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Installing the Metadata MCP Server

This page covers how the BimlFlex Metadata MCP Server is delivered and installed, and how an MCP client connects to it. For what the server is and the tools it exposes, see the Metadata MCP Server page.

Delivery channels​

The server ships through two channels:

  • Inside the BimlFlex x64 installer, which installs the server in the Mcp folder of the BimlFlex application.
  • As a dotnet tool package, Varigence.BimlFlex.Mcp, that you build yourself from the repository.

The server inside the BimlFlex installation​

The BimlFlex x64 installer installs the server in the Mcp folder of the BimlFlex application. The folder sits directly under the application's install directory, beside BimlFlex.exe. By default that is C:\Program Files\Varigence\BimlFlexApp\Mcp.

The folder has no subfolders. It contains:

  • BimlFlex.Mcp.exe, the server executable.
  • BimlFlex.Mcp.dll with its runtime configuration and dependency files.
  • The two metadata file format assemblies.
  • The runtime assemblies the server needs.

The folder arrives inside the BimlFlex App package, bimlflexappx64msi.msi. The web installer downloads that package during setup, and the offline installer carries it. Either way, a BimlFlex installation has the server with nothing further to install. The 32-bit BimlFlex installer installs no Mcp folder.

Run from a command prompt with no arguments, BimlFlex.Mcp.exe prints its usage line, usage: bimlflex-mcp --store <path-to-file-mode-metadata-store-root>, and exits with code 2.

The dotnet tool package​

The server also ships as the dotnet tool package Varigence.BimlFlex.Mcp, which you build yourself from the repository. The build and install commands are in the Connecting a client section of the Metadata MCP Server page. Installing the package with dotnet tool install from the built package folder places a self-contained bimlflex-mcp executable at ~/.bimlflex-mcp/bimlflex-mcp. The metadata engine assemblies are inside the package.

Connecting a client​

Connecting a client is the same step whichever channel delivered the executable. Point your MCP client at the absolute path to the executable, BimlFlex.Mcp.exe in the Mcp folder or the bimlflex-mcp tool, with the store root (the directory containing bimlflex.json) as the --store argument. The Metadata MCP Server page carries a worked .mcp.json client registration.