For developers
API and MCP
Plan from your own tools: send a cut list from an ERP, a nest from a CAM script, a load from a warehouse system, or let an AI assistant plan a job. The API and MCP server reach linear cutting, sheet cutting, true-shape nesting, and load planning, with the same plans, rules, and limits as the web. One key covers all four, on every plan from $0, with no per-call fees: you pay for solver time, as on a cloud.
NestSolver plans cutting and loading for shops that work in lengths, sheets, irregular parts, and loads, and shows the waste before anything is cut or shipped.
01 Keys
Make a key on the API keys page with a free account. It's shown once, acts in the workspace you made it in, and stops working when you revoke it or leave the workspace. Send it on every call:
Authorization: Bearer <key>02 Calls
JSON in and out at https://api.nestsolver.com/v1. Linear and sheet jobs solve at once; nests and loads start as jobs you check until they're done, then read the plan and its exports.
Every call, its fields, and its answers are in the API reference.
Each request body is the web form's own fields, so the API takes exactly the jobs the web does. A problem names its field, like parts[2].length, in the web's words, and a job past its plan's cap names the plan that takes it. Send an Idempotency-Key with a POST, to the API or MCP, and a retry gets the first answer for a day, never counted twice.
03 Limits
Every call runs under the key's workspace plan, the same on the web, the API, and MCP: the same caps on a job, the same solves at once, and the same solves and job starts a minute, as the table shows. Checks, status, plans, exports, and usage don't count as solves: they have their own, larger allowance a minute.
| Plan | Full-speed search a month | Longest search | Solves at once | Solves and job starts a minute | Other calls a minute |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | 5 loads | 15 s | 1 | 6 | 60 |
| Bench | 10 hours | 60 s | 2 | 30 | 300 |
| Shop | 25 hours | 3 min | 3 | 30 | 300 |
| Works | 80 hours | 10 min | 4 | 30 | 300 |
Solves are unlimited. Linear and sheet solves never touch the pool. Every nest and load search draws on one monthly full-speed pool, shared by the web, the API, and MCP: on Bench, 10 hours is about 600 one-minute nests or loads; on Shop, 25 hours is about 500 three-minute nests or loads; on Works, 80 hours is about 480 ten-minute nests or loads. Most jobs finish well inside their budget. Free plans 5 loads a month instead, each at full speed, and refuses the next until the month turns (UTC). After the pool runs out, jobs keep running more slowly: half the search on one core. On the Works plan a nest or load may ask for the deep lane instead ("deep": true), which keeps its full search time once nothing else of yours is running or waiting. A job never fails and is never billed extra for going over.
04 MCP
AI assistants that speak the Model Context Protocol connect to https://mcp.nestsolver.com/ with the same key, limits, and pool. Its tools check and solve linear and sheet cut lists, start nests and loads, find saved parts and spaces, read status and plans, and read usage. For example, in Claude Code:
claude mcp add --transport http nestsolver https://mcp.nestsolver.com/ --header "Authorization: Bearer <key>"Setup for Cursor, VS Code, Claude Desktop, and others is on Plan with your AI assistant.