An MCP server for OpenROAD

[fgaray]

Summary

This PR introduces a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server integration for OpenROAD. This allows OpenROAD functionality to be exposed to and controlled by MCP-compliant clients (such as LLM agents). It establishes the basic server infrastructure, exports core OpenROAD commands, and adds utilities for output capturing and database management.

Key Changes

• Infrastructure Setup:
  • Added fastmcp dependency.
  • Created the basic MCP server implementation in openroad/mcp.
• Functionality:
  • Exported basic OpenROAD commands to the MCP interface.
  • Added capability to capture stdout into strings for easier processing.
  • Implemented a command to reset the OpenROAD database.
  • Clarified the execution environment context for the agent.
• Documentation:
  • Added a README for the MCP server component to explain setup and usage.

Commits

• Add readme of the mcp server
• Making more explicit to the agent where OpenROAD is running
• Allowing capturing stdout into strings and reseting the OpenROAD's database
• Basic export of OpenROAD comamnds to MCP
• mcp: Add fastmcp server infrastructure

Demo

https://gist.github.com/fgaray/5e944d829201a41fc0610073d822407f

Herre is a demo of gemini-cli controlling OpenROAD and permforming a timing analysis of the design. It suggest actions to take, explores the design and can interpret the results.

[github-actions[bot]]

clang-tidy review says "All clean, LGTM! :+1:"

[github-actions[bot]]

clang-tidy review says "All clean, LGTM! :+1:"

[github-actions[bot]]

clang-tidy review says "All clean, LGTM! :+1:"

[fgaray]

As https://github.com/luarss/openroad-mcp/ already exists, I will revert this PR. Thanks everyone!