Ai Rover MCP Server

ai-rover-mcp

MCP server for AI Rover Studio, a 2D robot simulator that runs in the browser. It lets an AI agent (Claude Code, Claude Desktop or any MCP client) observe and drive the rover, change its body, run programs and read the real wiring for an ESP32 / Arduino Uno / Raspberry Pi. Simulation only: nothing is sent to hardware.

MCP client ──stdio──▶ ai-rover-mcp ──WebSocket 127.0.0.1:8765──▶ simulator page in your browser

The page must be open in a browser and the tab must stay visible, because browsers pause animation frames in background tabs, so the simulation stops there. The badge in the page header shows MCP ● connected while the bridge is up.

Setup

Needs Node.js 18 or newer.

Claude Code

claude mcp add ai-rover -- npx -y ai-rover-mcp

Then ask Claude to "open the rover simulator". open_simulator opens the hosted simulator with ?mcp=on, which tells the page to connect to this server.

Claude Desktop / other clients

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ai-rover": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "ai-rover-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

From a clone

npm install
claude mcp add ai-rover -- node /path/to/ai-rover-mcp/server.js

Opening the simulator yourself

Open https://ai-rover.app/app/?mcp=on. Without ?mcp=on the hosted page does not try to reach a local MCP server; you can also press เชื่อมต่อ MCP on its Agent / MCP page. A copy opened from disk (file://) or from localhost connects on its own.

Tools

Example prompts: "Open the rover simulator and drive it to the light without using the autopilot", "Add an IR sensor on each side angled ±45° and tell me the readings", "What parts do I need to build this rover on an ESP32?"

Configuration

• ROVER_BRIDGE_PORT (default 8765). If you change it, the page needs ?mcpPort=<port> (open_simulator adds this for you).
• ROVER_SIMULATOR_URL: the page open_simulator opens instead of the hosted one. A URL (http://localhost:5173 while developing) or a path to a local build (dist/index.html, relative to the working directory).
• ROVER_ALLOWED_ORIGINS: extra comma-separated https:// origins the bridge accepts (for a self-hosted copy of the simulator).
• On the page: ?mcp=on connects to the server, ?mcp=off never does.

Security

The WebSocket listens on 127.0.0.1 only. It accepts connections only from the page opened from disk (file://), from localhost, from the hosted simulator, or from the origin of ROVER_SIMULATOR_URL / ROVER_ALLOWED_ORIGINS, so other websites open in the same browser cannot pose as the rover. The page only runs the fixed set of methods listed above; it never evaluates code it receives from the server, except the program you send with run_program, which runs in a Web Worker.

License

MIT