AutoCAD MCP Pro

Production-grade AutoCAD automation for the Model Context Protocol. Dual-engine. Battle-tested. Model-agnostic.

87 tools · 6 resources · 5 prompt templates · COM + ezdxf backends · Python 3.11+ · MIT

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From the Author

I built AutoCAD MCP Pro because I needed it.

My day job at Anka-Makine revolves around intensive AutoCAD work — production drawings, parametric assemblies, strict layer standards across dozens of templates, dimensioning and block work under tight schedules, repeated audits, exports, and screenshots for design reviews. The repetitive parts of that workflow add up fast.

After months of leaning on this server inside my own daily workflow — and watching it shave hours off my week without a single misstep on critical drawings — I decided it deserved a public release. It works. It is fast. It stays out of the way.

The model on the other end of the wire does not matter. The Model Context Protocol is the contract; AutoCAD MCP Pro is one well-typed implementation of that contract. Any MCP-aware client — and the LLM behind it — sees the same 87 tools.

I will keep this repository actively maintained as my own use of it evolves, and a public benchmark suite is on the way — I want to give you numbers, not adjectives.

— Umutcan Edizsalan · Anka-Makine

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Table of Contents

• Why This Exists
• Highlights
• AI Client Compatibility
• Quickstart
• Installation
• MCP Client Configuration
• Backend Selection
• Configuration Reference
• Tool Catalog
• Architecture
• Security Model
• Benchmarks
• Development
• Roadmap
• Author
• License

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Why This Exists

Most CAD-automation tooling falls into two camps: heavyweight enterprise plug-ins that lock you into a single vendor, or one-off Python scripts that solve a single drawing and rot a week later. Neither plays well with the modern AI workflow, where the agent — not the engineer — is the one driving the tool.

AutoCAD MCP Pro takes a different stance:

1. One protocol, two engines. A live COM backend talks to a running AutoCAD instance for in-app, real-time control. A headless ezdxf backend reads and writes DXF files anywhere — Linux, macOS, CI runners — with no AutoCAD installation required. Same tool surface, same response shapes, two execution modes.
2. Built for agents. Every tool has a typed schema, a deterministic error contract, and structured progress updates. No string-parsing tricks; no positional-argument guessing. Pydantic on the way in, dataclasses on the way out.
3. Hardened by default. Path traversal, command injection, AutoLISP escape, transaction-driven memory blowups, COM hangs — all addressed in the default configuration. You opt in to risk, never out.

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Highlights

• Dual Engine Architecture

  • COM backend: live AutoCAD control via the Win32 COM API, routed through a single-thread STA executor with a per-call timeout so an unresponsive AutoCAD never hangs the server.
  • ezdxf backend: headless DXF file operations powered by ezdxf. Works on every platform, ideal for batch workloads and CI pipelines.
  • Automatic backend selection, with a clean override via AUTOCAD_MCP_BACKEND.

• 87 Tools, 11 Categories

  • Drawing management — drawing_new, drawing_open, drawing_save, drawing_save_as, drawing_export_dxf, drawing_export_pdf, drawing_purge, drawing_audit, drawing_undo, drawing_redo, drawing_close
  • Entity creation — line, circle, arc, polyline, rectangle, text, mtext, hatch, spline, ellipse, point, block reference, batch create
  • Dimensions — linear, aligned, angular, radius, diameter
  • Entity modification — move, copy, rotate, scale, mirror, offset, delete, rectangular array, polar array, batch modify, set properties
  • Layer management — full lifecycle: create, delete, modify, freeze/thaw, lock/unlock, hide/show, isolate, set current
  • Block operations — list, insert, explode, attribute get/set, create-from-entities, find references
  • Analysis — entity stats, region select, distance/area measurement, bounding box, select by type/layer, layer statistics
  • View control — zoom extents, zoom window, screenshot, combined zoom-and-screenshot
  • Transactions — begin, commit, rollback, with disk-backed snapshots
  • System — status, get/set variables, run command, run AutoLISP, about
  • Templates and validation — apply standard layer templates, validate drawings against rule sets

