Remote MCP Server

Tool Reference: Runners

MCP tools to run the wood beam and wood post solvers and read results.

The runner tools solve a saved calc and persist the results back to your workspace, so the outcome shows immediately in the web app. There's also a standalone analyzer for quick simple-span beam designs. As always, you ask Claude in plain language — these tools are what it reaches for.

Runner and analyzer tools#

Tool	What it does	Key arguments
`run_wood_beam_calc`	Runs the NDS wood-beam solver and persists the result	`calc_id`; optional `sweep` (default true), `section`
`run_wood_post_calc`	Runs the NDS wood-post (compression) solver and persists	`calc_id`; optional `sweep` (default true), `section`
`design_beam`	Runs a simple-span beam analysis and returns extrema/reactions	`beam`, `load_patterns`, `load_combos`, `load_cases`
`save_beam_design_calc`	Persists a `design_beam` result as a calc	`project_id`, `name`, `analysis_input`

Running wood calcs#

run_wood_beam_calc mirrors the "Run" button in the app: it solves bending, shear, and deflection for each load case, then saves the demand and capacity results back to the calc. run_wood_post_calc does the same for compression — per-axis column slenderness, Cp, and F'c for every axial load case.

Both runners share two options:

sweep — when true (default), the solver also evaluates every standard section candidate and returns a section_table, so you can pick the lightest passing section. Set it false to solve only the currently selected section (faster).
section — an optional override (e.g. "3-1/2x9-1/4 LVL", "6x6", "(3) 2x6" for a stud pack). It updates the member section before solving. Omit it to use whatever is already set.

A wood-beam run requires a section. If none is set, the run is rejected with a clear error — run once with sweep=True to get candidates, then choose one.

Tip

A wood post linked to a parent beam re-derives its axial load cases from the beam's current reactions before solving, so editing the beam and re-running the post propagates the change automatically. See Link Loads to a Calc.

What a run returns#

A wood-beam run returns section_used, an overall passes flag, per-case DCRs (bending, shear, deflection), support reactions, and — when sweep=True — a section_table of candidates. A wood-post run returns section_used, passes, num_studs, governing_axis, slenderness details, per-case compression DCRs, and a section_table when sweeping.

Note

The runner does not overwrite a client-owned calc. For those, it computes and returns the result without persisting. Your own internal calcs are saved normally.

Simple-span beam analysis#

design_beam runs the same engine that powers the Beam Design Analysis page. Provide the beam (L, E, I), load_patterns, factored load_combos, and load_cases. It returns shear/moment/deflection extrema and reactions per case, plus an analysis_input block.

Pass that analysis_input verbatim to save_beam_design_calc to persist the design as a calc that round-trips back through the web UI. The full 500-point diagram arrays are omitted from the response to keep conversations small — view the diagrams by re-running in the app.

Generating reports#

Each calc type has a report tool that produces the same PDF the app's "Generate report" action emits and files it under the project's Files. These are idempotent — re-running appends a new version rather than creating duplicates:

Tool	For
`generate_wood_beam_report`	A wood-beam calc (run it first)
`generate_wood_post_report`	A wood-post calc (run it first)
`generate_beam_design_report`	A saved `beam_design` calc

See Reports for how report PDFs work in ClearSpan.

Projects & Calcs — create and edit the calcs you run here.
Packages — combine calc PDFs into one document.