openLCA MCP

Expose openLCA operations as typed Model Context Protocol tools for local or remote MCP clients.

Overview

openLCA MCP exposes openLCA operations as Model Context Protocol tools. Use it when an MCP-compatible client needs to search the active openLCA database, inspect models, run calculations, or analyze results.

How it works

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MCP client
   ↓
openLCA MCP
   ↓
openLCA IPC
   ↓
openLCA Desktop + active database

openLCA remains the calculation engine. The MCP server provides a typed interface around those operations.

Requirements

Python 3.11 or newer
openLCA Desktop 2.x
An open database
The openLCA IPC server running
An MCP-compatible client when using another application

Transport options

Use stdio for a local client that can launch the MCP process. Use Streamable HTTP for a remote or web-hosted client.

Read-only mode

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OPENLCA_READ_ONLY=true

Search and calculation tools remain available while create and write operations are blocked.

Result handles

A calculation returns a result_id. Reuse that ID for result inspection and dispose it when the analysis is complete.