PipingToolset for Claude, ChatGPT and Codex

B31 calcs you can reproduce and defend in review, with the assistant you already use. The assistant does the interview. A script does the math. You read the table.

Six piping engineering skills, one plugin, installable in Claude Code and Claude Cowork, in ChatGPT and OpenAI Codex, and in any assistant that reads the Agent Skills format (Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI and others), from the people who build the free calculators at pipingtoolset.com. Written and maintained by a practicing piping engineer at Flexible Piping Solutions LLC. The same folder carries both a Claude manifest and an Agent Plugins 1.0 manifest, so the install you pick changes nothing about what the skills do.

The plugin is free and the skills run entirely on your side. An optional Engineering Data connector can hand the assistant a cited code-table value instead of making you look it up, within what your pipingtoolset.com plan covers. Every skill works without it.

	Claude	ChatGPT / Codex
Landing page	pipingtoolset.com/claude/	pipingtoolset.com/openai/
Install file	piping-toolset.plugin (drag into Cowork)	codex plugin marketplace add pipingtoolset/pipingtoolset-claude
Invoke	/piping-toolset:pipe-stress-check or name it in Cowork	$pipe-stress-check in Codex, name it in ChatGPT
Manifest read	.claude-plugin/plugin.json	plugin.json (Agent Plugins 1.0, extensions.com.openai)
Engineering Data connector	Declared by the plugin in .mcp.json	Not declared; you add it by hand (see Add the connector)

Skill	What it does
pipe-stress-check	Sustained, occasional and expansion hand checks, the f factor by edition, which document supplies the SIFs, the formal-analysis exemption, support spans and spring variability, the ASCE 7 occasional-load build and the ASD position, owner practices (PIP PNC00004 / PNC00001 / RECE002), and a cold-eye review protocol for a CAESAR II or AutoPIPE run or a received calc package: traceability chain, modelling and documentation findings with severity, verdict recommendation. Replaces stress-screening (0.10.0); its eight engine modules are unchanged
load-case-builder	Complete B31.1 / B31.3 static load case sets for CAESAR II and AutoPIPE, generated symbolically so references never go stale, with a QC gate and a report extraction matrix
pipe-support	Pipe support assemblies (arm, column, welds, bolts, base plate, anchors, pier) checked for CAESAR II restraint loads: ASCE 7-22 combinations, AISC 360-22, ACI CODE-318-25 Chapter 17 (ACI 318-19 selectable) and AWS D1.1 detailing, with a PE-style review, ranked code-passing alternatives (lighter, less field work, stocked sizes) and an engineer-ready calc report. The pipingtoolset.com PiperSTR engine, verified against a published PiperSTR report value for value
stress-import	Any piping source into an analysis-ready CAESAR II or AutoPIPE model with every support on a node: PDF stress isometrics transcribed and built in exact fractions, Revit / Fabrication PCF exports de-duplicated, re-vocabularied and healed, Navisworks NWC hangers and trapezes mined and snapped to the centreline, rule-placed supports, a pre-import checker (pieces and anchors, free ends, slivers, supports off node, spans over the project table), an SVG plot, the AutoPIPE translator's bend and loop-closure checks (E726-15, W726-8, E751-1), and the CAESAR II neutral-file repair after APCF import (node bands per line, T/P, fluid density, anchor codes) with an independent proof. Replaces iso-to-pcf (0.10.0); its builder and validator are unchanged
nozzle-load	Piping forces and moments on equipment nozzles, checked the way the vendor will: API 610 Table 5 and Annex F for pumps, the API 617 / 611 / 612 and NEMA SM-23 combined form for compressors and turbines, API 660 / 661 / 560 per-component and header-sum checks for exchangers and heaters, API 650 Annex P ordinates for tank shells, and the PVP2011-57100 method as the default for a pressure vessel with no API allowable. The user reads every table row; the script applies the scaling rules and the ratios. PIP RECE002 design-stage margins as an owner practice
bolted-flange	Piping loads on a bolted flanged joint in a fixed order: the pressure-equivalent screen first, always, against the B16.5 rating the user reads, then the BPVC VIII-2 Part 4.16 (formerly VIII-1 Mandatory Appendix 2; pre-2025 paragraph map shown) analysis for integral and loose flanges, with bolt area, hub, radial and tangential stresses and rigidity. Flange dimensions, gasket factors, ratings and allowables all come from the user's copies

