The Things Stack MCP Server

MCP (Model Context Protocol) Server for the The Things Stack HTTP API. This server enables interaction with The Things Industries LoRaWAN platform via standardized MCP tools.

Features

The MCP server offers a wide range of tools for managing your LoRaWAN infrastructure:

• Application Management: Create, list, delete, and inspect applications.
• Device Management: Comprehensive device lifecycle management including create_otaa_device which handles registration across Identity, Join, Network, and Application servers in one go.
• Gateway Management: List, inspect, create and delete gateways.
• User Management: Retrieve user details.
• Webhook Integrations: Manage webhooks for applications to integrate with external systems.
• Messaging: View historical uplinks, simulate uplinks, and manage downlink queues.
• Payload Formatters: Generate commands to configure formatters or test them directly.

Prerequisites

• Docker and Docker Compose installed
• An account on The Things Stack or a private instance
• An API Key with appropriate permissions

Creating an API Key

1. Log in to the Things Stack Console
2. Go to your User Settings (Profile)
3. Navigate to API Keys
4. Click Add API Key
5. Give it a name (e.g., "MCP Server")
6. Select the following permissions:
   • Applications: Read & Write
   • Devices: Read & Write
   • Gateways: Read & Write
   • Users: Read
7. Copy the generated API Key (Format: NNSXS.XXX...)

Quick Start

# 1. Build Docker Image
docker build -t things-stack-mcp .

# 2. Test (replace placeholder values!)
export TTS_BASE_URL=https://eu1.cloud.thethings.network
export TTS_API_KEY=NNSXS.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
./test_server.sh

Installation & Setup

1. Clone Repository / Create Files

Ensure all files are present in the project directory:

├── server.py                            # MCP Server Implementation
├── requirements.txt                     # Python Dependencies
├── Dockerfile                           # Docker Image Definition
├── docker-compose.yml                   # Docker Compose Configuration
├── claude_desktop_config.example.json   # Claude Desktop Example Config
├── test_server.sh                       # Test Script
├── run_example.sh                       # Interactive Start Script
└── README.md                            # This file

2. Build Docker Image

docker build -t things-stack-mcp .

3. Configuration

Available Regions:

• Europe: https://eu1.cloud.thethings.network
• North America: https://nam1.cloud.thethings.network
• Australia: https://au1.cloud.thethings.network
• Private Instance: https://your-instance.example.com

Environment variables are passed directly in the Docker run command (see next section).

Usage

With MCP-compatible Clients

The server can be used with any MCP-compatible client (e.g., Claude Desktop App).

Claude Desktop Configuration

Add the following to your Claude Desktop configuration:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "things-stack": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "--rm",
        "-i",
        "-e",
        "TTS_BASE_URL=https://eu1.cloud.thethings.network",
        "-e",
        "TTS_API_KEY=NNSXS.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",
        "things-stack-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Important: Replace NNSXS.XXX... with your actual API key and adjust the region if necessary.

Tip: You can use claude_desktop_config.example.json as a template.

Interactive Start

Use the interactive script for easy configuration:

./run_example.sh

The script will ask for your region and API key, then start the server.

Direct Test with Docker

# Start server interactively
docker run --rm -i \
  -e TTS_BASE_URL=https://eu1.cloud.thethings.network \
  -e TTS_API_KEY=NNSXS.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX \
  things-stack-mcp

# Example: List Applications
echo '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"list_applications","arguments":{}},"id":1}' | \
docker run --rm -i \
  -e TTS_BASE_URL=https://eu1.cloud.thethings.network \
  -e TTS_API_KEY=NNSXS.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX \
  things-stack-mcp

Examples

Create Application

{
  "name": "create_application",
  "arguments": {
    "user_id": "your-user-id",
    "application_id": "my-app",
    "name": "My Application",
    "description": "Test Application"
  }
}

Create OTAA Device (Recommended)

