codeofaxel/kiln

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The open-source MCP server for 3D printing.

Kiln lets AI agents (ChatGPT, Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini, Grok, or any custom MCP client) drive real 3D printers end to end — Bambu Lab, Creality, Prusa, Elegoo, Voron, Sovol, AnkerMake, Artillery, FlashForge, QIDI, RatRig, and SparkX. It is compatible with OctoPrint, Moonraker/Klipper, PrusaLink, and Direct USB.

In a single conversation, an agent can design a part, slice it, queue it on the right printer, monitor the camera, recover from failures, and ship the result. No human in the middle.

Reading this as an AI agent? kiln3d.com/agents is written for you rather than for the person running you: install, MCP config, the design-to-print loop, and exactly what Kiln will refuse to do and why.

pip install kiln3d

“a coaster with a photo of my dog Ash” — start to finish, from one sentence. Watch the demo →

Kiln’s built in the open. If it made your printing more fun, or just saved you a headache, a ⭐ on the repo helps the next maker find it.

Quick Start

Using Claude Desktop? Install Kiln in one click. Download kiln.mcpb and double-click it — Claude Desktop installs Kiln and wires it in (just Claude Desktop: steps 1 and 2 below are how Codex and every other AI app connect), so those steps aren’t yours. Two things still are: OpenSCAD, and Kiln’s terms — the command shows them and asks you to type your acceptance, which is why it’s yours and not your AI’s: uvx --from kiln3d kiln accept-terms. The bundle and that command both run on uv — free, with a one-line install for each platform at that link. If Claude Desktop says the server failed to start, that’s uv missing: install it and restart. Updates arrive with the extension, not via kiln self-update.

Using ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok or Cursor? Nothing to install. Add Kiln inside the app by its address, https://api.kiln3d.com/mcp, and sign in: it designs the part, checks it will print, and shows it in 3D, right in the chat where the app can show it. Each app’s page says exactly what was seen there: ChatGPT, Claude, Codex, Cursor, Gemini, Grok. To run your own printer, do the three steps below on the computer next to it.

Everyone else — three steps. Then ask your AI to make something.

1. Install

pip install kiln3d

2. Connect your AI — Kiln sets itself up inside Claude Desktop, Claude Code, and Codex:

kiln signin        # create your free account
kiln install-mcp   # connects Kiln to your AI apps

Restart your AI app and it can run your printer. (Claude Code and Codex can even run this whole setup for you — the one-prompt version lives at kiln3d.com/install.) Using a different MCP client? kiln install-mcp --print prints the config — or paste it yourself:

3. Ask — paste a sentence like this into your agent. Kiln does the rest:

Make me a coaster with my dog’s photo on it

That’s the whole happy path. Your AI does the designing, slicing, and printing — you never touch a CLI. OS-specific walkthrough (Windows, WSL 2, Linux) at kiln3d.com/install.

[!TIP] kiln doctor checks your whole setup and tells you exactly what to fix. kiln self-update upgrades in place when a new release lands.

Paid tiers (kiln3d.com/pricing) add Git-for-3D versioning, product templates, assembly manuals, fleet workflows, SSO + SCIM, ERP webhooks, and long-term audit logs.

Why Kiln?