• Production-Grade Plumbing

  • FastMCP 3.0 lifespan-managed backend singleton
  • Middleware stack: error handling, audit logging, timing, request logging
  • Structured progress reports for long-running operations (drawing_open, exports, batch ops)
  • 104 tests across drawing, entity, dimension, layer, block, analysis, batch/template, security suites
  • Ruff-clean codebase, GitHub Actions CI

• Security-First Defaults

  • Path traversal & system-directory protection
  • AutoLISP allowlist with regression tests for known bypass patterns (vla-SendCommand, acet-*, alias tricks, funcall indirection, c: custom commands, error-handler hijacks)
  • Command sanitization for system_run_command
  • HTTP transport refuses non-loopback bind without an explicit opt-in and a configured auth token
  • Configurable file size limit on DXF input (MAX_DXF_BYTES) blocks decompression-bomb-style attacks
  • Per-call COM timeout (COM_CALL_TIMEOUT) prevents a hung AutoCAD from freezing the server

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AI Client Compatibility

AutoCAD MCP Pro implements the Model Context Protocol. If a host can speak MCP, it can drive this server. No model-specific code, no per-vendor patches — the contract is the tool schema, and any MCP-aware client (and any LLM behind it) inherits the full 87-tool surface for free.

Host	Status	Notes
Claude Desktop	Verified	Native MCP support
Cursor	Verified	Native MCP support
Cline / Roo Code (VS Code)	Verified	Native MCP support
Continue	Verified	MCP via configuration
Goose	Verified	MCP via configuration
Custom MCP clients	Supported	STDIO and HTTP transports

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Quickstart

git clone https://github.com/U-C4N/autocad-mcp.git
cd autocad-mcp
pip install -e ".[full]"
python server.py

That is it. The server starts in STDIO mode and your MCP client will discover all 87 tools.

For headless / CI workflows:

AUTOCAD_MCP_BACKEND=ezdxf python server.py

For HTTP transport (local-only by default — see Security Model):

fastmcp run server.py:mcp --transport http --port 8000

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Installation

Core (ezdxf backend only — works everywhere)

pip install -e .

With live AutoCAD control (Windows + AutoCAD)

pip install -e ".[com]"

With PDF export and matplotlib-based screenshots

pip install -e ".[pdf]"

Everything

pip install -e ".[full]"

Development

pip install -e ".[full]"
pip install pytest pytest-asyncio pytest-cov ruff

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MCP Client Configuration

Claude Desktop

Edit claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "autocad": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["C:/path/to/autocad-mcp/server.py"],
      "env": {
        "AUTOCAD_MCP_BACKEND": "auto",
        "ALLOWED_PATHS": "C:/Users/you/Documents/AutoCAD"
      }
    }
  }
}

Cursor

Settings → MCP → Add new server and point at python /path/to/server.py.

Cline / Continue / Goose

All standard MCP command + args configuration; same shape as Claude Desktop.

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Backend Selection

AUTOCAD_MCP_BACKEND	Behavior
auto (default)	Try COM first on Windows, fall back to ezdxf if AutoCAD is not reachable.
com	Force COM. Fails fast if AutoCAD is not running.
ezdxf	Force headless ezdxf. Works on Linux, macOS, Windows with no AutoCAD.

