For machine builders and panel shops running EPLAN Electric P8
An EPLAN MCP server gives Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot named tools for EPLAN projects, pages, devices and macros, built on the EPLAN .NET API, which needs the separately licensed API module. EPLAN ships no MCP server as of 21 September 2026; community servers drive a single desktop seat. Pexon builds a governed server against your installation.
Why EPLAN is hard for agents
01 · Desktop
Core engineering data lives in EPLAN project files, not behind a server endpoint. The .NET API and remote control need a running Windows EPLAN instance with a licence, so the connector needs a dedicated EPLAN host that your IT team operates.
02 · Licensing
The complete API is a separately licensed EPLAN API module. Scripting works without it, but with a reduced command set, and a community project reports that the built-in script compiler does not reference the data model assembly on EPLAN 2022 and 2023. Which route is open depends on your licences and version.
03 · Cloud
The Eplan Cloud API reference is only readable with an Eplan Cloud account. Whether cloud resources can replace desktop access for your projects is checked in the blueprint, not assumed.
04 · Writes
A wrong macro or function change in a schematic propagates into panel build and wiring. The connector therefore reads, and the one change tool only drafts a proposal that an engineer applies in EPLAN.
Checked 21 September 2026
| What we found | |
|---|---|
| Interfaces | EPLAN API (add-ins and offline applications) (.NET, docs public): navigates the project data model (projects, pages, macros, functions); needs the separately licensed EPLAN API module and a local Windows EPLAN installation · EPLAN Scripting (.NET (C# / VB.NET scripts), docs public): runs without an EPLAN API licence, but with a reduced command set · Eplan Cloud API (REST/JSON, docs behind customer or partner login): developer portal for Eplan Cloud services such as eView and eBuild; resources readable only after sign-in with an Eplan Cloud account |
| Authentication | The desktop API and scripts run in the context of the local EPLAN session and its licence. The Eplan Cloud API needs an Eplan Cloud account sign-in; its token scheme is not documented in public. |
| Vendor MCP server | No vendor server. EPLAN has announced no MCP server. Eplan Copilot is an assistant inside the product, not an interface for outside agents. |
| Vendor AI assistant | Eplan Copilot, announced at Eplan Next26 in May 2026 with Platform 2027, gives natural-language answers and step-by-step instructions inside Eplan; automated actions are stated as future. |
| Other connectors | Community MCP servers on GitHub (covagashi/eplan-rag-mcp, paulinholt/eplan-mcp-bridge, swater-kankyo/eplan-mcp-oss) drive a running desktop EPLAN instance; they are Windows-only and need a licensed EPLAN seat. |
EPLAN GmbH & Co. KG, part of the Friedhelm Loh Group (DE). Electrical, controls and panel-building engineering teams at machine builders, plant engineering firms and switchgear manufacturers; EPLAN states it supports 77,400 customers in more than fifty countries.
What we build
Built on what EPLAN GmbH & Co. KG, part of the Friedhelm Loh Group documents: projects, pages, macros, functions (devices), project data model objects. Backends named below are documented resources; "confirmed in blueprint" means the vendor documentation sits behind a login and the resource is checked against your release first.
# eplan-mcp-server: tool manifest, draft for blueprint week 1
# Every tool runs as the person asking. Nothing is written without a person confirming.
tools:
list_projects: # folder or workspace -> EPLAN projects with name and path
backend: EPLAN API project management, resource confirmed in blueprint
mode: read
get_project_pages: # project -> pages with type and description
backend: EPLAN API DataModel pages
mode: read
find_devices: # project, part number or device tag -> functions with page reference
backend: EPLAN API DataModel functions
mode: read
get_bom: # project -> parts list with quantities
backend: confirmed in blueprint
mode: read
propose_device_change: # device, new part number -> draft change the engineer confirms in EPLAN
backend: confirmed in blueprint
mode: propose
audit: every call logged with user, tool, arguments and the EPLAN responseThe manifest is the contract. A question that needs an operation not on it gets a new line and a review, not a wider permission.
EPLAN holds the records. An assistant without a governed way in answers from whatever someone pasted into the chat. The connector is the governed way in: named operations, the person's own permissions, every call logged.
When this is the wrong page
If one engineer wants to automate their own EPLAN seat, a community MCP server or Eplan Copilot inside the product is the shorter path. A connector is right when people outside EPLAN ask in Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot, when every call has to be logged, or when EPLAN data has to be combined with ERP or PLM.
Two weeks, €4,900 fixed price. Week one agrees the tool list with your EPLAN owners and checks every backend against your release and licence. Week two tests whether a person's own EPLAN permissions reach through the connector. You keep the manifest and a costed build plan, whoever builds it. All prices are net and exclude VAT.
What we need from you: a named EPLAN administrator, a test or sandbox system we may call, and one business owner who can say which questions the assistant should answer first. The first production connector is usually a use-case pilot from €15,000; it runs in your environment, and the code is yours.
Not as of 21 September 2026. EPLAN announced Eplan Copilot, an assistant inside the product, and community MCP servers on GitHub drive a desktop EPLAN instance. A governed MCP server for assistants outside EPLAN has to be built against the EPLAN API, which is what this page describes.
Probably. The full API is a separately licensed EPLAN API module, and scripting without it has a reduced command set. The connector also needs a running EPLAN instance on a Windows host, so the blueprint settles the licence question with EPLAN before any build.
No. Each tool answers only from projects the asking person may open, and the blueprint tests how that person's access is carried through to the EPLAN host. Every call is logged with user, tool and arguments.
The two-week Readiness Blueprint is fixed at €4,900: agreed tool list, backends checked against your release, identity tested end to end, costed build plan. The production connector is usually a use-case pilot from €15,000. Prices are net, excluding VAT.
Next step
Thirty minutes with the engineer who would build the connector, with your EPLAN administrator in the room if you like.