• One control plane, any printer — compatible with OctoPrint, Moonraker, Creality, Bambu Lab, Prusa Link, Elegoo, Serial. Manage a mixed fleet from one place.
• No printer? No problem — Outsource jobs to Craftcloud’s 150+ manufacturing services, quoted and ordered through Kiln.
• AI-native — 902 MCP capabilities and 246 CLI commands built for AI agents. Not a web UI with an API bolted on.
• Describe it, print it — Natural-language to physical object pipeline: text or sketch → AI generation → validation → slice → print.
• Decorate anything — QR codes, photos, logos, text, SVGs, and procedural textures (tiger stripe, marble, camo, wood grain, honeycomb) embossed or debossed onto any model with one command.
• Manuals included — Multi-part prints can generate printable PDF assembly manuals with Bill of Materials, isometric step renders, mating arrows, and pause-and-check verification gates. (Business)
• Resume, don’t restart — Cancelled or failed print? Resume from the exact layer it stopped on any supported FDM printer. No filament wasted. (Pro)
• Modify mid-print — Add decorations, append features, or swap materials on a live print with atomic revert if anything goes wrong. (Pro)
• Smart material routing — 38 materials and brand filament profiles for 69 brands and lines (the per-brand tune is part of Kiln Pro). Intent-based recommendations with printer capability awareness.
• Prints don’t fail silently — Cross-printer learning, automatic failure recovery, closed-loop AI generation feedback (failed prints auto-improve future generations), preflight safety checks on every job.
• Doomed prints stopped early — Too big for the build plate, or a material your hotend can’t melt? Caught before filament is wasted, rotated to fit when possible, one-command override. Pro shows the fix: true usable area, cleanest split, or the material to switch to.
• Search → Slice → Print — Search and download 3D models from MyMiniFactory and Cults3D (search only), auto-slice with PrusaSlicer, OrcaSlicer, or BambuStudio, print — all from one agent conversation.
• Safety at scale — a named safety profile for every supported printer, G-code validation, heater watchdog, tamper-proof audit logs. Enterprise adds encrypted G-code at rest with key rotation, lockable profiles, RBAC, SSO, fleet site grouping, per-project cost tracking, and PostgreSQL HA.

Supported Printers

Kiln ships tuned profiles for 70 models across 15 brands — Creality, Bambu Lab, QIDI, Elegoo, Prusa Research, Sovol, Voron, AON3D, Artillery, AnkerMake, FlashForge, INTAMSYS, RatRig, SparkX, Vision Miner. See the full searchable list →

Architecture

graph TD
    A["🤖 AI AgentClaude · GPT · Custom"]
    A -->|"CLI or MCP"| B["⚙️ KilnCLI + MCP Server"]

    B --> C["🖨️ Your Printers"]
    B --> F["🏭 Fulfillment"]
    B --> D["🛒 Marketplaces"]
    B --> V["📐 Designs (versioned)Pro+"]

    C --> E1["OctoPrint"]
    C --> E2["Moonraker"]
    C --> E3["Creality"]
    C --> E4["Bambu"]
    C --> E5["Prusa Link"]
    C --> E6["Elegoo"]

    F --> F1["Craftcloud"]

    D --> I["MyMiniFactory"]
    D --> J["Cults3D"]

    V --> V1["Branches"]
    V --> V2["Signed Releases"]
    V --> V3["Cloud Sync"]

    style A fill:#1a1a2e,stroke:#e94560,color:#fff
    style B fill:#16213e,stroke:#0f3460,color:#fff
    style C fill:#0f3460,stroke:#e94560,color:#fff
    style F fill:#0f3460,stroke:#27ae60,color:#fff
    style D fill:#0f3460,stroke:#533483,color:#fff
    style V fill:#0f3460,stroke:#f59e42,color:#fff
    style E1 fill:#2d2d44,stroke:#e94560,color:#fff
    style E2 fill:#2d2d44,stroke:#e94560,color:#fff
    style E3 fill:#2d2d44,stroke:#e94560,color:#fff
    style E4 fill:#2d2d44,stroke:#e94560,color:#fff
    style E5 fill:#2d2d44,stroke:#e94560,color:#fff
    style F1 fill:#2d2d44,stroke:#27ae60,color:#fff
    style I fill:#2d2d44,stroke:#533483,color:#fff
    style J fill:#2d2d44,stroke:#533483,color:#fff
    style V1 fill:#2d2d44,stroke:#f59e42,color:#fff
    style V2 fill:#2d2d44,stroke:#f59e42,color:#fff
    style V3 fill:#2d2d44,stroke:#f59e42,color:#fff

Agents can also outsource jobs through Craftcloud fulfillment and search models on MyMiniFactory and Cults3D (search only). On Pro and up, the design store itself is versioned — branches, signed releases, and cross-machine cloud sync are first-class outputs of the system, not a side database.

Git for 3D

Designs aren’t text, but they need version control. Kiln treats meshes, decorations, and mechanical features as first-class versioned artifacts: branch a design, print variants, merge what works, sign releases with cryptographic proof the mesh hasn’t changed.

