Ask your AI assistant which Reticle Red tool does the job

Reticle Red runs a public Model Context Protocol (MCP) server at https://reticle-red.com/mcp. Add it to an AI assistant that supports remote MCP servers and the assistant can answer "what should I use to engrave a photo on slate?" or "can I make a challenge coin?" from Reticle Red's own job index: the tool that does it, the files it exports, the published credit cost and a link to open it. The server is free, needs no account or API key, and is read-only. It cannot start a job, spend credits or see anyone's account.

By Scott Bedow, Founder & Lead Developer · Published August 3, 2026

Manufacturing manager who runs CO2, diode and MOPA fiber lasers; builds and maintains every Reticle Red tool.

Method — Compared on publicly documented feature availability as of the stated date. Reticle Red is our own product — read the competing claims at the source, which each row links.

Two read-only tools: find_laser_job matches a job described in plain words; list_laser_jobs returns the whole index

Every answer carries the tool name, output formats, the published credit cost (or Free) and a reticle-red.com link

No sign-in, no API key, no credits, no uploads. The same data is published as plain JSON at /ai/catalog.json

Browse the job index See pricing →

Connect it in a minute

  1. 1. Claude (claude.ai and the desktop app)

    Open Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector, name it Reticle Red and paste https://reticle-red.com/mcp as the URL. No OAuth details are needed. Then ask Claude what to use for your next laser job.

  2. 2. Claude Code

    Run: claude mcp add --transport http reticle-red https://reticle-red.com/mcp

  3. 3. VS Code, Cursor and other MCP clients

    Add an HTTP (Streamable HTTP) server named reticle-red with the URL https://reticle-red.com/mcp. In VS Code that is an entry under "servers" in mcp.json with "type": "http"; in Cursor it is an entry under "mcpServers" in mcp.json with a "url".

  4. 4. No MCP support?

    Point the assistant or your own script at https://reticle-red.com/ai/catalog.json. It lists the same jobs, tools, outputs and costs as the /what-can-i-make page, regenerated on every release.

Frequently asked questions: Reticle Red vs Alternative

What does the Reticle Red MCP server do?

It answers one question well: which Reticle Red tool does a given laser job, what it outputs, and what it costs. find_laser_job takes a plain-language request such as "photo on wood" or "scrollwork on a pistol slide" and returns up to ten matching jobs. list_laser_jobs returns every job in the index. Each result names the tool, its output formats, its published credit cost or Free, and a link to open it on reticle-red.com.

What does an answer look like?

Asked for "challenge coin" on September 23, 2026, find_laser_job returned: Design a challenge coin or medallion face, Coin Designer, PNG and SVG, from 2 credits, with the link https://reticle-red.com/coin-designer. Every answer ends with a note that credit costs are the published defaults and that each tool shows its live price before anything is spent.

Can the assistant run jobs or spend my credits?

No. Both tools are marked read-only, the server has no sign-in and no access to accounts, uploads or credits, and it cannot start a generation. To make something, the assistant sends you to the tool's link, where you sign in and see the price before you confirm.

Which protocol does it speak?

MCP over Streamable HTTP, stateless, with JSON responses. It negotiates protocol versions 2025-06-18, 2025-03-26 and 2024-11-05. A POST carries one JSON-RPC message; notifications get HTTP 202; a plain GET returns 405 because the server never opens an event stream. That 405 in a browser is expected, not an outage.

How current is the data?

The job index is written at build time from the same source as the /what-can-i-make page, so it changes when a release ships. The server caches it for ten minutes. Prices in answers are published defaults; the tool page always shows the live cost before you spend anything.

Is anything I type stored?

The server keeps no conversation history, writes nothing to a database and issues no session id. Each request is answered from the public job index. Like any web request, it passes through the hosting provider's standard request logs.

Production checks before you export from Reticle Red or Alternative

Use the workflow on a representative sample before committing customer material. Confirm the finished dimensions, smallest line weight, layer assignments, focus, and machine parameters in the software that will run the job. A short test on matching scrap catches scale, contrast, kerf, and material-finish differences while they are still inexpensive to correct.

Guides for Alternative work

What can I make? (job index) →Pricing and credits →About Reticle Red →Privacy policy →The Fabricator →Style DNA catalog →

What Operators Say

“I love this software!”
Patrick Hussey — Laser engraver · went from never touching the software to firing real burns in his first week
“This is the easiest I have seen.”
Chris Clark — Laser engraver · Vanguard pack customer · builds custom 1911 grips
“Reticle Red is becoming one of my favorite software to use. It has a lot of tools that many others do not, and approaches things differently to create more consistent results. A++”
Daniel Webster — Laser engraver · long-time power user
“Reticle Red definitely takes the guess work out of your design work with tutorials to walk through the process. I highly recommend it.”
Justin Brown — Laser engraver

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