Quartus

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that gives Claude full access to Intel/Altera Quartus II 13.1 — create projects, compile designs, assign pins, run timing analysis, program FPGAs via JTAG, and more, all from a Claude conversation.

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What You Can Do

Once connected, you can talk to Claude naturally:

"Create a new Cyclone IV project called blink, add my blink.v file, assign the clock to PIN_R8 and the LED to PIN_A15, then compile it and program my FPGA."

Claude will call the appropriate tools and report back results, errors, and warnings — no manual GUI clicks needed.

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Requirements

Requirement	Version
Quartus II	13.1 (Web Edition or higher)
Python	3.10 or later
Claude Code	Latest

Note: Quartus II must be installed on the same machine running Claude Code. The default install path assumed is C:\altera\13.1\. See Configuration if yours differs.

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Installation

1. Clone this repository

git clone https://github.com/irumvag/quartus_mcp_server.git
cd quartus-mcp-server

2. Install the Python dependency

pip install mcp>=1.0.0

Or use the requirements file:

pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Verify Quartus is reachable

Open a terminal and confirm the Quartus shell responds:

C:\altera\13.1\quartus\bin64\quartus_sh.exe --version

You should see output like Version 13.1.0 Build 162 ....

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Configuration

Option A — Project-level (recommended)

The repository already includes .claude/settings.json. Open it and update the path to point to quartus_mcp_server.py on your machine:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "quartus": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["C:\\path\\to\\your\\quartus-mcp-server\\quartus_mcp_server.py"],
      "env": {
        "QUARTUS_ROOTDIR": "C:\\altera\\13.1\\quartus",
        "QUARTUS_ROOTDIR_OVERRIDE": "C:\\altera\\13.1\\quartus"
      }
    }
  }
}

If Quartus is installed in a different location, also update QUARTUS_ROOTDIR and QUARTUS_ROOTDIR_OVERRIDE to match.

Option B — Global (available in all Claude Code sessions)

Edit (or create) C:\Users\YOUR_NAME\.claude\settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "quartus": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["C:\\path\\to\\your\\quartus-mcp-server\\quartus_mcp_server.py"],
      "env": {
        "QUARTUS_ROOTDIR": "C:\\altera\\13.1\\quartus",
        "QUARTUS_ROOTDIR_OVERRIDE": "C:\\altera\\13.1\\quartus"
      }
    }
  }
}

If Quartus is not in C:\altera\13.1\

Open quartus_mcp_server.py and update line 22:

QUARTUS_BIN = r"C:\altera\13.1\quartus\bin64"   # ← change this

Activate

Restart Claude Code. The tools will appear with the quartus__ prefix (e.g. quartus__compile_project).

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Verifying the Connection

After restarting Claude Code, open a session in this project's directory and ask Claude:

"List the available Quartus device families."

Claude will call get_device_families and return a list like Cyclone IV E, Stratix V, etc. If it does, everything is working.

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Available Tools (38)

Project Management

Tool	Description
create_project	Create a new project (name, directory, family, device)
open_project	Open and verify an existing project
close_project	Close the current project
get_project_info	Read family, device, top-level entity
list_projects	Find all .qpf files in a directory tree
archive_project	Archive a project to a .qar file

Compilation

Tool	Description
compile_project	Run full or partial flow (full / map / fit / asm / sta)
run_analysis_synthesis	Run Analysis & Synthesis (quartus_map)
run_fitter	Run Fitter / Place & Route (quartus_fit)
run_assembler	Run Assembler — produces .sof and .pof files
get_compilation_status	Check last compile status and list output artifacts
get_compilation_messages	Extract errors and warnings from report files

Timing Analysis

Tool	Description
run_timing_analysis	Run Static Timing Analysis (quartus_sta)
get_timing_summary	Read the .sta.summary report
get_clock_summary	Get all clock names and periods
get_timing_paths	Get timing paths between two nodes

Pin Assignments & Device

Tool	Description
get_device_families	List all supported device families
get_devices	List all part numbers for a family
get_pin_assignments	Read all set_location_assignment entries
set_pin_assignment	Assign a signal to a pin (+ optional I/O standard)
remove_pin_assignment	Remove a pin location assignment
get_global_assignments	Read all set_global_assignment entries
set_global_assignment	Write a global assignment (e.g. SDC_FILE, TOP_LEVEL_ENTITY)

JTAG / Programmer

Tool	Description
detect_jtag_devices	Detect JTAG-connected devices
get_programmer_cables	List available cables (USB-Blaster, etc.)
program_device	Program an FPGA using the latest .sof via JTAG

Reports & Analysis

Tool	Description
get_flow_summary	Read the .flow.rpt compilation summary
get_resource_usage	Get LUT/register/memory utilization
get_power_report	Run quartus_pow and return the power report
run_design_rule_check	Run quartus_drc

File Management

Tool	Description
list_project_files	List source files registered in the .qsf
add_file_to_project	Add a file (VERILOG_FILE, VHDL_FILE, SDC_FILE, etc.)
remove_file_from_project	Remove a file from the .qsf
read_qsf	Read the raw .qsf settings file

Tcl Scripting

Tool	Description
run_tcl_script	Run a .tcl file through quartus_sh -t
execute_tcl_command	Run arbitrary inline Tcl code through quartus_sh

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Example Conversations

Create and compile a project:

You: Create a Cyclone IV E project called "counter" in C:\projects\counter using device EP4CE6E22C8
Claude: [calls create_project] ✓ Project created.

You: Add C:\projects\counter\counter.v to the project
Claude: [calls add_file_to_project] ✓ File added.

You: Compile it
Claude: [calls compile_project] ✓ Compilation successful. 0 errors, 3 warnings.

Check resource usage after compile:

You: How many logic elements does my design use?
Claude: [calls get_resource_usage] → 42 / 6272 logic elements (1%)

Assign pins from a pin table:

You: Assign clk to PIN_R8, reset to PIN_J15, led[0] to PIN_A15 with 3.3-V LVTTL
Claude: [calls set_pin_assignment × 3] ✓ All pins assigned.

Program the FPGA:

You: Program my FPGA via USB-Blaster
Claude: [calls detect_jtag_devices, then program_device] ✓ Programming successful.

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File Structure

quartus-mcp-server/
├── quartus_mcp_server.py   # MCP server — all 38 tools
├── requirements.txt        # pip dependency (mcp>=1.0.0)
├── .claude/
│   └── settings.json       # Registers server with Claude Code
└── README.md               # This file

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Troubleshooting

"Executable not found" errors

• Confirm Quartus is installed and QUARTUS_BIN in quartus_mcp_server.py points to your bin64 folder.

"No .qpf file found in directory"

• Pass the full path to either the .qpf file or the directory that contains it.

Tools not appearing in Claude Code

• Make sure .claude/settings.json is in the project directory you opened in Claude Code, or that you updated the global ~/.claude/settings.json.
• Restart Claude Code after any settings change.

Compilation hangs

• Full compilation has a 600-second timeout. Very large designs may exceed this. Edit timeout=600 in tool_compile_project to increase it.

mcp import error on startup

• Run pip install mcp again in the same Python environment Claude Code uses.

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License

MIT — free to use, modify, and distribute.

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Contributing

Pull requests are welcome. To add a new tool:

1. Write the implementation function (tool_your_name(...)) in quartus_mcp_server.py
2. Add a Tool(...) entry to the TOOLS list
3. Add a dispatch entry to TOOL_HANDLERS
4. Update the table in this README