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Configuration Reference

Copy .env.example to .env and edit:

Variable	Default	Purpose
AUTOCAD_MCP_BACKEND	auto	Backend selection (auto, com, ezdxf).
LOG_LEVEL	INFO	Standard Python logging level.
ALLOWED_PATHS	(empty)	Comma-separated absolute paths the server may read/write.
MAX_UNDO_STACK	5	Maximum number of in-flight transaction snapshots.
MAX_DXF_BYTES	52428800 (50 MB)	Reject DXF files larger than this on drawing_open. 0 to disable.
MAX_LIST_LIMIT	5000	Hard cap for entity_list and analysis_select_* responses.
COM_CALL_TIMEOUT	60 (seconds)	Per-call timeout for COM operations. Prevents a hung AutoCAD blocking the server.
DANGEROUS_COMMANDS_ENABLED	false	Disable command and AutoLISP sanitization. Loud warning at startup.
ALLOW_REMOTE_HTTP	false	Permit HTTP transport on non-loopback hosts.
MCP_AUTH_TOKEN	(empty)	Required when ALLOW_REMOTE_HTTP=true. Bearer token for HTTP clients.

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Tool Catalog

Group	Count	Sample tools
Drawing	11	drawing_new, drawing_open, drawing_save, drawing_export_pdf, drawing_purge, drawing_close
Entity Creation	13	entity_create_line, entity_create_polyline, entity_create_hatch, entity_create_block_ref
Dimensions	5	dimension_linear, dimension_aligned, dimension_angular, dimension_radius, dimension_diameter
Entity Modification	10	entity_move, entity_rotate, entity_array_polar, entity_offset, entity_array_rectangular
Entity Query	3	entity_get, entity_list, entity_delete_many
Layer Management	12	layer_create, layer_freeze, layer_isolate, layer_modify
Block Operations	7	block_insert, block_explode, block_create_from_entities, block_find_references
Analysis	8	analysis_entity_stats, analysis_bounding_box, analysis_select_by_layer, analysis_layer_stats
View	4	view_zoom_extents, view_screenshot, view_zoom_and_screenshot
Transactions	3	transaction_begin, transaction_commit, transaction_rollback
System	6	system_status, system_run_command, system_run_lisp, system_about
Batch / Templates	5	entity_batch_create, entity_batch_modify, template_apply_layers, validation_check

system_about returns the live tool inventory — the count above is illustrative; the runtime number is authoritative.

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Architecture

server.py                  FastMCP 3.0 server (lifespan, middleware, tools)
│
├── config.py              Centralized environment-driven configuration
├── security.py            Path validation, command + LISP sanitization
│
└── backends/
    ├── base.py            AutoCADBackend ABC + shared dataclasses
    │                      (EntityInfo, LayerInfo, BlockInfo, DrawingInfo, CommandResult)
    ├── ezdxf_backend.py   Headless DXF/DWG via ezdxf
    │                      sync calls wrapped in asyncio.to_thread
    │                      transaction snapshots persisted to temp files
    └── com_backend.py     Live AutoCAD via pywin32
                           single-thread STA executor with per-call timeout
                           UUID-named selection sets, leak-free cleanup

The server boots once, the backend is initialized in the FastMCP lifespan, and every tool call is dispatched through the middleware stack:

ErrorHandlingMiddleware → AuditMiddleware → TimingMiddleware → LoggingMiddleware → tool

Tool returns are flowed back through _dc(), which converts dataclasses to JSON-serializable dicts and preserves the typed contract on the wire.

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Security Model

AutoCAD MCP Pro assumes a hostile-input threat model: the MCP client may be untrusted, the model behind it may be jailbroken, and the inputs to every tool may be adversarial.

• AutoLISP allowlist — security.py blocks the full ActiveX/COM family (vla-*, vlax-*, vlr-*), Express Tools (acet-*), command channels (command, command-s, vl-cmdf), file I/O, code loading, indirection vectors (funcall, function, apply, eval), custom command invocation (c:*), and error-handler hijacks. Every known bypass is covered by a regression test.
• Command sanitization — destructive AutoCAD verbs (ERASE, PURGE, SHELL, SCRIPT, APPLOAD, NETLOAD, VBARUN, …) are rejected unless DANGEROUS_COMMANDS_ENABLED=true is set, in which case the server logs a loud WARNING at startup and surfaces an unsafe_mode flag in system_status and system_about.
• Path validation — every tool that takes a path runs through validate_path(), which blocks traversal patterns, system directories, and constrains writes to a configurable ALLOWED_PATHS list.
• HTTP transport guard — by default the server refuses to bind anything other than 127.0.0.1. To bind a non-loopback host you must opt in via ALLOW_REMOTE_HTTP=true and set MCP_AUTH_TOKEN.
• Resource exhaustion guards — MAX_DXF_BYTES rejects oversize input, MAX_LIST_LIMIT caps response sizes, transaction snapshots persist to disk so memory stays bounded, and COM_CALL_TIMEOUT keeps a hung AutoCAD from taking the server with it.

