daqmx-mcp

Independent community project. daqmx-mcp is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or supported by National Instruments. NI, NI-DAQmx, and related names are trademarks of National Instruments. This project includes no NI binaries, drivers, logos, or documentation. Users must obtain and license required NI software separately.

daqmx-mcp is a safety-bounded MCP server and Codex plugin for discovering data-acquisition devices and performing finite analog-voltage and digital-input reads through NI's supported nidaqmx Python package. Version 0.1.0 intentionally has no output, relay, reset, calibration, arbitrary property-write, continuous acquisition, shell, or Python-execution capability.

AI-generated hardware configurations require review by a qualified person. Tool results, including self-tests, are not proof that a connected system is electrically safe.

Quick start: mock mode

Requires Python 3.10 or newer.

python -m venv .venv
# Linux/macOS: source .venv/bin/activate
# Windows PowerShell: .venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1
python -m pip install -e ".[dev]"
daqmx-mcp --check-config --config config.example.json
daqmx-mcp --config config.example.json

The final command is an STDIO MCP server and waits for an MCP client. To add the installed command to Codex:

codex mcp add daqmx-mcp --env DAQMX_MCP_CONFIG=/absolute/path/to/config.example.json -- daqmx-mcp

Do not copy the example absolute path literally. Codex desktop, CLI, and IDE extension share the same MCP configuration; the desktop and IDE settings also provide MCP servers → Add server → STDIO, followed by a restart.

What works

• get_server_status, discovery, details, channel listing, self-test
• finite multi-channel analog-voltage acquisition with optional PFI digital start trigger
• one-shot software-timed digital input
• bounded statistics and sample previews
• new-file-only TDMS (preferred) and CSV recording inside one approved directory
• deterministic cross-platform mock backend
• lazy local backend that reports missing Python package/driver rather than breaking mock mode
• exact device/channel allowlists, structured errors, metadata-only audit events, and finally cleanup

No stop_acquisition tool is needed: every v0.1.0 acquisition is synchronous, finite, bounded, and owned by one tool transaction.

Documentation

• Architecture
• Safety and threat model
• Configuration
• Tool reference
• Windows, NI-DAQmx, and simulated devices
• Codex and plugin setup
• Examples and limitations
• Compatibility and verification
• Troubleshooting
• Roadmap
• Risk register
• Reviewed references
• Release checklist

Development

python -m pip install -e ".[dev]"
ruff format --check .
ruff check .
mypy src
pytest --cov=daqmx_mcp --cov-report=term-missing
python -m build
pip-audit

See CONTRIBUTING.md. Apache-2.0 is used for original project code; dependency and separately installed NI software licenses remain their own.