Three things make this different from git:

1. Outcome-correlated branches. Every branch is tagged with empirical print results — success rate, warp, adhesion, cost — so cross-branch A/B is automatic, not anecdotal.
2. 3-way semantic mesh merge. Conflicts are shown as visual diffs of the geometry, not text patches. Manufacturing tolerance, not character offsets.
3. Signed releases. A release is cryptographically signed and pinned to its exact mesh, so anyone can verify the part they hold is the part that was released.

Here’s what visualize_branch_tree("my-coaster") actually emits — the same renderer the workshop, CLI, and your agent see (yellow = signed release, light blue = experiment, light red = branch with failed outcomes):

flowchart TD
    subgraph tree_coaster["📐 my-coaster · design"]
        v0[v0: initial]
        v1[v1: emboss-1mm83% success]
        v2[v2: emboss-2mm92% success · warp 2%]
        v3[v3: emboss-3mmwarp 5%]
        v4[v4: merge winner]
        rel[🔏 1.0.0]
        v0 --> v1
        v0 --> v2
        v0 --> v3
        v2 --> v4
        v4 --> rel
    end
    classDef root fill:#f3f4f6,stroke:#374151,color:#111
    classDef released fill:#ffd60a,stroke:#111,stroke-width:3px,color:#111
    classDef experiment fill:#e0e7ff,stroke:#6366f1,color:#1e1b4b
    classDef failed fill:#fecaca,stroke:#b91c1c,color:#7f1d1d
    class v0 root
    class v1 experiment
    class v2 experiment
    class v3 failed
    class v4 experiment
    class rel released
    style tree_coaster fill:#ffffff,stroke:#e5e7eb,stroke-width:1px

Patent pending across semantic mesh merge, outcome-correlated branching, and signed-release-with-physical-provenance.

Tools

The Kiln MCP server (kiln serve) exposes ** 895 tools** to agents, plus prompts and resources for ** 902 total MCP capabilities**. Rather than list them all here, agents browse the live catalog with get_skill_manifest and ToolSearch-style discovery. A representative slice, in the order a print actually happens:

