pycentauri

Local-network toolkit for the Elegoo Centauri Carbon 3D printer. Python library, CLI, MCP server, REST/SSE server, built-in web UI, and an RTSP bridge — all powered by the same async client.

pycentauri speaks the printer's native SDCP v3 protocol over its local WebSocket (port 3030) — no cloud account required. It exposes six surfaces:

1. An async Python library for direct integration.
2. A centauri CLI for quick status checks, snapshots, and control.
3. An MCP server so AI agents (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, any MCP-compatible client) can monitor and drive the printer as a tool.
4. An HTTP + SSE server for dashboards, reverse-proxy integration, and anything that wants a plain REST API.
5. A built-in web UI (industrial instrument-panel theme, mobile-friendly) served at /ui/ by the HTTP server.
6. An RTSP bridge that re-streams the printer's MJPEG webcam as H.264/RTSP for Home Assistant, Jellyfin, VLC, Frigate, and NVRs.

Status: alpha. The protocol has been reverse-engineered from the official elegoo-link C++ SDK and the CentauriLink project. It works against the original Centauri Carbon on current firmware (tested on V1.1.46). The newer Centauri Carbon 2 (which uses MQTT) is not supported.

Install

pip install pycentauri                    # library + CLI
pip install "pycentauri[mcp]"             # + MCP server
pip install "pycentauri[server]"          # + HTTP REST/SSE server + web UI
pip install "pycentauri[mcp,server]"      # all Python surfaces

The RTSP bridge additionally requires MediaMTX and ffmpeg on $PATH — see the RTSP section below for install hints.

Quick start — CLI

# Find printers on your LAN
centauri discover

# One-shot status (pretty or JSON)
centauri status --host 192.168.1.209
centauri status --host 192.168.1.209 --json

# Stream live status updates
centauri watch --host 192.168.1.209

# Grab a webcam snapshot
centauri snapshot --host 192.168.1.209 shot.jpg

# Printer attributes (model, firmware, mainboard ID, capabilities)
centauri attributes --host 192.168.1.209

# Control actions — require --enable-control
centauri print start cube.gcode --host 192.168.1.209 --enable-control
centauri print pause            --host 192.168.1.209 --enable-control
centauri print resume           --host 192.168.1.209 --enable-control
centauri print stop             --host 192.168.1.209 --enable-control

The host can also come from the PYCENTAURI_HOST environment variable. If neither is set, every command auto-discovers via a 2.5 s UDP broadcast and bails out if it finds zero or more than one printer.

Quick start — Python

import asyncio
from pycentauri import Printer

async def main():
    async with await Printer.connect("192.168.1.209") as printer:
        status = await printer.status()
        print(status.print_status, status.progress, status.temp_nozzle)

        jpeg = await printer.snapshot()
        with open("shot.jpg", "wb") as f:
            f.write(jpeg)

        async for update in printer.watch():
            print(update.print_status, update.progress)

asyncio.run(main())

Control actions (start_print, pause, resume, stop) require Printer.connect(..., enable_control=True).

Quick start — HTTP server

# Read-only, bound to loopback so only this box can hit it:
centauri server --host 192.168.1.209 --port 8787

# Read + write + RTSP, bound to all interfaces (put a reverse proxy in front):
centauri server --host 192.168.1.209 --bind 0.0.0.0 --port 8787 \
                --enable-control --rtsp

Method	Path	Notes
GET	/	Redirects to /ui/
GET	/ui/	Built-in web dashboard
GET	/api/info	Health + version (JSON)
GET	/status	Latest status push (cached; updates every ~5 s)
GET	/attributes	Printer attributes
GET	/snapshot	image/jpeg response
GET	/stream	MJPEG stream proxied from the printer (embeds in <img>)
GET	/discover	LAN scan
GET	/events/status	Server-Sent Events stream of pushes
GET	/api/rtsp	RTSP bridge state (when --rtsp is set)
POST	/api/rtsp/{start,stop}	Start/stop the RTSP bridge (when --rtsp is set)
GET	/docs / /redoc	Auto-generated OpenAPI docs
POST	/print/start	Body: {"filename": "cube.gcode"}. Requires --enable-control.
POST	/print/{pause,resume,stop}	Requires --enable-control.

