ROS MCP Server

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Connect LLMs to ROS and ROS 2 robots to work with topics, services, actions and parameters through rosbridge.

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uvx ros-mcp --transport=stdio

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mcp.tc/i/ros

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ROS MCP Server lets an AI assistant control and observe robots running ROS 1 or ROS 2. It can publish and subscribe to topics, call services and actions, set parameters, read sensor data and monitor robot state. It helps the model discover available topics, services and actions, including custom types, and use them with the right syntax.

It runs locally over stdio as the PyPI package ros-mcp, started with uvx. It talks to the robot through a rosbridge WebSocket node, so no changes to existing robot code are needed. No sign-in or API key is required. It works with MCP clients such as Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Codex CLI and Gemini CLI.

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  • Publish and subscribe to ROS topics
  • Call ROS services and actions
  • Read and set robot parameters
  • Read sensor data and monitor robot state
  • Discover topics, services and custom message types
  • Works with ROS 1 and ROS 2 distributions

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  • List all topics available on my robot and show their message types.

  • Subscribe to the lidar topic and tell me if anything is close to the robot.

  • Call the gripper service and check whether the end effector responds correctly.

  • Read the current navigation parameters and summarize them.

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Claude Code

  1. Run this in a terminal, in your project folder:
claude mcp add --transport stdio ros -- uvx ros-mcp --transport=stdio
  1. Start Claude Code and type /mcp. ros should show as connected.

Add --scope user to make it available in every project.

Claude Desktop

  1. Open Settings → Developer → Edit Config. It opens claude_desktop_config.json. Add:
claude_desktop_config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ros": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "ros-mcp",
        "--transport=stdio"
      ]
    }
  }
}
  1. Save the file and restart Claude Desktop.

Needs uv (Python) on your computer. The file lives in ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/ on macOS and %APPDATA%\Claude\ on Windows.

Cursor

Add to Cursor a11y.new_tab

Or add it by hand to ~/.cursor/mcp.json (all projects) or .cursor/mcp.json (this project):

mcp.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ros": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "ros-mcp",
        "--transport=stdio"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Needs uv (Python) on your computer.

VS Code

Install in VS Code a11y.new_tab

Or from a terminal:

code --add-mcp '{"name":"ros","type":"stdio","command":"uvx","args":["ros-mcp","--transport=stdio"]}'

Or commit it to the repo in .vscode/mcp.json:

.vscode/mcp.json
{
  "servers": {
    "ros": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "ros-mcp",
        "--transport=stdio"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Needs uv (Python) on your computer.

Devin Desktop

  1. Add it to ~/.config/devin/mcp_config.json (macOS and Linux) or %APPDATA%\devin\mcp_config.json (Windows):
mcp_config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ros": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "ros-mcp",
        "--transport=stdio"
      ]
    }
  }
}
  1. Refresh the MCP server list in Cascade.

Devin Desktop is the new name for Windsurf.

Codex

codex mcp add ros -- uvx ros-mcp --transport=stdio

Or edit ~/.codex/config.toml directly:

config.toml
[mcp_servers.ros]
command = "uvx"
args = ["ros-mcp", "--transport=stdio"]

Needs uv (Python) on your computer.

Gemini CLI

gemini mcp add ros uvx -- ros-mcp --transport=stdio

This adds it to the current project. Add -s user to use it everywhere.

Any client

Most clients that start local servers accept this shape:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ros": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "ros-mcp",
        "--transport=stdio"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Zed puts servers under context_servers in its settings, with the same command, args and env fields.

Needs uv (Python) on your computer.

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Can I paste mcp.tc/i/ros into my MCP client?

No. ROS MCP Server runs on your own computer, started by your client, so it has no web address to connect to. The quick link is the page to share; the install command is uvx ros-mcp --transport=stdio.

Does ROS MCP Server need an API key?

No. It doesn't declare any keys or environment variables. It runs with your user account's permissions, so check what its tools can reach.

Is ROS MCP Server a remote or a local server?

Local. Your client starts it as a process on your computer with uvx ros-mcp --transport=stdio, which needs uv (Python).

What can ROS MCP Server do?

You can publish and subscribe to ROS topics, call ROS services and actions and read and set robot parameters.

Which clients can use it?

Any client that starts local servers: Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, Devin Desktop, Codex, Gemini CLI, Zed and others. claude.ai and ChatGPT only connect to remote servers.

Who wrote this page?

mcp.tc's robot read ROS MCP Server's public metadata (its package and repository pages), and an AI model drafted the text from it. A person reviews anything the checks can't confirm. The text can still be wrong, so if you spot a mistake, use Report this listing on this page.

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