute a Python script on the Ignition gateway in gateway scope.

execute_script("system.tag.readBlocking(['[default]Conveyors/Line1/Speed'])")

Disabled by default. Requires --gateway-url and --enable-writes at startup.

get_history(tag_path, start, end)

Query historical tag data from the gateway's historian.

get_history("[default]Conveyors/Line1/Speed", "2026-04-12T00:00:00Z", "2026-04-12T12:00:00Z")

Requires --gateway-url at startup.

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Supported Project Formats

Format	How to Use
Project directory (8.1+ or 8.3+)	Point project_path to the project folder containing project.json
Project export (.zip)	Point project_path to the .zip file exported from Ignition Gateway or Designer
8.3 filesystem	Point to data/projects/<ProjectName>/ on the Gateway

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Example Conversation

You: What tags are under the Conveyors folder?

Agent calls: get_tags("/projects/MyPlant", "Conveyors")

Agent: The Conveyors folder contains 2 items:
- Line1 (Folder) — 3 child tags: Running (Boolean), Speed (Float4), Faulted (Boolean)
- Line2_Motor (UDT Instance) — type: Motor_UDT

You: What does the Motor_UDT look like?

Agent calls: get_udt("/projects/MyPlant", "Motor_UDT")

Agent: Motor_UDT has 3 members:
- Running (Boolean) — Motor running status
- Faulted (Boolean) — Motor fault status
- Speed_RPM (Float4) — Motor speed in RPM
Parameters: MotorName (String)

You: Show me the Overview view

Agent calls: get_view("/projects/MyPlant", "Overview")

Agent: The Overview view has a flex container with 3 children:
1. titleLabel (ia.display.label) — bound to view.params.title
2. speedDisplay (ia.display.led-display) — bound to tag [default]Conveyors/Line1/Speed
3. startButton (ia.input.button) — has 1 onClick event handler

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Gateway Setup

The live tools (read_tag, write_tag, execute_script, get_history) require the WebDev module on your Ignition gateway with the following REST endpoints:

Endpoint	Method	Purpose
/system/webdev/api/tags/read	POST	Read tag values
/system/webdev/api/tags/write	POST	Write tag values
/system/webdev/api/script/run	POST	Execute gateway scripts
/system/webdev/api/history/query	POST	Query tag history

Example WebDev Python resource for /api/tags/read:

def doPost(request, session):
    import json
    body = json.loads(request["data"])
    paths = body.get("tagPaths", [])
    values = system.tag.readBlocking(paths)
    return {
        "json": [
            {"path": str(v.path), "value": v.value, "quality": str(v.quality)}
            for v in values
        ]
    }

See the Ignition WebDev docs for full setup instructions.

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Roadmap

v0.2 — Alarms & Named Queries ✅

• list_alarms / get_alarm — parse alarm pipeline configurations
• list_named_queries / get_named_query — parse SQL named queries with parameters

v0.3 — Live Gateway Interaction ✅

• read_tag(tag_path) / write_tag(tag_path, value) — live tag interaction via Ignition WebDev module
• execute_script(code) — run scripts on the gateway
• get_history(tag_path, start, end) — query tag history

v0.4 — Cross-Platform Intelligence ✅

• Cross-reference Ignition tags with Studio 5000 L5X PLC logic via bridge-mcp-server
• "This alarm fires when tag X goes true — here's the PLC logic that drives X"
• OPC item path extraction (opcItemPath, opcServer) in tag summaries

v0.5 — Write Safety Gate ✅

• write_tag / execute_script disabled by default — opt in with --enable-writes
• Safety warnings in tool descriptions and CLI help

Maintenance

• PyPI publication (pip install ignition-mcp-server)
• New Ignition version format support as releases come out
• Bug fixes and edge cases from real project exports — issues welcome

This connector is feature-complete for its scope: single-project comprehension plus gateway connectivity. Development beyond that scope happens in Nexus.

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This Connector vs. Nexus

The connector is the access layer. Nexus is the intelligence that sits on top of it — and of every other connector — as one system.

Capability	This connector	Nexus
Parse Ignition projects (tags, views, scripts, UDTs, alarms, queries)	✅	✅
Live gateway read / history	✅	✅
Live writes	⚠️ opt-in flag, unaudited	✅ gated, audited, human-approved
Cross-vendor: Rockwell, Siemens, CODESYS family (500+ brands), OPC UA	—	✅
Live fault diagnosis on the running line (root-cause, cited)	—	✅
Knowledge layer: your manuals, SFS/DOO docs, fault history — searchable, linked to logic	—	✅
Persistent memory of the operation across sessions	—	✅
Script generation, view scaffolding, code generation	—	✅
Fleet scale: auto-discovery, whole-plant inventory, monitoring, alarming	—	✅
Local LLM / air-gapped deployment	—	✅

If you're evaluating this connector for anything beyond a single project on a single gateway, talk to us about Nexus.

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Development

git clone https://github.com/nodeblue-ai/ignition-mcp-server.git
cd ignition-mcp-server
pip install -e .
pip install pytest
pytest tests/ -v

Project Structure

src/ignition_mcp_server/
├── __init__.py
├── __main__.py          # CLI entry point (stdio/SSE, gateway config)
├── server.py            # FastMCP server with all 17 tool definitions
├── project_source.py    # Read from .zip or directory (LRU-cached)
├── gateway_client.py    # HTTP client for live Ignition WebDev API
└── parsers/
    ├── tags.py          # Tag hierarchy parser (multi-provider)
    ├── views.py         # Perspective view parser
    ├── scripts.py       # Script discovery and reader
    ├── udts.py          # UDT definition parser
    ├── alarms.py        # Alarm pipeline parser
    └── named_queries.py # Named query parser

tests/
├── test_server.py       # 59 tests — parsers, project sources, error handling
├── test_gateway.py      # 18 tests — live gateway tools + write gating with mock HTTP server
└── fixtures/
    ├── sample-project/  # Synthetic Ignition project (directory)
    └── sample-project.zip

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Contributing

Contributions welcome. This is an open-source project under MIT license.

If you have real Ignition project exports you can share (or anonymized versions), those are especially valuable for testing edge cases.

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License

MIT

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Built by Nodeblue. Early community tooling behind Nexus — the industrial intelligence system that reads your operation and answers, cited to the source.