The server holds a single long-lived WebSocket to the printer and reuses it for every request — no per-request reconnect, and it won't bump into the firmware's 5-slot limit.

Quick start — RTSP bridge

# Install system dependencies first:
#   mediamtx  https://github.com/bluenviron/mediamtx/releases  (or `brew install mediamtx`)
#   ffmpeg    `brew install ffmpeg` or `apt install ffmpeg`

# Standalone: foreground, Ctrl-C to stop
centauri rtsp --host 192.168.1.209
# → rtsp://<this-host>:8554/printer

# Or, integrated with the HTTP server + web UI
centauri server --host 192.168.1.209 --rtsp --bind 0.0.0.0
# The web UI gains a STREAM panel with a start/stop toggle, a copy-URL button,
# and live status: http://<this-host>:8787/ui/

Open that URL in VLC (Media → Open Network Stream), point Home Assistant at it via the Generic Camera integration, or feed it to Frigate / Jellyfin / Synology Surveillance for NVR recording and motion detection.

MediaMTX runs the ffmpeg transcode only while at least one client is actually connected, so idle cost is zero. Tunable flags: --fps, --bitrate, --preset, --path, --port, --bind (standalone), or --rtsp-fps, --rtsp-bitrate, --rtsp-path, --rtsp-port, --rtsp-bind (on centauri server). Run centauri rtsp --help or centauri server --help for the full list.

Quick start — MCP

Register the server with your agent. With Claude Code:

claude mcp add pycentauri --env PYCENTAURI_HOST=192.168.1.209 \
    -- python -m pycentauri.mcp

# Or, with control actions enabled (gives the agent start/pause/resume/stop):
claude mcp add pycentauri --env PYCENTAURI_HOST=192.168.1.209 \
    -- python -m pycentauri.mcp --enable-control

Setting PYCENTAURI_HOST in the MCP server's launch env means the agent can't be tricked into targeting an arbitrary IP through prompt injection — the host is pinned at spawn time. Tools exposed:

Tool	Always available	Description
get_status	yes	State, temperatures, progress, elapsed/remaining
get_attributes	yes	Model, firmware, mainboard ID, capabilities
get_snapshot	yes	Webcam frame as MCP Image content (LLMs see the picture)
discover_printers	yes	LAN scan
start_print	only with --enable-control	Starts a print from a file already on the printer
pause_print	only with --enable-control	Pauses the current print
resume_print	only with --enable-control	Resumes a paused print
stop_print	only with --enable-control	Stops the current print

Control tools aren't just gated — they're not registered without the flag, so an LLM that wasn't given the --enable-control launch can't see them in the tool list at all.

Safety

Printer control actions are gated behind an explicit enable_control=True (library) or --enable-control flag (CLI / MCP). Destructive MCP tools aren't registered when the flag is off, so an LLM never sees them. Still: leaving a printer running unattended with write-capable agents is your responsibility, as is securing the HTTP surface (it's unauthenticated — put a reverse proxy with auth in front if you expose it beyond loopback).

The RTSP bridge itself isn't gated by --enable-control because it only reads the webcam feed and doesn't change printer state; it's enabled per-server via the --rtsp flag.

Known firmware quirks

• 5 concurrent WebSocket connections max. The printer's SDCP server accepts up to 5 open WebSockets on port 3030; the 6th returns HTTP 500 with body "too many client". Slots release immediately when a connection closes — the CLI each opens and closes one per invocation, the HTTP and MCP servers hold a single long-lived one, so this is almost never a problem in practice.
• Paused / errored states don't auto-push Attributes. The printer only sends its Attributes frame spontaneously while idle or printing. In paused and errored states it stays silent until asked. Since every SDCP command needs the printer's MainboardID, the client handles this by pre-seeding the mainboard ID from a UDP discovery on every connect (as of v0.1.1). If you call Printer.connect() directly without discovery, pass mainboard_id= yourself.

Credits & licensing

• Protocol reference: elegoo-link (Apache-2.0) and CentauriLink.
• pycentauri is licensed under Apache-2.0. See LICENSE.
• Not affiliated with or endorsed by Elegoo.