MCP server: 28 free material calculators for AI assistants

What is MCP, in three sentences

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard that lets AI assistants call external tools directly: instead of guessing an answer, the model invokes a real calculator with your exact numbers. NestingCalc runs a free, public MCP server at https://mcp.nestingcalc.com/mcp — no API key, no account, standard streamable HTTP — so Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, Gemini CLI and any other MCP client can connect. In practice it turns your chat window into a materials engineer: ask for a cut plan, a log volume or a container load, and the AI calls the right calculator and returns exact numbers.

The 28 tools at a glance

All 28 tools work in metric and imperial units (mm/cm/m/in/ft), and the science-based formulas follow the USDA Wood Handbook 2021 (ch. 4), the Hailwood–Horrobin adsorption model, the IMO CSS Code and JAS — not numbers a chatbot made up. Prefer a browser? Try the Linear cutting calculator or Sheet cutting calculator optimizers right here on the site. The full list:

Four reasons to connect it today

The web calculators and the MCP server run exactly the same engines — what changes is how you drive them.

• Ask in plain language. No forms: say what you need and the AI picks the tool, fills in the parameters and explains the result.
• Chain many calculations. One export shipment, five calculators: Hoppus volume → green weight → water to evaporate in drying → kiln capacity → container loading. The AI carries the numbers between steps; you never retype anything.
• Every result links to a diagram. Each answer includes a web_url pre-filled with your numbers — open it for an SVG cut plan you can print for the shop floor.
• Free for real. No API key, no account, no trial quota. It runs on Cloudflare Workers worldwide with low latency.

Connect in one minute

Pick your MCP client: Claude Code (terminal) — run claude mcp add --transport http nestingcalc https://mcp.nestingcalc.com/mcp (add --scope user to make it available in every project). Claude Desktop — Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector, then paste https://mcp.nestingcalc.com/mcp. Cursor — Cursor Settings → MCP → Add new MCP server, then paste the JSON below. Want to inspect before you trust it? Run npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector, choose Streamable HTTP, paste the same URL and connect — you will see all 28 tools.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "nestingcalc": {
      "url": "https://mcp.nestingcalc.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Five prompts to copy

Copy one of these into your AI client once the server is connected:

1. 1D cutting: "Cut 12 pieces of 2400 mm, 8 of 1150 mm and 20 of 600 mm from 6 m steel tube, 3 mm saw kerf, only 10 sticks of each size in stock — nest them and tell me what is missing."
2. 2D sheet layout: "A cabinet: 2 sides 800×2000, top and bottom 764×800, 2 shelves 764×780, back 1600×2000, MDF sheets 2440×1220 — give me the layout and yield %, rotation allowed."
3. Log scaling: "20 acacia logs, mid-length circumference 96 cm, 11 m long — Hoppus volume, true volume, and the value at 45 USD per Hoppus m³."
4. Drying: "30 m³ of rubberwood at 75% moisture content, dried down to 12% — how many tonnes is the charge and how many kg of water must evaporate?"
5. Export: "Cartons 60×40×40 cm, 12 kg each — how many fit in a 40 ft high-cube container, limited by volume or weight, and how many containers for 5,000 cartons?"

Who is it for

Anyone who turns material into cut parts — or ships it.

• Carpenters, furniture shops, DIY: stop wasting expensive MDF and plywood; get a cut plan first.
• Wood exporters (especially tropical hardwood): log scaling → drying → container loading, the whole chain in one conversation.
• CNC machinists, builders, flooring and tiling contractors: feeds and speeds, material weights, takeoffs.
• Embroiderers: resize PES/DST files without installing software.
• Developers: a public, no-auth, streamable-HTTP MCP server with clean JSON responses and a tested engine — handy for building agents.

Transparency and limits

The server is version 1.0.0 with 28 tools; the website has 29 calculators, but the glass calculator shares the sheet-cutting engine, so it has no separate MCP tool. As of September 2026 the server is not yet listed in the Official MCP Registry — the submission is in progress — so until then, connect directly with the URL above. Known limits: embroidery files through MCP are capped at about 2 MB (base64), and very large 2D nesting jobs are better run in the browser, where you get the interactive diagram. Building a product on top of this server and need higher volume? Get in touch — we are happy to help.

Try it today

Paste https://mcp.nestingcalc.com/mcp into your AI client and give it one real job from this week's workload. If the result surprises you — good or bad — tell us; feedback directly shapes the next 28 tools. NestingCalc itself is 29 free material calculators in 19 languages at nestingcalc.com, and AI assistants can read the whole site through llms.txt.