ArcGIS MCP Bridge MCP Server

A secure, local-first MCP server exposing ArcGIS Pro's ArcPy engine over stdio JSON-RPC.

Local serverstdioPython

What is the ArcGIS MCP Bridge MCP server?

A secure, local-first MCP server exposing ArcGIS Pro's ArcPy engine over stdio JSON-RPC. That is what the arcgis mcp bridge mcp server brings to an AI assistant: the same capability, reachable through the Model Context Protocol rather than a separate app or dashboard.

The short version

arcgis-mcp-bridge requires Windows, a licensed ArcGIS Pro installation, and Python 3.11 or newer for the bridge package.

Getting it running

Setup follows the usual MCP pattern — install or clone the server, register it in your client's configuration file, restart the client. The configuration blocks on this page cover the common clients.

The tools it exposes

The server publishes 1 tool. What each one is for:

  • Prerequisites — The Prerequisites tool exposed by this server

What it needs from you

Configuration is passed through the environment: ARCPY_PYTHON_PATH, ARCGIS_MCP_ALLOWED_ROOTS, ARCGIS_MCP_SCRATCH_GDB, ARCGIS_MCP_MAX_WORKERS. Treat anything key-shaped as a real credential — scope it to the minimum the server needs, and rotate it if it ever lands in a shared config.

  • Windows with a licensed ArcGIS Pro installation - Python 3.11 or newer for arcgis-mcp-bridge - An existing writable directory for ARCGIS_MCP_ALLOWED_ROOTS - An existing file geodatabase for ARCGIS_MCP_SCRATCH_GDB, unless <first allowed root>\scratch.gdb already exists

Things to watch

  • It runs with your machine's permissions. That is convenient and also the reason to think about what you point it at before you approve a tool call.
  • Keep per-call confirmation enabled while you learn its behaviour; it is the cheapest safeguard you have.

How it compares

This sits in the developer tooling group, where several servers overlap in what they claim to do but differ sharply once you actually set them up. ArcGIS MCP Bridge's toolset — Prerequisites — is a fair guide to whether it matches your workflow. It is maintained by muend; worth a glance at recent repository activity before you build anything load-bearing on it.

We check each listing at SyncDev against the project's documentation before it goes live — if something here drifts out of date, it is a bug worth reporting.

Available tools

ToolWhat it does
PrerequisitesThe Prerequisites tool exposed by this server.

How to install the ArcGIS MCP Bridge MCP server

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "arcgis-mcp-bridge": {
      "command": "C:\\...\\envs\\arcgis-mcp-env\\python.exe",
      "args": [
        "-m",
        "arcgis_mcp.server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "ARCPY_PYTHON_PATH": "C:\\...\\envs\\arcgis-mcp-env\\python.exe",
        "ARCGIS_MCP_ALLOWED_ROOTS": "C:\\GIS\\Data;C:\\Workspace",
        "ARCGIS_MCP_SCRATCH_GDB": "C:\\GIS\\Data\\scratch.gdb",
        "ARCGIS_MCP_MAX_WORKERS": "2"
      }
    }
  }
}

Configuration as documented by the project. Restart the client after saving.

Configuration

  • Windows with a licensed ArcGIS Pro installation - Python 3.11 or newer for arcgis-mcp-bridge - An existing writable directory for ARCGIS_MCP_ALLOWED_ROOTS - An existing file geodatabase for ARCGIS_MCP_SCRATCH_GDB, unless <first allowed root>\scratch.gdb already exists
VariableDescriptionRequired
ARCPY_PYTHON_PATHFilesystem location the server is allowed to use.Optional
ARCGIS_MCP_ALLOWED_ROOTSConfiguration value read at startup.Optional
ARCGIS_MCP_SCRATCH_GDBConfiguration value read at startup.Optional
ARCGIS_MCP_MAX_WORKERSConfiguration value read at startup.Optional

Example prompts to try

  • Use ArcGIS MCP Bridge to Prerequisites.

Frequently asked questions

It connects ArcGIS MCP Bridge to MCP-compatible AI assistants such as Claude and Cursor, exposing 1 tool (Prerequisites) that the assistant can call on your behalf. Instead of copying data back and forth by hand, the assistant works with ArcGIS MCP Bridge directly.