What is octane-mcp?

OctaneX MCP is a local server that lets an AI agent called Hermes use a 3D rendering program called Octane X as a shared drawing canvas. Instead of only describing things in words, Hermes can use this tool to actually build and render 3D scenes representing data, math, or abstract ideas. The way it works is that Hermes sends a request to a small Python server, which turns it into a queue of structured commands. A bridge script running inside Octane X reads that queue and carries out the commands, such as importing a shape, adding a material, positioning a camera, or starting a render. For safety, the bridge does not allow arbitrary code to run inside Octane. It only accepts a limited, checked set of commands, so an agent cannot do anything outside what the tool explicitly allows. The project ships with a library of about forty ready made example scenes, called recipes, covering things like a photoreal product shot with glass and metal, a wristwatch, a desk fan, headphones, an ancient temple, a bowl of fruit, and several physics and fluid simulation demonstrations. Each recipe includes reusable 3D model files along with the exact commands used to build it, meant as copyable starting points rather than just descriptions. This tool is meant for situations where an agent needs to turn an explanation into an actual rendered image, such as showing data as a 3D bar chart, showing a math formula as a surface or shape, building a simple scene to represent a concept, or rendering Hermes' own avatar inside a scene. The documentation is written so that AI agents, including smaller models running locally, can learn how to use it quickly. The project uses several different licenses for different parts of it. The core server code becomes fully open in the year 2030, the rendering application itself is free only for noncommercial use, the written documentation is shared under a license that requires sharing improvements back, and the example data follows its own separate noncommercial license. To install it, you use a tool called uv to set up the project, then run its initialization and self test commands, and connect it to Hermes through a configuration file. It currently runs on macOS, where Octane X operates inside a restricted sandboxed folder that the tool must write to correctly.