If you find a security issue, please open a private contact rather than a public issue.

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Benchmarks

A reproducible benchmark suite is in active development. Targets:

• Drawing scale — 1k / 10k / 100k entity workloads
• Workload classes — bulk creation, mass-modify, region select, render-and-screenshot, end-to-end design pass
• Backend variants — ezdxf on CPython 3.11/3.12, COM against AutoCAD 2024+
• Model compatibility — tool-call success rate and prompt token usage by model, on a fixed set of canonical CAD prompts

Numbers will land in benchmarks/ with a one-command runner and a hardware footprint. The table below will be updated as new models and AutoCAD versions release.

Workload	ezdxf (3.12)	COM (AutoCAD 2025)	Notes
Open + audit 10k-entity DXF	coming	coming
Bulk-create 5k LINE entities	coming	coming
Region select on 100k drawing	coming	coming
End-to-end "design pass" prompt	coming	coming	by model family

Have a workload you want included? Open an issue.

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Development

Run tests

pytest -v

Coverage report

pytest --cov=. --cov-report=term-missing

Lint and format

ruff check .
ruff format --check .

Project structure

autocad-mcp/
├── server.py
├── config.py
├── security.py
├── backends/
│   ├── base.py
│   ├── ezdxf_backend.py
│   └── com_backend.py
├── tests/
│   ├── test_drawing.py
│   ├── test_entity_creation.py
│   ├── test_dimensions.py
│   ├── test_layer_block.py
│   ├── test_analysis.py
│   ├── test_batch_template.py
│   ├── test_ezdxf_backend.py
│   └── test_security.py
├── pyproject.toml
├── Dockerfile
└── .github/workflows/ci.yml

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Roadmap

• [x] 1.0 — Initial public release
• [x] 1.1 — Security hardening (LISP allowlist, transaction snapshots on disk, COM timeouts, HTTP bind guard, dynamic tool count)
• [ ] 1.2 — Public benchmark suite (benchmarks/ with reproducible runner)
• [ ] 1.3 — Backend capabilities() map and per-tool enablement (e.g. hide system_run_command automatically on ezdxf)
• [ ] 1.4 — Module split for server.py and a clean services/ orchestration layer
• [ ] 1.5 — Windows CI matrix with mocked COM backend; full coverage report
• [ ] 2.0 — Multi-document context, xref-aware tools, layout/paper-space first-class support
• [ ] 2.x — Native Linux/macOS support for live control via ODA File Converter for round-trip DWG

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Requirements

• Python 3.11+
• FastMCP 3.0+
• ezdxf 1.3+
• (optional, COM backend) pywin32 306+, AutoCAD 2020 or newer
• (optional, screenshots) Pillow 10.0+
• (optional, PDF export) matplotlib 3.8+

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Contributing

Pull requests are welcome — especially around the COM backend (mocking, additional Windows tooling), benchmark suite contributions, and additional layer / dimension standards.

For non-trivial changes, please open an issue first to align on direction.

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Author

Umutcan Edizsalan Mechanical / engineering work at Anka-Makine. Builds tools that survive contact with real production drawings.

GitHub: @U-C4N

This project exists because it earned its place in my own daily workflow. I will keep it maintained and aligned with my real usage.

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License

MIT — see LICENSE.

Copyright © 2026 Umutcan Edizsalan.