Rhino 8 MCP server

RhinoMCP connects Rhino 3D to AI agents through the Model Context Protocol (MCP), enabling AI-assisted 3D modeling directly within Rhino. This integration allows AI systems to inspect, create, and modify 3D objects through a socket-based communication system.

Installation Requirements

Prerequisites

• Rhino 7 or newer (compatible with both Windows and Mac)
• Python 3.10 or newer
• uv package manager

Step 1: Install the Rhino Plugin

1. Open Rhino
2. Navigate to Tools > Package Manager
3. Search for rhinomcp
4. Click Install

Step 2: Install the UV Package Manager

For Mac:

brew install uv

For Windows:

powershell -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex"

Step 3: Configure MCP Integration

Create the following configuration in the appropriate location depending on your AI client:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rhino": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["rhinomcp"]
    }
  }
}

For Claude Desktop:

Go to Claude > Settings > Developer > Edit Config > claude_desktop_config.json and add the above configuration.

For Cursor:

1. Create a folder .cursor in your project root
2. Create a file mcp.json in the .cursor folder with the above configuration
3. Go to Cursor Settings > MCP and make sure it's enabled

Using RhinoMCP

Starting the Connection

1. In Rhino, type mcpstart in the command line
2. Verify that the MCP server is running in the Rhino terminal

Using with Claude

After configuring Claude and starting the plugin in Rhino, you'll see a hammer icon in Claude with tools for RhinoMCP. Click this icon to interact with Rhino through Claude.

Using with Cursor

After setting up Cursor and starting the plugin in Rhino:

1. Look for a green indicator in front of the MCP server in Cursor
2. If you don't see it, try refreshing the server
3. Use Ctrl+I to open the chat box
4. Make sure to select Agent mode
5. Start chatting with Rhino through Cursor

Capabilities

RhinoMCP provides these key functions:

• Two-way communication between AI and Rhino
• Object manipulation (create, modify, delete)
• Document inspection to get information about the current Rhino document
• Script execution in Rhino Python (experimental feature)
• Documentation access for RhinoScript Python functions
• Object selection based on filters (name, color, category, etc.)
• Layer management (get/set/create/delete)

Supported Primitive Objects

Currently supports creating these primitive objects:

• Point
• Line
• Polyline
• Circle
• Arc
• Ellipse
• Curve
• Box
• Sphere
• Cone
• Cylinder
• Surface (from points)

Technical Communication

The system uses a simple JSON-based protocol over TCP sockets:

• Commands are sent as JSON objects with a type and optional params
• Responses are JSON objects with a status and result or message

Limitations

• The get_document_info command only fetches a maximum of 30 objects, layers, materials, etc., to prevent overwhelming the AI with large datasets
• Complex operations may need to be broken down into smaller steps
• Only run one instance of the MCP server (either on Cursor or Claude Desktop), not both

How to add this MCP server to Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > MCP and click "Add new global MCP server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "cursor-rules-mcp": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "cursor-rules-mcp"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explictly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.