How it works

1. The assistant never does the arithmetic. Each skill ships standard-library Python scripts. Every number a skill states comes from a script run on inputs you supplied. The scripts reproduce the pipingtoolset.com calculation engine's locked test cases (tests/fixtures/calc-core; a red parity test blocks a release).
2. The assistant never recalls a code table value. Allowable stresses, moduli, SIFs, spans, ASCE 7 coefficients: the skill names the table, row and edition and takes the value from one of two places, your own copy of the standard or, if you have enabled the optional connector and your plan covers the table, a connector lookup that arrives with its citation. Asking it for "just the number" with neither is a pinned test, and the answer is no. The one exception is pipe-support, which bundles the AISC 360-22 tables and the AISC Shapes Database (both published free by AISC) and the ASCE 7-22 and ACI CODE-318-25 / 318-19 factors it uses; its references/code-basis.md lists every one.
3. The edition is an input, never a silent default. Anything you leave unanswered is marked ASSUMED on the calc sheet.

The skills make no network calls. Their scripts run in your own assistant's environment, and what you type goes to Anthropic or OpenAI under the terms of your own account with them. The only part of the plugin that talks to pipingtoolset.com is the optional Engineering Data connector, and it sends only what a table lookup needs. Leave it disconnected and nothing you enter is sent to PipingToolset or Flexible Piping Solutions.

Install

In Claude Cowork

1. Download piping-toolset.plugin from the latest GitHub Release of pipingtoolset/pipingtoolset-claude.
2. Drag the file into a Cowork chat. A preview card appears; press Accept.

Or, in the app's plugin settings, add the marketplace pipingtoolset/pipingtoolset-claude.

To update, install the new .plugin from the latest release. An installed copy keeps any defect it shipped with until you update it, so UNCONSERVATIVE-FIX releases (see CHANGELOG.md) are the recall channel.

In Claude Code

/plugin marketplace add pipingtoolset/pipingtoolset-claude
/plugin install piping-toolset@pipingtoolset

For a local checkout: /plugin marketplace add <path-to-this-checkout>.

In ChatGPT and Codex

The plugin folder carries an Agent Plugins 1.0 manifest (plugins/piping-toolset/plugin.json) with the OpenAI listing block, and the repository carries .agents/plugins/marketplace.json, so OpenAI's tools read it directly.

1. With the Codex CLI installed, register the marketplace:

   codex plugin marketplace add pipingtoolset/pipingtoolset-claude
   

2. Install PipingToolset from the plugin picker: /plugins in the Codex CLI, or Customize › Plugins in the ChatGPT desktop app, where it shows with the PipingToolset mark and "By Flexible Piping Solutions LLC". The Codex IDE extension does not install plugins (OpenAI's plugin docs); there, add the skills on their own as described under Other assistants.

3. Invoke a skill as $pipe-stress-check (or /skills) in Codex, or name it in plain words in ChatGPT, as in Cowork. The Codex CLI runs the scripts with your machine's Python 3.9+; the ChatGPT desktop app runs them in its own sandbox.

The OpenAI plugin directory listing is submitted from the same archive (piping-toolset.zip, the .plugin under a .zip name, from the latest release); until it is listed, the marketplace route above is the install.

Other assistants

The skills are plain Agent Skills, so the same repository installs into any host that reads that format.

Assistant	Command
Any Agent Skills host via the skills CLI (Cursor, Copilot, Codex, Gemini CLI and others)	npx skills add pipingtoolset/pipingtoolset-claude
GitHub CLI	gh skill install pipingtoolset/pipingtoolset-claude
Manus, Perplexity and other skills-upload hosts	Upload piping-toolset-skills.zip from the latest release; it holds only the skills/ folder, no manifest, no connector declaration and no logo

Where the skills land after a CLI install:

Scope	Path
Project (default)	.agents/skills/<skill-name>/ in the current repository
User (--global / -g)	~/.agents/skills/<skill-name>/

Hosts without a /piping-toolset: prefix see the six skills by name (pipe-stress-check, stress-import, load-case-builder, pipe-support, nozzle-load, bolted-flange); name the one you want in plain words, as in Cowork. Each skill's frontmatter states its only requirement, Python 3.9+ with the standard library, so a host can check it before running a script.

Requirements

Python 3.9 or newer wherever the skills run: your own machine for Claude Code; Cowork's built-in sandbox provides it (confirmed on a live Cowork session with tests/e2e/COWORK-CHECKLIST.md, 2026-10-27). There is nothing else to install. The skills and their scripts send nothing anywhere. With the connector declared, your assistant contacts pipingtoolset.com when a session starts and when a skill asks for a value; every skill works with it disconnected. The connector is optional and has its own section below.

Invoking a skill

In Cowork, pick the skill from the skills menu or name it in plain words, for example "use the pipe support skill to check PS-201" or "use the pipe stress check skill: B31.3-2024, which document ...". Naming it matters, because other installed skills on the same topics would otherwise compete.

