Docker deployment#

You can run PyAEDT-MCP as a containerized service with HTTP transport. Because AEDT does not have a publicly available Docker image, the MCP container connects to an AEDT instance running on your host machine or on a remote server.

Warning

The HTTP transport has no authentication or encryption. Any client that can reach the port can call every tool with no credential, including run_python_code (arbitrary Python execution against the connected AEDT session) and tools that read or write attacker-chosen local paths, such as open_project, save_project, and export_results. Never publish this port on a network you do not fully trust, or on the public internet. Only expose it beyond localhost if it is placed behind a reverse proxy (such as Nginx or HAProxy) that provides both TLS/SSL and its own authentication (for example mutual TLS or an authenticating gateway). The Docker Compose file included in this repository publishes the port on 127.0.0.1 only, so it is not reachable from other machines by default.

Quick start with Docker Compose#

Use Docker Compose for the fastest setup.

Start AEDT on the host machine first:

# Windows
"C:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\v261\AnsysEM\ansysedt.exe" -grpcsrv 50051

Or open AEDT from the desktop icon.

Build and start the MCP container:
```
docker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml up -d --build
```
The MCP server is available at http://localhost:8080.

Check the logs:

docker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml logs -f pyaedt-mcp

Stop the server:

docker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml down

MCP client configuration#

After the container starts, point your MCP client to the HTTP server.

Visual Studio Code

Edit the .vscode/mcp.json file:

{
  "servers": {
    "pyaedt-mcp": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://localhost:8080"
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pyaedt-mcp": {
      "url": "http://localhost:8080",
      "transport": "http"
    }
  }
}

Environment variables#

Variable	Default	Description
`AEDT_MACHINE`	`host.docker.internal`	AEDT server hostname
`AEDT_PORT`	`50051`	AEDT gRPC port
`AEDT_VERSION`	`2026.1`	AEDT version
`CONNECT_ON_STARTUP`	`true`	Connect to AEDT as soon as the container starts, using `AEDT_MACHINE` and `AEDT_PORT`. Combined with an unauthenticated, network-reachable HTTP port, this means any reachable client can immediately drive the connected AEDT session. Set to `false` to require an explicit `connect_to_aedt` tool call first.
`HTTP_HOST`	`0.0.0.0`	Bind address inside the container. Leave this as `0.0.0.0` for Docker’s port publishing to work; actual network exposure is controlled by the `ports` mapping in `docker-compose.yml`, which defaults to publishing on `127.0.0.1` only.
`HTTP_PORT`	`8080`	HTTP server port, both inside the container and for the published `ports` mapping.