ZplCore.Mcp 1.0.0

zplcore-mcp – MCP server for zplCore.com

zplcore-mcp is a Model Context Protocol server. Coding agents (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, VS Code / GitHub Copilot, Cursor …) can use it to render, lint, format, diff and fill ZPL II / EPL2 labels offline, so an agent can work on a label in a loop until it is right: write ZPL, look at the PNG, read the diagnostics, fix, repeat. It also checks labels against compliance packs and printer models, grades barcodes, imports, extracts, redacts and migrates labels, encodes GS1 Digital Link URIs and RFID EPCs, and lifts SVG labels to native ZPL.

The server is built for untrusted input. It only uses stdio and has no network listener. The tools take label text and return results. They have no access to files, the network, printers, processes or environment variables. Every call runs in a worker process with time and memory limits (see Security).

Install

dotnet pack tools/ZplCore.Mcp -c Release -o nupkg
dotnet tool install -g ZplCore.Mcp --add-source nupkg      # installs the command "zplcore-mcp"
zplcore-mcp --help

You need the .NET 10 runtime. On macOS and Linux, global tools are installed in ~/.dotnet/tools. GUI apps such as Claude Desktop often do not have this directory in their PATH, so give them the absolute path, e.g. /Users/you/.dotnet/tools/zplcore-mcp.

Configure your client

Licence key: zplcore-mcp --license <key|file> (or ZPLCORE_LICENSE, ZPLCORE_LICENSE_FILE, a file zplcore.license next to the server), checked offline. Without a key the outputs carry the evaluation watermark.

Claude Code (CLI, current project only, or add --scope user):

claude mcp add zplcore -- zplcore-mcp

or check it into the repository as .mcp.json:

{ "mcpServers": { "zplcore": { "type": "stdio", "command": "zplcore-mcp", "args": [] } } }

Claude Desktop: Settings → Developer → Edit Config (claude_desktop_config.json):

{ "mcpServers": { "zplcore": { "command": "/Users/you/.dotnet/tools/zplcore-mcp", "args": [] } } }

VS Code / GitHub Copilot (agent mode): .vscode/mcp.json in the workspace:

{ "servers": { "zplcore": { "type": "stdio", "command": "zplcore-mcp", "args": [] } } }

Cursor: .cursor/mcp.json in the project, or ~/.cursor/mcp.json for all projects:

{ "mcpServers": { "zplcore": { "command": "zplcore-mcp", "args": [] } } }

Options go into args, e.g. ["--timeout-seconds", "30", "--workers", "1"]:

Tools

Text results are JSON. Strings in them that come from the label start with a notice that marks them as untrusted data.

Limits

Security

• stdio only. There is no HTTP/SSE transport and no listening socket. Logging goes to stderr only.
• Engine-wide limits. Every call runs in a ZplLimits scope: also the renderers that the compliance check, scan-proof, import, redaction, printer twin and Vector-Lift create internally get the limits above, no font provider, no system fonts and a fixed clock.
• No file system, network, shell or environment access in the tools. Printer storage commands (~DG, ~DY, ~DU, ^DF, ^IS, ^IL, ^XG, ^IM) work on an in-memory store that exists only for one call. Drive letters and paths in object names are just names. ^A@ fonts can only be fonts downloaded in the same call. Host and reset commands (~HS, ~JR, ~PS …) have no effect.
• Worker processes. Every call that processes label data runs in a separate zplcore-mcp --worker process. The worker starts with an empty environment (no tokens or keys of the client), an empty scratch directory, DOTNET_EnableDiagnostics=0 and a GC heap limit. It is killed when the call takes too long, uses too much memory, is cancelled by the client or returns malformed output. On macOS the worker also runs under sandbox-exec: no network, no writes outside its scratch directory, no reading of the home directory, and no other programs.
• Strict validation. Unknown arguments, wrong types, values out of range and duplicate keys are rejected. The schemas in tools/list are exactly what the server checks, including enum lists, patterns (GTIN, EPC hex, firmware, Digital Link stem) and map keys. Printer profiles are only the built-in ones (an enum); no profile files are read.
• No PDF. lift_svg takes SVG text only, and the PDF parser (PDFium) is not shipped with the server.

The security controls and their limits are described in the documentation: https://zplcore.com/docs/mcp/#mcpsecurity

Trademarks

Zebra, ZPL, ZPL II, EPL and Link-OS are trademarks or registered trademarks of Zebra Technologies Corp. QR Code is a registered trademark of DENSO WAVE INCORPORATED. GS1, GS1 DataBar, GS1 Digital Link, EPC and EPCglobal are trademarks of GS1 AISBL. ESC/POS is a registered trademark of Seiko Epson Corporation, Intelligent Mail a registered trademark of the United States Postal Service and Mailmark a registered trademark of Royal Mail Group Ltd. Other product and company names and logos mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. We use these names only to describe compatibility with file formats, printer languages and standards. zplCore.com is an independent product and is not endorsed, sponsored or certified by these companies; compliance packs are pre-checks, not certifications.