Connect your AI

Let the AI app you already use work with the CadCraft apps. It asks the apps to do things, you decide what it may do, and you can take it out again. The apps contain no AI of their own: the AI is the one you connect.

Pick your AI app

Choose the tab for the AI app you use. You only need that one: each adds a single entry named cadcraft and nothing else, and no password goes into the AI app's settings.

Connect Claude Desktop

Open %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (it is made if it does not exist; keep anything already in it).
Add the CadCraft entry below (inside "mcpServers" if the file has one).
Restart Claude Desktop completely, then ask it the test prompt.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cadcraft": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@getcadcraft/mcp",
        "connect"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Undo: Delete the "cadcraft" entry from %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json.

CadCraft Studio must be open. Nothing in this entry is a password: Studio keeps the connection secret in a file only you can read.

Get Claude Desktop

Connect Claude Code

Open a terminal.
Run the command below.
Start Claude Code and ask it the test prompt.

claude mcp add cadcraft --scope user -- npx -y @getcadcraft/mcp connect

Undo: claude mcp remove cadcraft --scope user

CadCraft Studio must be open. Nothing in this entry is a password: Studio keeps the connection secret in a file only you can read.

Get Claude Code

Connect Cursor

Not checked on a real install yet: the settings location comes from the app's public guides.

Open %USERPROFILE%\.cursor\mcp.json (it is made if it does not exist; keep anything already in it).
Add the CadCraft entry below (inside "mcpServers" if the file has one).
Start Cursor and ask it the test prompt.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cadcraft": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@getcadcraft/mcp",
        "connect"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Undo: Delete the "cadcraft" entry from %USERPROFILE%\.cursor\mcp.json.

CadCraft Studio must be open. Nothing in this entry is a password: Studio keeps the connection secret in a file only you can read.

Get Cursor

Connect Windsurf

Not checked on a real install yet: the settings location comes from the app's public guides.

Open %USERPROFILE%\.codeium\windsurf\mcp_config.json (it is made if it does not exist; keep anything already in it).
Add the CadCraft entry below (inside "mcpServers" if the file has one).
Start Windsurf and ask it the test prompt.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cadcraft": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@getcadcraft/mcp",
        "connect"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Undo: Delete the "cadcraft" entry from %USERPROFILE%\.codeium\windsurf\mcp_config.json.

CadCraft Studio must be open. Nothing in this entry is a password: Studio keeps the connection secret in a file only you can read.

Get Windsurf

Connect Visual Studio Code

Not checked on a real install yet: the settings location comes from the app's public guides.

Open %APPDATA%\Code\User\mcp.json (it is made if it does not exist; keep anything already in it).
Add the CadCraft entry below (inside "servers" if the file has one).
Start Visual Studio Code and ask it the test prompt.

{
  "servers": {
    "cadcraft": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@getcadcraft/mcp",
        "connect"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Undo: Delete the "cadcraft" entry from %APPDATA%\Code\User\mcp.json.

CadCraft Studio must be open. Nothing in this entry is a password: Studio keeps the connection secret in a file only you can read.

Get Visual Studio Code

Connect Codex CLI

Not checked on a real install yet: the settings location comes from the app's public guides.

Open %USERPROFILE%\.codex\config.toml (it is made if it does not exist; keep anything already in it).
Add the CadCraft entry below (inside "mcp_servers" if the file has one).
Start Codex CLI and ask it the test prompt.

[mcp_servers.cadcraft]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y","@getcadcraft/mcp","connect"]

Undo: Delete the "cadcraft" entry from %USERPROFILE%\.codex\config.toml.

CadCraft Studio must be open. Nothing in this entry is a password: Studio keeps the connection secret in a file only you can read.

Get Codex CLI

Connect Gemini CLI

Not checked on a real install yet: the settings location comes from the app's public guides.

Open %USERPROFILE%\.gemini\settings.json (it is made if it does not exist; keep anything already in it).
Add the CadCraft entry below (inside "mcpServers" if the file has one).
Start Gemini CLI and ask it the test prompt.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cadcraft": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@getcadcraft/mcp",
        "connect"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Undo: Delete the "cadcraft" entry from %USERPROFILE%\.gemini\settings.json.

CadCraft Studio must be open. Nothing in this entry is a password: Studio keeps the connection secret in a file only you can read.

Get Gemini CLI

Then check it works

With your AI app connected, paste this into it:

Use the CadCraft tools: list the apps you can reach, then open the sample drawing in my CadCraft folder and tell me how many objects it has, by layer.

It should list the CadCraft apps it can reach, then count the objects in a drawing by layer. It only reads.

The package behind the cards

Every card starts the same small program, @getcadcraft/mcp, with npx. It needs Node.js 20.19 or newer: open a terminal (on Windows, Command Prompt or PowerShell) and type node --version to check; if it is older or missing, install the LTS version from nodejs.org, then restart the AI app. It gives the AI app tools for the CadCraft apps (open and read drawings, models and takeoffs, and, only where you allow it, edit, save and export) and also installs the cadcraft command line for scripts. It contains no AI and sends nothing anywhere itself.

Check who publishes it before you run it. npm view @getcadcraft/mcp shows the version and the maintainer account (ddgconsultant, the account that owns the @getcadcraft scope on npm), and the package page on npmjs.com shows the same. The scope belongs to CadCraft; the same scope publishes @getcadcraft/studio, the Linux launcher on our download page.

What the AI can reach

The tools return what is in your drawings and models to the AI app you connected. With an AI app that runs in the cloud, that goes to its provider, so choose the app, and what it may do, with that in mind. Each connection is one you chose, and each can be taken out again.