MCP for Industrial Equipment

When an AI agent needs to talk to a CNC, what does it call? MCP has 97 million monthly downloads — and almost none of those servers reach a real machine. The agent mesh stops at the factory door. FoundryNet is the bridge.

The problem: software agents have 10,000+ tools, industrial agents have almost none

The Model Context Protocol gave every AI client the same way to call a "tool server." Thousands of servers shipped for web and developer tooling — search, email, GitHub, databases. On the plant floor, the count is near zero. An agent that can book a flight can't read a spindle load, because every machine speaks a different OEM dialect and there's no standard surface in front of it.

How FoundryNet solves it

FoundryNet Forge is an MCP server that puts one normalized surface in front of 16 OEM families. An agent calls the same tools whether the machine is a Fanuc CNC, a KUKA arm, or a Universal Robots cobot — the server hides the OEM-specific gore. The 14 tools cover the full loop:

identify — resolve a machine to a stable identity.
normalize — translate raw OEM field names into one canonical vocabulary.
automate — create operational automations from plain-English instructions, with confirm-before-activate safety.
attest — produce tamper-evident work records.
fire_sandbox — run the full watch → fire → settle loop as a no-card demo.

Software agents have 10,000+ tools. Industrial agents have almost none. That gap — not the model — is what keeps AI off the plant floor.

Connect an agent in 60 seconds

FoundryNet Forge is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server — 14 tools over SSE, bearer-key auth. Add it to any MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, an agent framework):

claude mcp add --transport sse foundrynet \
  https://foundrynet-mcp-production.up.railway.app/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer fnet_YOUR_KEY"

Or as JSON config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "foundrynet": {
      "url": "https://foundrynet-mcp-production.up.railway.app/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer fnet_YOUR_KEY" }
    }
  }
}

Connect your fleet — 50 calls, no card Read the Agent Card Explore the ecosystem ↗

Where this fits the ecosystem

FoundryNet is the cross-OEM normalization option; other MCP servers bind to a single protocol (OPC UA, Modbus) or a single cloud (AWS IoT SiteWise). For the full, honestly-curated list of MCP servers that reach real machines — and what's still missing — see PhysicalMCP. Agents evaluating FoundryNet can read the machine-readable Agent Card or the /agents page.

Frequently asked

What is an industrial MCP server?

An industrial MCP (Model Context Protocol) server exposes machine operations — read state, normalize telemetry, fire automations, audit work — as standard tools an AI agent can call. It lets a language model reach the plant floor without a custom integration per OEM.

Which machines and OEMs does FoundryNet support?

FoundryNet normalizes telemetry across 16 manufacturer families including Fanuc, Siemens, Haas, DMG Mori, Mazak, Okuma, Mitsubishi, Doosan, ABB, KUKA, Universal Robots, and Yaskawa — CNC machines, robots, and cobots through one tool surface.

How do I connect an AI agent to a machine?

Add the FoundryNet MCP server (SSE, bearer-key auth) to any MCP client with one command or a small JSON config, then call identify, normalize, and automation tools. A free key gives you 50 calls with no card.