The energy sector is undergoing a massive digital transformation. Smart meters, solar inverters, battery storage systems, and grid sensors are generating terabytes of telemetry data that needs to be collected, processed, and acted on in real time. Claude Code with the MQTT/IoT MCP helps energy developers build these systems faster.
The Challenge
Energy tech developers deal with:
- Telemetry at scale — millions of smart meters and IoT devices sending readings every few seconds. The data pipeline needs to handle bursts and never drop messages
- Protocol diversity — MQTT, Modbus, OCPP (for EV chargers), and proprietary protocols all need translation into a common data model
- Real-time alerting — grid anomalies, equipment failures, and demand spikes need to be detected and escalated within seconds
- Regulatory reporting — utilities must report generation, consumption, and emissions data to regulatory bodies in specific formats
MQTT/IoT MCP: Device Messaging for Energy Systems
The MQTT/IoT MCP connects Claude Code to MQTT brokers, letting you subscribe to device topics, inspect message payloads, and build IoT processing logic interactively.
{
"mcpServers": {
"mqtt-iot": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@anthropic-community/mcp-mqtt"],
"env": {
"MQTT_BROKER_URL": "mqtt://your-broker.example.com:1883",
"MQTT_USERNAME": "<YOUR_USERNAME>",
"MQTT_PASSWORD": "<YOUR_PASSWORD>"
}
}
}
}Available Tools
- subscribe — subscribe to MQTT topics and receive messages (supports wildcards like
meters/+/readings) - publish — send messages to a topic (for device commands or testing)
- list_topics — discover active topics on the broker
- get_retained — fetch the last retained message for a topic
- inspect_payload — decode and display message payloads (JSON, Protobuf, raw bytes)
Workflow: Building a Smart Meter Dashboard
1. MQTT/IoT MCP — Claude subscribes to meter reading topics, inspects the payload format, and generates TypeScript interfaces matching your telemetry schema. It builds the ingestion pipeline with validation and error handling.
2. PostgreSQL MCP — design a time-series storage schema with proper partitioning for high-volume meter data. Claude writes the migration with hypertable creation and retention policies.
3. Sentry MCP — wire up alerting for ingestion failures, malformed payloads, and devices that stop reporting. Claude configures alert rules based on your SLA requirements.
4. GitHub MCP — ship the entire pipeline — ingestion, storage, alerting, and dashboard API — in a single well-structured PR.
Energy-Specific Patterns
Claude Code is particularly useful for energy projects because of the domain's repetitive patterns:
- Unit conversions — kWh to MWh, watts to VA, voltage/current calculations
- Time-of-use logic — pricing tiers that change by hour, season, and day type
- Demand response — automated load shedding sequences triggered by grid signals
- Metering math — interval data aggregation, demand calculations, power factor corrections
More Resources on claudemcp.io
- MQTT IoT MCP — subscribe to device topics and inspect IoT payloads
- PostgreSQL MCP — time-series data storage
- Sentry MCP — monitoring and alerting
- GitHub MCP — code management
Get Started
Browse all energy resources at claudemcp.io/browse or read the setup guide.