MCP Usage Guide: Let an AI Assistant Do RO Design

For Claude Desktop, Cursor, Cherry Studio, TeleAgent and other MCP-capable clients · updated 2026-10-28 · 733 elements from 8 manufacturers

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1. What the five tools can do

Tool	Capability	Typical use
`list_elements`	Search elements by brand, series, keyword or applicable TDS	Selection, finding substitutes, screening by water quality
`get_element`	Full parameters and operating limits of one element	Checking temperature ceiling, pH range, maximum pressure drop
`analyze_water`	TDS, conductivity, osmotic pressure, LSI/CCPP, salt saturation	Deciding whether RO is viable, whether softening or antiscalant is needed
`run_design`	Multi-stage design: pressure, permeate quality, energy, per-stage flux	Design checking, energy comparison, array optimisation
`list_schemes`	Industry configuration templates	A starting point when you have no array in mind

What it does not do: equipment pricing, warranty-grade reports from a manufacturer's official software, drawings or civil works. The output is a design draft and a basis for comparison.

2. Six prompts you can copy as-is

① Element selectionPick three Hydranautics brackish-water elements suitable for TDS 2000 mg/L and 100 m³/h permeate per train, and explain the choice and operating limits.

② Water assessmentWhat are the LSI and scaling risk for this water? Ca 40, Mg 20, Na 460, Cl 710, SO₄ 100, HCO₃ 150 mg/L, pH 7.5, 25 °C. Do I need softening or antiscalant?

③ Design calculationESPA2-LD, 30 pressure vessels × 6 elements, 75% recovery, 100 m³/h permeate. Calculate feed pressure, permeate TDS, energy and concentrate saturation, and tell me whether the configuration is sound.

④ Multi-brand comparisonAt the same water quality and duty, run Hydranautics, DuPont and Toray, then compare feed pressure, specific energy, average flux and concentrate LSI in a table and explain the differences.

⑤ Result interpretationWhich figures in this result are out of range? What are the flux, tail-end beta and concentrate LSI, and which parameter should I adjust first?

⑥ Reverse optimisationRight now 100 vessels give 100 m³/h at only 4.5 lmh average flux. Cut the membrane area so flux is around 15 lmh, re-run, and compare capex and energy.

3. Better inputs give better answers

The AI models exactly what you give it, and treats missing items as 0 or defaults. To get a result usable in a proposal, provide all of the following:

Category	Provide	If missing
Water analysis	Ca, Mg, Na, K, HCO₃, SO₄, Cl, NO₃, F, SiO₂, Ba, Sr (mg/L)	Missing Ba/Sr/SiO₂ understates scaling risk
Duty	pH, water temperature, permeate flow, recovery, number of trains	Defaults to pH 7.0 / 25 °C, so cold-weather output is overstated
Array	Stages, vessels per stage, elements per vessel	The AI will propose its own array, which may not be what you want
Targets	Permeate TDS or rejection, energy ceiling, capex sensitivity	You get "it calculates" rather than "it is the right choice"

Tip: it is perfectly acceptable to say "use your typical water quality and list your assumptions" — as long as the assumptions appear in the answer so you can check them.

4. Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	Fix
The five tools do not appear	Client does not support remote HTTP MCP, or the config was not reloaded	Check the client version; restart it fully after editing config; the `?token=` form is an alternative
401 / 403	Wrong or revoked token, or the `Bearer` prefix is missing	Regenerate in "Personal settings → MCP access" and copy the full token
429 or "daily limit reached"	Daily quota exhausted	Resets on the next calendar day; contact the administrator for a higher limit
"Token is bound to another IP"	A limited token allows one egress IP only	Regenerate after changing network, or ask for an unlimited token
GET on `/mcp` returns 405	The Streamable HTTP endpoint does not open a GET server-push stream	Normal; the client falls back to request/response mode. For SSE transport use `/mcp/sse`
Results differ from the web app by a few percent	Different water analysis, temperature, membrane age or fouling factor	Align inputs item by item before suspecting the engine
"Element not found"	Name does not match the library string	Have the AI look it up with `list_elements` first

Platforms that only accept SSE transport (e.g. Alibaba Cloud Bailian "custom MCP service"): these platforms allow sse only. Use the endpoint https://rofilter.cn/mcp/sse, set the transport to sse, and add the header Authorization: Bearer <token>. After the stream opens, the server first sends an endpoint event with the callback URL; all subsequent results come back on the same stream. Clients that support Streamable HTTP can keep using https://rofilter.cn/mcp — both transports expose the same tools and produce identical results.

5. Skill pack (Agent Skills)

If your client supports Agent Skills (TeleAgent, Claude Code and similar), you can download the skill pack: the AI then follows a fixed workflow — assess water, select elements, verify limits, run the design, interpret the result — without skipping steps, and it states its assumptions in the conclusion.

Download skill pack (SKILL.md + 3 references, ~12 KB)

Item	Details
Contents	`SKILL.md` main workflow; `references/water-quality.md` water and scaling assessment; `references/design-tuning.md` thresholds, tuning and regression case; `references/access.md` connection and troubleshooting
Installation	Unzip and place the whole `rofilter-design` folder into your client's skills directory, then restart the client
Token still required	The pack is the "how to use the tools" manual and contains no token; generate your own in the app
Version	rev.2 · 2026-10-28 (library 733 elements / 8 manufacturers); updated when the library or tools change

No Agent Skills support? Use the prompts in section 2 directly — the result is the same. The pack only fixes the workflow and thresholds so the assistant cannot skip steps.

6. Scope

The API returns a design draft and a basis for comparison; it is not a commercial commitment with guaranteed performance values. For formal design, tendering and warranty calculations, rely on the latest datasheets, official software and contractual terms. Element parameters come from public technical literature and official design software and may change between vendor versions.