Connect your Victron System to Claude/AI via local Modbus TCP (New MCP Server)

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Hi everyone,

I wanted to share a new tool for those of you experimenting with AI and home automation. I’ve just released/found a project called victron-tcp, which is an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that bridges your Victron GX device (Cerbo, Venus, etc.) directly to AI agents like Claude.

What is this?

This tool allows you to talk to your solar system in plain English using the Claude Desktop app. Instead of checking a dashboard, you can simply ask:

  • “What is my current battery state of charge?”

  • “How much solar power did I generate in the last hour?”

  • “Is my inverter currently in Passthru mode?”

How it works

Unlike other integrations that use the VRM Cloud API, this server uses local Modbus TCP. This means:

  1. Speed: Instant data retrieval from your local network.

  2. Privacy: Your data stays local and doesn’t rely on an internet connection to the VRM portal.

  3. Control: Access to any register supported by the GX Modbus service.

Key Features:

  • Real-time Monitoring: Fetch battery SOC, voltage, current, and power.

  • System Overview: Get the full state of your system (Solar, Grid, Battery, and Loads).

  • Device Discovery: Automatically identifies units on your GX device via Modbus Unit IDs.

  • Easy Integration: Built specifically for the Model Context Protocol (MCP), so it works out of the box with Claude Desktop.

Quick Start:

  1. Enable Modbus TCP: On your GX Device, go to Settings > Services > Modbus/TCP and turn it ON.

  2. Install: ```bash npm install -g victron-tcp

  3. Configure Claude: Add the server to your claude_desktop_config.json:

    JSON

    "mcpServers": {
  "victron-tcp": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["-y", "victron-tcp"],
    "env": {
      "VICTRON_IP": "192.168.1.xxx" 
    }
  }
}

Why use an MCP Server?

Instead of just “seeing” data, an AI agent can help you analyze it. You can ask Claude to “Watch my battery usage and tell me if I’ll make it through the night based on current loads” or “Explain why my solar yield is lower than yesterday.”

Check out the full documentation and source here: https://www.npmjs.com/package/victron-tcp

Would love to hear if anyone else is using AI to monitor their off-grid setups!

2 Likes
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Last thing I would ever do…

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There’s no way I’m going to hand over oversight of something as critical as my local energy infrastructure to a third party. The only exception I’d consider is using AI to process a limited, well-defined batch of historical data — strictly for advisory purposes when fine-tuning future control settings — not for real-time control or decision-making.

1 Like
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Hello @Rene2322 and @MikeD ,

Thanks for the feedback. This MCP is useful for the initial setup of connected GX components and additional development work with Grafana, Flux, etc., followed by Vibecoding. It’s helpful for gathering data and setting up mapping for historical data analysis.

However, it’s not intended for recurring historical data collection—that’s better handled by scripts rather than an LLM. Also, if you’ve read the documentation, you’ll see it currently supports read-only access, not write operations.

I’m curious—are you actually using this MCP server in your setup? It would help to understand your specific use case or concerns based on hands-on experience rather than theoretical objections.

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That’s great because it suggests that genuinely useful applications will emerge from this in the future. I’m thinking of instructions to Claude that lead to changes in the Victron system’s settings, without requiring any programming via Node-RED.

But I’m not someone who wants to talk to their devices or furniture. Just as I see little point in controlling the living room lights with voice commands to Alexa, I see little point in talking to my Victron system to query its current data. I can see that data with a single mouse click in the console.