robotmcp--ros-mcp-server/docs/install/clients/custom-client.md

Step 1: Custom / Programmatic Client

You can use the ROS-MCP server directly in your Python code using the MCP SDK.

Example

from mcp import ClientSession, StdioServerParameters
from mcp.client.stdio import stdio_client

async def main():
    server_params = StdioServerParameters(
        command="uvx",
        args=["ros-mcp", "--transport=stdio"]
    )

    async with stdio_client(server_params) as (read, write):
        async with ClientSession(read, write) as session:
            # Initialize the session
            await session.initialize()

            # List available tools
            tools = await session.list_tools()
            print(tools)

            # Call a tool
            result = await session.call_tool("get_topics", {})
            print(result)

Prerequisites

• uv installed — see uv installation docs
• MCP Python SDK — pip install mcp

Next Step

Set up rosbridge on the machine where ROS is running: Step 2: Rosbridge Setup

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Advanced

• HTTP transport — run the MCP server as a standalone HTTP service instead of stdio
• Alternate installation methods:
  • Install via pip — traditional pip install or install from source with pip
  • Install from source — for developers who need to modify the server code

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