MCP Server#

DiTTo provides a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that exposes its full reader/writer pipeline, model inspection, and documentation to LLM applications such as Claude Desktop, VS Code Copilot, and Claude Code.

Installation#

The MCP server is included with DiTTo. The mcp dependency is installed automatically with the core package:

pip install nrel-ditto

Or install only the MCP extra:

pip install nrel-ditto[mcp]

Running the Server#

Direct execution (stdio transport)#

ditto_mcp

Or as a Python module:

python -m ditto.mcp.server

Development mode with MCP Inspector#

uv run mcp dev src/ditto/mcp/server.py --with-editable .

Claude Desktop integration#

Add to your Claude Desktop configuration (claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ditto": {
      "command": "ditto_mcp"
    }
  }
}

VS Code / Claude Code integration#

claude mcp add ditto -- ditto_mcp

Available Tools#

Discovery#

Tool	Description
`list_readers`	List available reader formats (e.g. opendss, cim_iec_61968_13)
`list_writers`	List available writer formats (e.g. opendss)

Loading Models#

Tool	Description
`read_opendss_model`	Load an OpenDSS model from a `.dss` master file
`read_cim_model`	Load a CIM IEC 61968-13 XML model
`load_gdm_json`	Load a previously-exported GDM JSON file

Inspection#

Tool	Description
`list_loaded_systems`	Show names of all systems currently in memory
`get_system_summary`	Component counts and type breakdown for a loaded system
`get_components`	List components of a given type (buses, loads, lines, etc.)
`get_component_detail`	Full Pydantic model dump of a single component

Writing / Export#

Tool	Description
`write_opendss`	Write a loaded system to OpenDSS `.dss` files
`export_gdm_json`	Serialize a loaded system to GDM JSON
`convert_model`	Full read → write conversion between formats

Available Resources#

Documentation pages are exposed as MCP resources under the ditto://docs/ URI scheme:

Resource URI	Content
`ditto://docs`	Index of all available documentation pages
`ditto://docs/index`	Project overview and architecture
`ditto://docs/install`	Installation instructions
`ditto://docs/usage`	Usage guide with code examples
`ditto://docs/reference`	API reference overview
`ditto://docs/api/opendss_reader`	OpenDSS reader API docs
`ditto://docs/api/cim_reader`	CIM reader API docs
`ditto://docs/api/opendss_writer`	OpenDSS writer API docs

Available Prompts#

Prompt	Description
`convert_guide`	Step-by-step interactive guide for format conversion
`inspect_model`	Interactive workflow for exploring a loaded model

Example Workflow#

A typical interaction with the DiTTo MCP server:

List formats: Ask the LLM to call list_readers and list_writers
Load a model: Call read_opendss_model with a path to Master.dss
Inspect: Use get_system_summary to see what’s in the model
Browse components: Use get_components to list buses, loads, etc.
Export: Use write_opendss or export_gdm_json to save the model
Read docs: Access ditto://docs/usage for detailed usage guides

Architecture#

        flowchart TD
    A["LLM Client\n(Claude, VS Code, etc.)"] <-->|"MCP Protocol\n(stdio)"| B["DiTTo MCP Server"]
    B --> C["Tools"]
    B --> D["Resources"]
    B --> E["Prompts"]
    C --> F["Readers\n(OpenDSS, CIM)"]
    C --> G["Writers\n(OpenDSS)"]
    C --> H["GDM System\nInspection"]
    D --> I["Documentation\n(Markdown)"]