# ETABS MCP

Wires an agent into CSI ETABS v22+ so it can build a model, assign loads, run analysis and read results through the official API.

- MCP server · `type=mcp` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Windsurf (Devin Desktop), Cline, Zed, Gemini CLI · ★ 18
- Author: Moha2005269
- License: Apache-2.0 · policy=link-only · description only; the file stays with the author
- Source: https://github.com/Moha2005269/etabs-mcp
- Updated: 2026-10-18
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/mcp/etabs-mcp

## What it does

The server speaks the official ETABS API. It locates your installed version, loads that build's `ETABSv1.dll` and validates each call against the live method signature. Curated tools cover the usual engineering steps: generate a building from grids and stories, define seismic or wind loads, assign sections, run analysis and design, pull drifts and D/C ratios. Anything outside that set goes through search, describe and call, with plain JSON arguments.

Requirements are Windows, a licensed ETABS 22 or newer, and Python 3.10+. The .NET 8 Desktop Runtime ships with ETABS. Model edits run through the interactive database: tables can be read, and importable ones updated, appended or deleted before applying. Destructive calls need `confirm=true`, and `--read-only` refuses every write.

If ETABS is not running, the server starts it. Long analyses move to background jobs, so raise the tool timeout in your client — big models take minutes. Lengths go in as `"6 m"` or `"20 ft"`.

## Requirements
- Needs: Python and uv (commands run via uvx)

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

**Platform CLI**
```bash
claude mcp add etabs-mcp -- uvx etabs-mcp
```
uvx runs the command named after the package; if the README names another one, use uvx --from etabs-mcp <command>

### Codex

**Platform CLI**
```bash
codex mcp add etabs-mcp -- uvx etabs-mcp
```
uvx runs the command named after the package; if the README names another one, use uvx --from etabs-mcp <command>

### Cursor

**Config file**
File `.cursor/mcp.json`:
```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "etabs-mcp": {
            "command": "uvx",
            "args": [
                "etabs-mcp"
            ]
        }
    }
}
```
uvx runs the command named after the package; if the README names another one, use uvx --from etabs-mcp <command>

### GitHub Copilot

**Config file**
File `.vscode/mcp.json`:
```json
{
    "servers": {
        "etabs-mcp": {
            "type": "stdio",
            "command": "uvx",
            "args": [
                "etabs-mcp"
            ]
        }
    }
}
```
uvx runs the command named after the package; if the README names another one, use uvx --from etabs-mcp <command>

### Gemini CLI

**Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini mcp add etabs-mcp uvx etabs-mcp
```
uvx runs the command named after the package; if the README names another one, use uvx --from etabs-mcp <command>

## When to use it
- generate a frame from grid lines and stories in one call
- apply ASCE 7 seismic and wind loads
- run analysis and pull drifts and D/C ratios
- edit model tables through the interactive database
- render a model view from any angle offscreen

## Example prompts
- Generate a two-storey steel frame, 2×1 bays of 6 × 5 m, W14X90 columns, W18X35 beams, 200 mm slab, and show me the 3D view.
- Define ASCE 7-16 seismic loads, run the analysis, and report T₁ along with the worst steel D/C ratio.
- Find every beam with a D/C above 0.9 and list them in a table.

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