Quick Start

From an empty project to an AI assistant working in your editor, in about ten minutes: ① add the plugin, ② open the project, ③ connect a client, ④ try it.

Before you start

	You need
🎮	Unreal Engine 5.0 – 5.8 on Windows, macOS or Linux
🧱	A project with C++ code, meaning it has a Source/ folder. Blueprint-only? Add any class through Tools › New C++ Class, or use prebuilt binaries.
🤖	An MCP client: Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, …
🟩	Node.js 20.19 or later, only if you take Route B in step 3

① Add the plugin

1. On the Releases page, open the newest v0.6 pre-release (v0.6.0-beta-b at the time of writing) and download McpAutomationBridge-plugin-<version>.zip.
2. The zip contains plugins/McpAutomationBridge/. Copy that McpAutomationBridge folder into your project's Plugins folder:

MyGame/
├── MyGame.uproject
└── Plugins/
    └── McpAutomationBridge/
        ├── McpAutomationBridge.uplugin
        └── Source/

② Open the project

Open MyGame.uproject. When Unreal asks whether to rebuild the missing modules, choose Yes. The plugin is large, so the first build can take several minutes.

✅ Checkpoint: the status bar in the editor's bottom-right corner shows MCP off. That means the plugin loaded, and its built-in HTTP server is simply switched off for now.

Tip

"Engine modules cannot be compiled at runtime" instead of the rebuild prompt? Build the project once in Visual Studio, Rider or Xcode, then open it again. More in 🩺 Troubleshooting.

③ Connect a client

Pick one route:

🌐 Route A · Native HTTP The plugin serves MCP itself. ✅ No Node.js ✅ Several clients can share one editor ✏️ You paste the capability token into the client once Best for: Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code

🧩 Route B · stdio Your client launches a small Node.js server. ✅ Token picked up automatically ✅ Works with any MCP client ✏️ Needs Node.js 20.19+ Best for: Claude Desktop, or clients that only launch local commands

Route A · Native HTTP

1. In the editor, open Edit › Project Settings › Plugins › MCP Automation Bridge. Under Native MCP, tick Enable Native MCP Server. The port defaults to 3000.

   

2. Restart the editor. ✅ Checkpoint: the status bar reads MCP :3000 (0), meaning the port and the number of connected clients.

3. Read the capability token the plugin generated for your project:

   Get-Content "C:\Path\To\MyGame\Saved\MCP\capability-token"

   cat /path/to/MyGame/Saved/MCP/capability-token

4. Add the server to your client and send the token in the X-MCP-Capability-Token header. For Claude Code:

   claude mcp add --transport http unreal-engine http://127.0.0.1:3000/mcp --header "X-MCP-Capability-Token: <paste token>"

   Cursor, VS Code and the rest: 🔌 Connecting Clients.

✅ Checkpoint: when the client connects, the count in the status bar goes up:

Important

Treat the token like a password. Anyone who has it can drive your editor. See 🔐 Security.

Route B · stdio

Add this to your client's MCP configuration. For Claude Desktop the file is %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json on Windows, or ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "unreal-engine": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "unreal-engine-mcp-server@beta"],
      "env": {
        "UE_PROJECT_PATH": "C:/Path/To/MyGame"
      }
    }
  }
}

UE_PROJECT_PATH is your project folder (or its .uproject file). The server uses it to find the capability token and the plugin's port, so there is nothing else to set. Restart the client after editing its config.

Warning

Keep the @beta tag. Without it, npm installs 0.5.30, which doesn't match a 0.6 plugin.

④ Try it

With the editor open, ask your assistant:

Ask	What happens
"List the actors in the current level."	A read: nothing changes
"Spawn a point light 300 units above the origin."	A write: a new actor appears in the level
"Take a screenshot of the viewport."	The image comes back, so the model can check its own work

Behind the scenes, each step is three calls to the unreal tool: search to find the capability, describe to read its exact parameters, and execute to run it. 🧭 Using the Gateway shows those calls.

Note

Deletes, and some other changes such as duplicating an asset, only run with a consent grant in the call. The assistant gets the grant from describe, so those take one extra step. See Security › Consent.

Didn't work?

Symptom	Go to
The client can't connect, or you get HTTP 401	Native HTTP client cannot connect
Every call answers NOT_CONNECTED	NOT_CONNECTED from the stdio server
The plugin doesn't build	The plugin does not build or load

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