{
  "name": "create_otaa_device",
  "arguments": {
    "application_id": "my-app",
    "device_id": "my-device-01",
    "name": "Sensor 01",
    "description": "Temperature sensor in office",
    "dev_eui": "70B3D57ED0000001",
    "join_eui": "0000000000000000",
    "app_key": "00112233445566778899AABBCCDDEEFF",
    "lorawan_version": "MAC_V1_0_3",
    "frequency_plan_id": "EU_863_870_TTN",
    "supports_class_c": false
  }
}

This tool executes 4 separate API calls to register the device across all required servers:

1. POST /api/v3/applications/{app_id}/devices - Identity Server

   • Metadata (Name, IDs, Description)
   • Server addresses

2. PUT /api/v3/js/applications/{app_id}/devices/{device_id} - Join Server

   • Root Keys (AppKey for OTAA)
   • Authentication

3. PUT /api/v3/ns/applications/{app_id}/devices/{device_id} - Network Server

   • MAC Settings
   • LoRaWAN Version & PHY Version
   • Frequency Plan
   • Class B/C Support

4. PUT /api/v3/as/applications/{app_id}/devices/{device_id} - Application Server

   • Device IDs
   • Session Configuration

Important Parameters:

• app_key: 32-digit hex string (128-bit key)
• dev_eui & join_eui: 16-digit hex strings (64-bit)
• frequency_plan_id: Common values:
  • EU_863_870_TTN - Europe (Default)
  • US_902_928 - USA
  • AU_915_928 - Australia
  • AS_923 - Asia
• lorawan_version: MAC_V1_0_2, MAC_V1_0_3, MAC_V1_0_4, MAC_V1_1

Create Webhook

{
  "name": "set_webhook",
  "arguments": {
    "application_id": "my-app",
    "webhook_id": "my-integration",
    "base_url": "https://myserver.com/webhook",
    "format": "json",
    "uplink_message": {
      "path": "/up"
    },
    "join_accept": {
      "path": "/join"
    }
  }
}

Set Payload Formatter (Command Generator)

{
  "name": "generate_formatter_command",
  "arguments": {
    "application_id": "my-app",
    "device_id": "my-device-01",
    "formatter_type": "FORMATTER_JAVASCRIPT",
    "formatter_code": "function decodeUplink(input) { return {data: {temp: input.bytes[0]}}; }",
    "command_type": "curl"
  }
}

Output: Ready-to-use cURL command to copy & execute.

Available Command Types:

• curl - cURL Command (Default)
• cli - The Things Stack CLI Command
• python - Python Script

The tool generates ready-to-use commands that you can execute directly, as direct API calls might not work on all TTS installations.

Retrieve Uplink Data

{
  "name": "get_device_uplinks",
  "arguments": {
    "application_id": "my-app",
    "device_id": "my-device-01",
    "limit": 20
  }
}

Development

Local Development without Docker

# Create Virtual Environment
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

# Install Dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Set Environment Variables
export TTS_BASE_URL=https://eu1.cloud.thethings.network
export TTS_API_KEY=NNSXS.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

# Start Server
python server.py

Troubleshooting

Authentication Errors (401)

• Verify your API Key is correct
• Ensure the API Key has the required permissions
• Check if the API Key is still valid
• The API Key should start with NNSXS.

Connection Errors

• Check TTS_BASE_URL (must start with https://)
• Ensure you are using the correct region
• Check your network connection
• For self-hosted instances: Check Firewall and SSL certificates

Device Creation Failed

• dev_eui and join_eui must be valid 64-bit hex strings (16 characters)
• device_id must only contain lowercase letters, numbers, and dashes
• The Application must already exist

MCP Server Not Starting in Claude Desktop

• Check JSON syntax in Claude Desktop configuration
• Ensure Docker image is built: docker build -t things-stack-mcp .
• Check Docker logs: docker logs <container-id>

API References

• The Things Stack HTTP API Documentation
• Authentication
• Model Context Protocol

License

MIT

Author

Created with Claude Code