Installation

1. Install from Fab

   Search for ClaudeUnreal on Fab Marketplace, purchase, and add it to your UE5 project. Enable the plugin under Edit → Plugins → ClaudeUnreal.

2. Ensure Python 3.10+ and uv are available

   The MCP server is bundled in the plugin at Resources/MCP/. You only need Python and uv on the host.

   macOS / Linux

   python --version  # requires 3.10+
   uv --version      # install if missing:
   curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

   Windows

   python --version
   uv --version
   # If uv is missing: https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex

3. Configure Claude

   The plugin auto-writes .mcp.json the first time you open the editor. For Claude Desktop or other clients, the configuration is:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "claude-unreal": {
         "command": "python",
         "args": ["<path>/unreal_bridge_server.py"]
       }
     }
   }

4. Launch and verify

   Open Unreal Editor with the plugin enabled. The TCP bridge starts on 127.0.0.1:55557. In Claude Code, run ping — a success response confirms the bridge is live.

The plugin also writes <ProjectDir>/.claude/cu (a shell wrapper for the bundled CLI) and adds Bash(cu *) to .claude/settings.local.json permissions. Claude Code can then invoke cu from Bash without prompting. See Architecture & tools for how cu works.

Tip

If ping fails, the most common cause is the editor not yet fully loaded — give it a moment and try again.

Choose your workflow

The embedded terminal tab is just one entry point. On editor startup the plugin auto-writes .mcp.json and .claude/settings.local.json, so any Claude Code session started from the project root has identical control over the editor.

Entry point	How to launch	Best for
Built-in terminal tab	The Claude button in the level-editor toolbar, or Tools > Claude Code Terminal	Staying inside the editor
Your own terminal	Run claude from the project root	Terminal-native developers
VS Code	Open the project with the Claude Code extension	IDE users
Cursor / other MCP IDEs	See Use with any MCP client	Non-Claude-Code agents

All entry points share the same MCP bridge and capabilities — the difference is presentation only.

The Claude toolbar button

One button in the level-editor toolbar covers everything the plugin puts in the editor. Clicking it opens (or focuses) the Claude Code panel; the arrow beside it opens a menu:

Section	Entry	Shortcut
Session	Open Claude Code panel	Ctrl+Alt+C (Cmd+Option+C on macOS)
	Resume last session	Ctrl+Alt+R (Cmd+Option+R on macOS)
	New session in this project	—
Panels	Agent Status panel	—
	Claude MCP panel (UE 5.8+)	—
Connection	Reconnect MCP bridge	—
	Claude Unreal settings…	—

The button also reports the session at a glance: a coloured dot on its corner means the session is idle (green), working (cyan), or waiting for your answer (amber) — useful when the panel is behind the viewport. If the Claude CLI can’t be found the button is disabled, and its tooltip says how to fix it.

Tip

Both shortcuts are editor commands, so you can rebind or clear them under Edit → Editor Preferences → General → Keyboard Shortcuts (search for “Claude”). The menu always shows whatever is currently bound.

The Agent Status panel entry only appears when Enable Status Panel is turned on in Project Settings → Plugins → Claude Unreal.