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Unreal MCP — suggested editor tools

Suggested. Add this so a coding agent can inspect the open editor (maps, assets, actors, PIE). Team tasks, wiki, your convention review, and the team review server still come from required Rephrased MCP.

Unreal MCP is Epic's experimental plugin in UE 5.8. It runs an MCP server inside Unreal Editor so any coding agent that can call MCP (Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, Antigravity, or another MCP-capable IDE) can drive the open project.

Do not treat this as a second required pipeline. Unreal MCP does not replace the team workflow.

Verified against Rephrased_Demo on 2026-08-13.

What it can do

The agent can only talk to the editor while Unreal Editor is open and the MCP server is listening. Close the editor and the connection drops.

Read the project

  • Current map path and Content Browser folder
  • Folders and assets under /Game/ (Blueprints, rune data assets, levels, art packs)
  • Actors in the loaded level (by name, type, outliner folder)
  • Viewport-visible actors, selection, open asset editors

Change the editor

  • Load a different map (example: /Game/Levels/RuneShowcase)
  • Select actors/assets, move the viewport camera, capture a viewport image
  • Start and stop Play-In-Editor (in-viewport). Confirmed: PIE spawned BP_RephraseCharacter1 on Rune Showcase.

Toolsets that showed up with All Toolsets enabled

Useful for Rephrased day-to-day:

Area What the agent can reach
Scene / actors Load maps, find/place/remove actors, outliner folders
Assets Search, load, class/tags, duplicate/move (content paths only)
Blueprints / objects Inspect and set properties on loaded UObjects
Editor app Content Browser, camera, PIE, output log, cvars
Niagara Systems, components, script discovery
Sequencer / Control Rig Sequences, keys, bindings (if you use them)
UMG Widget trees

Other packs also register (GAS, PCG, StateTree, physics assets, automation tests). They are there because All Toolsets is an aggregator, not because Rephrased uses all of them.

What it cannot do

  • Compile C++ or replace Visual Studio. Build Development Editor | Win64 yourself.
  • Play the game for you. PIE can start; WASD and look stay with the human. Click the viewport after PIE starts.
  • Tasks, wiki, convention check, or team review. That is still Rephrased MCP.
  • Run with the editor closed.
  • Guarantee every Epic toolset is production-ready. The plugin is Experimental.

Do not let an agent bulk-edit maps or assets without you watching. Plugin enables and content edits land in Git; review the diff.

Setup (once per machine)

Requires the project on UE 5.8 and a running editor. See Developer setup. Rephrased MCP still works without this; Unreal MCP is the suggested add-on for editor questions.

  1. Edit → Plugins
  2. Enable Unreal MCP (the server). Skip MCP Client Toolset as a separate choice — that one makes the editor call out to other MCP servers.
  3. Enable All Toolsets. That pulls in EditorToolset and the rest. Enabling AIModuleToolset alone is not enough.
  4. Restart the editor if prompted.
  5. Edit → Editor Preferences → General → Model Context Protocol
  6. Auto Start Server on
  7. Enable Tool Search on
  8. Team port is 6388 (so it does not collide with other MCP servers on 8000).

  9. Point your coding agent at http://127.0.0.1:6388/mcp. Output Log (`) if you need Epic's generator:

  10. Cursor: ModelContextProtocol.GenerateClientConfig Cursor — merges into .cursor/mcp.json and keeps the existing rephrased entry.

  11. Claude Code: ModelContextProtocol.GenerateClientConfig ClaudeCode — writes .mcp.json at the repo root; this repo also ships .claude/mcp.json.
  12. Codex, Antigravity, or another MCP-capable IDE: add the same unreal-mcp URL in that product's MCP settings (see Rephrased MCP).

Confirm the URL is http://127.0.0.1:6388/mcp. 5. Keep the editor running. Reload the IDE window (or fully quit and reopen it). 6. In that IDE's MCP / tools panel: rephrased is required. After you add the suggested block, unreal-mcp should also show connected. Confirm in the Output Log: Starting MCP server on port ….

Daily use

Ask the agent in the repo with the editor open, for example:

  • What map is loaded?
  • List rune actors in this level.
  • Load Rune Showcase and start PIE.
  • Find DA_Verb_Float.

The agent should use Unreal MCP for editor/content questions and Rephrased MCP for wiki, tasks, and review. If unreal-mcp is missing after you added the suggested block, the editor is probably closed or the IDE was not reloaded.

Troubleshooting

Symptom Fix
unreal-mcp missing Editor open? Suggested block added? Reload the IDE window or full restart
Connected but almost no tools All Toolsets not enabled; restart editor
Port in mcp.json ≠ 6388 Team pin is 6388. Set Editor Preferences to 6388, then regenerate or re-paste the client config for your IDE
PIE already running Stop PIE in the editor (Esc) or ask the agent to stop it before starting again
Agent cannot "play" Expected. You drive the pawn

Enabling these plugins writes Rephrased_Demo.uproject. Review that diff before commit.

Change history

  • 2026-08-14 — Gabriel Li — Links renamed to Rephrased MCP; client setup lists Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, and Antigravity; Unreal MCP labeled suggested.
  • 2026-08-13 — Gabriel Li — Team MCP port pinned to 6388; first page (5.8 Unreal MCP vs Rephrased MCP, verified editor read/PIE).