• design_session
  • Talk to Kiln about what you’re making and get back a design that matches what you asked for
  • The front door for making anything: goal, geometry, preview, iterate. Free, unlimited, every tier
• compile_scad
  • Compile OpenSCAD code into a printable STL — the keyless path underneath a design session
  • No API key and no external service: the agent writes the geometry, Kiln compiles it locally
• generate_model
  • Generate a 3D model from a text prompt through an external AI provider
  • Optional, and off unless you bring your own key (Meshy, Tripo3D, Stability, Gemini)
• search_all_models
  • Search connected 3D model marketplaces in one call
  • Covers MyMiniFactory and Cults3D; downloads where the marketplace supports it
• import_step_file
  • Import a STEP (.step/.stp) CAD file and convert it for Kiln’s mesh pipeline
• analyze_printability
  • Run a full printability analysis on a mesh: overhangs, thin walls, warping risk, bed fit
• auto_orient_model
  • Find the print orientation that needs the least support and prints strongest
• repair_mesh
  • Repair mesh defects — holes, degenerate faces, rounding-noise seams
  • The usual fix for a model an AI generator or a rough scan produced
• split_mesh_to_fit
  • Cut one solid too big for your build plate into printable pieces that reassemble
• recommend_material
  • Recommend materials for a use case, with the reasons and the trade-offs
• decorate_surface
  • Put any image, text, QR code, or pattern onto a model surface as an emboss or deboss
• slice_model
  • Slice a model (STL/3MF/STEP) to G-code using PrusaSlicer, OrcaSlicer, or BambuStudio
• show_on_stage
  • Turn over a file you already have — a model, or the sliced file about to print — on Kiln’s interactive 3D stage, without re-making or re-slicing it
• estimate_print_cost_from_mesh
  • Estimate material cost, weight, and print time before committing the printer
• preflight_check
  • Run pre-print safety checks: printer state, temperatures, file validity, bed clearance
• start_print
  • Start a print on a connected machine
• monitor_print
  • One-shot print status: progress, temperatures, time remaining, cost, and a camera snapshot where the printer has one
• emergency_stop
  • Stop a running print immediately
• purge_filament
  • Heat the nozzle and push a short length through — the clog test, with load_filament and unload_filament beside it for a spool change
  • Reports what the printer could actually tell: where a machine reports no flow signal it says so rather than claiming success
  • Always says where the purge went: over the machine’s own purge chute where Kiln knows it for your model (served through Kiln’s hosted service for a printer paired to your Kiln sign-in, free, and kept on your machine so it keeps working offline), or in place with the reason — never a guessed coordinate
• wipe_nozzle
  • Clean the nozzle tip on the printer’s own wipe pad (served through Kiln’s hosted service for a printer paired to your Kiln sign-in, free, and kept on your machine so it keeps working offline); refuses, and says what to use instead, on any model whose pad Kiln does not know
  • Run it in steps where the pass is new to a machine: plan_only describes every motion and sends nothing; step=N sends one motion, says what it left armed, and holds the cool-down until the last step. A wipe that presses or crosses the plate asks for plate_clear on every call: a person’s word, never inferred. Where a model’s wipe has not yet been run on a real machine, Kiln says so and runs it in steps only
• home_axes
  • The Home button, from Kiln: your model’s own homing routine where Kiln has it (served through Kiln’s hosted service for a printer paired to your Kiln sign-in, free, and kept on your machine so it keeps working offline), the firmware’s own routine elsewhere, a refusal that names the screen’s jog controls where neither is safe
  • Run it in steps the first time: plan_only describes every motion before anything moves; step=N sends one motion and says what it left armed
• park_head
  • Move the head to the model’s own spot off the plate and leave it there; never a Z touch, never heat
• plate_status
  • What Kiln knows is on the build plate: the print that left a part there and how long ago, or that it is clear — a person’s word (kiln plate clear, or plate_clear on home and park) or a look through the printer’s camera (look_at_plate); nothing marks it clear on its own
  • Home, park, slicing and starting a print refuse to cross a recorded part, and the refusal shows the plate through the camera where the printer has one, so an old record is checked rather than trusted
• diagnose_print_failure_live
  • Diagnose a failing print from live printer state plus the model’s own geometry
• retry_print_with_fix
  • Diagnose what went wrong on the last print, then re-slice and print with the fix applied
• resume_interrupted_print (Pro)
  • Resume an interrupted print with one call on any supported FDM printer
• save_design_version
  • Save a new version of a parametric design, so you can go back to the one that worked
  • Linear history is free; branching, merges, and signed releases are Pro
• export_step
  • Export a finished design as a real STEP CAD file — analytic B-rep a machine shop can open and measure
• fleet_status (Business)
  • Live status of every printer in a fleet: state, temperatures, connection
• fulfillment_quote
  • Get a manufacturing quote from Craftcloud’s network — printing without owning a printer

Beyond this slice, the catalog covers fleet orchestration, print-failure prediction, design version control, assembly manuals, and per-machine calibration; the deeper tiers are described at kiln3d.com/pricing. The complete tool catalog, grouped by subsystem, lives in Project Docs. If you are the agent, kiln3d.com/agents covers the same ground written in the second person, including the refusals worth knowing before you hit them.

Capabilities

Search → download → print. Kiln searches MyMiniFactory and Cults3D (search only) in one call via search_all_models, downloads where supported, and uploads straight to a printer — a full design-to-print loop with no human in the middle. (Thingiverse is supported but deprecated since its Feb 2026 acquisition by MyMiniFactory; prefer MMF.) Marketplace access uses free API keys (KILN_MMF_API_KEY, KILN_CULTS3D_USERNAME + KILN_CULTS3D_API_KEY).

AI model generation. Set any provider key and it’s available instantly — KILN_MESHY_API_KEY, KILN_TRIPO3D_API_KEY, KILN_STABILITY_API_KEY, KILN_GEMINI_API_KEY — or use local OpenSCAD with no key. Generated meshes are auto-validated for printability (manifold, triangle count, bounding box) before printing. kiln generate renders a 3-view preview by default.

