Installation

Getting the MCP Automation Bridge plugin into your project and building it. Connecting an AI client comes next, in 🔌 Connecting Clients.

On this page · Requirements · Get the plugin · First build · Engine plugins · Versions · Updating · Removing

Requirements

Requirement	Detail
🎮 Unreal Engine	5.0 to 5.8
💻 Platforms	Windows (Win64), macOS, Linux. The plugin is editor-only and never ships in your game.
🧱 Project	One with C++ code, so the plugin can compile. Blueprint-only projects can use prebuilt binaries.
🔧 Compiler	The toolchain your engine version expects: Visual Studio or Rider on Windows, Xcode on macOS, clang on Linux
🟩 Node.js	20.19 or later, only for the stdio route. The native HTTP route needs no Node.js.

Note

The plugin guards version-specific engine APIs for every minor from 5.0 to 5.8, and day-to-day testing happens on the newest engines. If it fails to compile on your version, open an issue with the build log; that's treated as a bug.

Get the plugin

📦 Release archive Download a zip, copy one folder. The usual choice.

🌿 From a clone The latest dev code, updated with git pull. For contributors and early adopters.

🧱 Prebuilt binaries Compile once, share with a team. The only option for Blueprint-only projects.

Option A: release archive

Each release ships McpAutomationBridge-plugin-<version>.zip (and .tar.gz). The archive holds source only, with no Binaries/ or Intermediate/.

1. For the 0.6 line, open the newest v0.6 pre-release and download the plugin zip.
2. Inside is plugins/McpAutomationBridge/. Copy that McpAutomationBridge folder to <YourProject>/Plugins/McpAutomationBridge/.

Tip

On 0.5.30 instead? Take the v0.5.30 release and follow its own README. This wiki describes 0.6.

Option B: from a clone of the repository

git clone https://github.com/ChiR24/Unreal_mcp.git

The default branch, dev, is the 0.6 line. Then either copy the plugin with the sync script:

cd Unreal_mcp
node scripts/sync-mcp-plugin.js --project "C:/Path/To/MyGame/Plugins" --clean-project

--clean-project removes the old copy first, and --help lists the rest (--engine, --dry-run, --clean-engine).

Or reference it in place, so a git pull updates the plugin without copying. Add the repository's plugins folder to your .uproject:

{
  "AdditionalPluginDirectories": [
    "C:/Path/To/Unreal_mcp/plugins"
  ]
}

Option C: prebuilt binaries

On a machine with the engine and a compiler, build the plugin once:

node scripts/package-plugin.mjs "C:/Program Files/Epic Games/UE_5.7"

The script runs RunUAT BuildPlugin and writes build/McpAutomationBridge-v<version>-UE5.7-<Platform>.zip plus a SHA-256 manifest. Unzip it into <YourProject>/Plugins/ on each target machine. No compiler is needed there.

Warning

Binaries only work with the engine minor and platform they were built for. A 5.7 Win64 build won't load in 5.6, in 5.8, or on macOS.

On Windows, if RunUAT trips over long paths, point MCP_PACKAGE_STAGING_ROOT at a short folder such as X:\t.

First build

Open the .uproject. Unreal sees the new plugin source and asks to rebuild the missing modules: answer Yes.

You see	Do this
"Missing Modules … Engine modules cannot be compiled at runtime. Please build through your IDE."	Generate project files (right-click the .uproject › Generate Visual Studio project files, or your IDE's equivalent), build the Editor target once, then reopen the project
"Plugin 'McpAutomationBridge' failed to load" on the very first open	Close the editor and open the project again. It loads once the build has finished.
No code target to compile into	The project is Blueprint-only. Add a class through Tools › New C++ Class, or use prebuilt binaries.

✅ Checkpoint: the status bar at the bottom-right of the level editor shows MCP off, or MCP :3000 (0) once the native HTTP server is on. Clicking it opens the plugin settings.

Engine plugins it uses

The bridge declares its engine-plugin dependencies in its .uplugin, so Unreal enables them together with it. You normally don't enable anything by hand.

Always on with the bridge: Python Editor Script Plugin · Editor Scripting Utilities · Niagara · Gameplay Abilities · Smart Objects

Optional: used when present, skipped when not:

Engine plugin	Unlocks
Level Sequence Editor, Takes, Movie Render Pipeline, Movie Pipeline Mask Render Pass, Electra Player	🎬 Sequencer, Take Recorder, Movie Render Queue, media playback (manage_sequence)
Control Rig, RigVM, IK Rig, Animation Data	🦴 Control Rig and IK authoring (animation_physics)
Chaos Vehicles, Chaos Cloth	🚗 Vehicles and cloth (animation_physics)
Niagara Editor	✨ Niagara system and emitter authoring (manage_effect)
Behavior Tree Editor, Environment Query Editor, StateTree, Mass Gameplay	🧠 Behavior Trees, EQS, State Trees (manage_ai)
Geometry Scripting, Geometry Processing, Procedural Mesh Component	🔷 Procedural meshes (manage_geometry)
PCG	🌲 PCG graphs (manage_pcg). Compiled in only when your project itself enables the PCG plugin.
MetaSound, Synthesis	🔊 MetaSound authoring (manage_audio)
Enhanced Input	🎮 Input actions and mapping contexts (manage_networking)
Online Subsystem, Online Subsystem Utils	🌐 Sessions and LAN play (manage_networking)
Interchange, Interchange OpenUSD	📥 Asset import and export
Data Validation, StructUtils	✔️ Validation and struct helpers
Fab, Bridge	🛒 Fab asset library access (optional module McpAutomationBridgeFab)

search and describe list the engine plugins a capability needs under availability.requiredPlugins. If one of them is missing, that capability returns an error and everything else keeps working.

Keep the server and the plugin on the same version

Important

On the stdio route, the Node.js package and the plugin must come from the same release: unreal-engine-mcp-server@0.6.0-beta-b with plugin 0.6.0-beta-b, and so on. The native HTTP route has no second component to keep in step.

The plugin's version is shown in Edit › Plugins and in its .uplugin (VersionName).

Updating

1. Close the editor.
2. Replace <YourProject>/Plugins/McpAutomationBridge/ with the new version, or git pull if you referenced a clone.
3. Optionally delete the plugin's Binaries/ and Intermediate/ folders to force a clean build.
4. Open the project and let it rebuild. On the stdio route, update the npm version in your client config too.

Your settings (in Config/DefaultGame.ini) and capability token (in Saved/MCP/) survive updates.

Removing

1. Delete <YourProject>/Plugins/McpAutomationBridge/.
2. Remove the [/Script/McpAutomationBridge.McpAutomationBridgeSettings] section from Config/DefaultGame.ini.
3. Delete Saved/MCP/ if you want the token gone too.
4. Remove the server entry from your MCP clients.

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