Slicing. Wraps PrusaSlicer, OrcaSlicer, and BambuStudio for headless slicing; auto-detects installed slicers on PATH, macOS app bundles, or via KILN_SLICER_PATH. Supports STL, 3MF, STEP, OBJ, AMF with material-aware temps and smart supports.

Fulfillment (no printer required). Print through Craftcloud’s network — quote, validate address, confirm, order, track — or run alongside your own printers for overflow and specialty materials. Orders go through Kiln’s hosted service, which keeps provider credentials server-side and enforces your spend limits.

Decoration & textures. Emboss or deboss QR codes, photos, logos, text, and SVGs onto any model face, or apply procedural textures (tiger stripe, marble, camo, wood grain, honeycomb) with a single tool call.

Pricing

All local printing is free forever — status, file management, slicing, fleet control, and printing to your own printers cost nothing. Kiln charges a 5% orchestration fee on orders placed through external manufacturing services ($0.25 min / $200 max per order; a Pro account’s first 3 orders each calendar month free; no fee on Business and Enterprise), shown transparently in every quote. Outsourced order volume is not capped on any tier.

Founding offer: half off for life while founding spots last — Pro $24.50/mo or $234/yr, Business $99.50/mo or $954/yr. Students get half off for 12 months. Details and how to claim the student price: kiln3d.com/pricing.

Full comparison at kiln3d.com/pricing. Already subscribed? Run kiln signin to put this machine on your plan. For provider-routed orders, the provider remains merchant of record; Kiln acts as orchestration infrastructure.

Safety

Kiln is safety-first infrastructure for controlling physical machines:

• Pre-flight checks validate printer state, temperatures, and files before every print
• G-code validation blocks dangerous commands (firmware reset, unsafe temperatures)
• Temperature limits enforce safe maximums (300 °C hotend, 130 °C bed)
• A person says go before every print — in your AI app’s approval dialog, by typing a code Kiln shows on your screen, or at the terminal — unless you chose not to be asked: for a while (a day at most), always on a printer you named yourself (at your own terminal, or on your Kiln account page with two-factor), or by switching on auto-print yourself; stopping, pausing and watching a print never need that yes
• Confirmation required for destructive operations (cancel, raw G-code)
• Optional authentication with scope-based API keys for multi-user setups
• Structured errors ensure agents always know when something fails

Packages

This monorepo contains two packages:

Development

# Create a virtualenv first (required on modern Ubuntu/Debian/WSL)
python3 -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate

pip install -e "./kiln[dev]"
pip install -e "./octoprint-cli[dev]"

cd kiln && python3 -m pytest tests/ -v
cd ../octoprint-cli && python3 -m pytest tests/ -v

Run in Docker

docker compose up self-hosts the Kiln MCP server against your own printer — set KILN_PRINTER_TYPE/KILN_PRINTER_HOST/KILN_PRINTER_API_KEY first. This is a personal self-host quickstart, unrelated to the infrastructure behind the hosted api.kiln3d.com service. Prefer zero setup? kiln3d.com runs the hosted version for you.

Documentation

Support Development

Kiln is free, open-source software. If you find it useful, consider sending a tip:

• Solana: kiln3d.sol
• Ethereum: kiln3d.eth

Positioning

Messaging clarification (February 24, 2026): We clarified wording to remove ambiguity and align with existing intent; no strategy change. Kiln is orchestration and agent infrastructure for fabrication workflows. Kiln does not operate a first-party decentralized manufacturing marketplace/network. Kiln integrates with third-party providers and external provider/network adapters as integrations are available.

Non-goals: operating a first-party decentralized manufacturing marketplace/network; replacing partner supply-side networks; owning provider marketplaces instead of integrating with them; acting as merchant of record for provider-routed manufacturing orders.

License

Kiln is a project of Hadron Labs Inc.

AGPL-3.0 License — open source with copyleft. Commercial licensing available for companies that need proprietary use.

By contributing, you agree to the Contributor License Agreement.

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Also listed on Smithery.

Trademarks

OctoPrint is a registered trademark. Other product and company names are trademarks of their respective owners; Kiln is not affiliated with or endorsed by them.