In Claude Code, use the slash form: /piping-toolset:pipe-stress-check, /piping-toolset:stress-import, /piping-toolset:load-case-builder, /piping-toolset:pipe-support, /piping-toolset:nozzle-load, /piping-toolset:bolted-flange. The plugin shows as PipingToolset in the plugin list; its id (and the command prefix) stays piping-toolset so existing installs keep working.

Engineering Data connector

An optional remote server for the Model Context Protocol (MCP): pipingtoolset-data at https://pipingtoolset.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, stateless). The plugin declares it in .mcp.json for Claude Code and Cowork, so those hosts offer it. It does not declare it for Codex or the ChatGPT desktop app: in 0.7.0 a declaration there made Codex ask for a sign-in at install, which an optional connector must not do, so in those hosts you add it by hand (below). Installing the plugin does not contact it or ask you to sign in. The plugin stays free, every skill works without the connector, and the refusal prompts behave the same with it off. Setup and the dataset list: pipingtoolset.com/docs/connector/.

What is sent

The skills and their scripts make no network calls. When you enable the connector, the assistant sends it only lookup keys: the standard, the material or table row, a temperature, a size. It does not send your full inputs, loads, drawings or project data. Connecting contacts pipingtoolset.com; disconnect the server in your host and nothing is sent there. A value the connector serves reaches the script as a cited input marked as connector-supplied, next to the ones you typed, and the calc sheet shows the source of each. A script still does all the arithmetic.

What it serves

Currently:

Needs	Served
No account	Worked examples of the data-free modules (get_fixture_example); ISOGEN SKEY and CAESAR II-safe PCF mappings (get_skey_map); AISC shapes (get_aisc_shape); pointers (get_pointer) to where a value is printed
A signed-in paid pipingtoolset.com account: Pro, Pro Plus or Ultimate	The ASME and API tables the plan covers, each cited to standard, edition, table and row. Pro: B31.3 Table A-1C and B31.1 Appendix A allowable stresses and bolting; the B31.3 E, W and Y and B31.1 E and y factor tables; B31J Table 1-1 component rows (row text only: the SIF number itself is still supplied by you or computed by a script); B31.1 Table 121.5-1 spans; BPE tables; B36.10M and B36.19M pipe dimensions (get_pipe_dimensions). Pro Plus adds B16.5 ratings and dimensions, B16.20, UCS-66 and BPVC VIII-2 Table 4.16.1 gasket factors. Ultimate adds API 610 Tables 5a and 5b, API 560 Tables 7 to 10, API 660 Table 2 and API 661 Table 4, one value per lookup (a six-component allowable set is six lookups, each cited). A higher plan includes the tables of the lower ones
Pointer only, at every plan	PVP2011-57100 tables; ASCE 7-22; AISC 360 and ACI tables; NEMA SM-23. The connector returns the table, row key, column and edition and no value; you read the value from your own copy

Which plan covers which table is the site's tiering today and can change, and a table's source can move between served and pointer-only (the four API tables currently serve values at Ultimate and can return to pointer-only); each result states the tier it needed and whether it is a value or a pointer. The docs page above has the current list of every dataset.

What a result looks like

Every answer from lookup_value is one envelope: the value and its unit, the column, a citation (standard, edition, table, row, column and any table notes), whether the value was served or is a pointer, the tier required, the dataset id and version with a hash of the rows used, the tabulated entries it interpolated between when it did, a one-line summary and where to verify it. A pointer returns the same fields with the value empty. An illustrative call:

lookup_value  dataset_id: b313-allowable-stresses-2024  key: { spec: A106, grade: B, T: 650 }  column: S

Values arrive cited and are still yours to verify against your own copy before anything is issued. The edition in the citation is the edition that was read, so check it against your project's edition basis. The other tools are find_dataset, describe_dataset and list_keys for finding a dataset and the key fields that identify one row, and verify_connector for a self-check.

Sign-in

Open tools need no account. A table your plan covers needs you signed in to a paid pipingtoolset.com account. Sign-in goes through pipingtoolset.com, handled by your host, and requires you to confirm that your assistant account is set not to train on your conversations. A signed-out request for a paid table starts the host's sign-in; a signed-in request your plan does not cover returns one line naming the plan it needs and the pricing page.

Add the connector

Installing the plugin already declares the server in Claude Code and Cowork. Codex and the ChatGPT desktop app do not get a declaration from the plugin, so use these lines there, or to add it by hand anywhere, or without the plugin.

• claude.ai custom connector. Settings › Connectors › Add custom connector. Name it PipingToolset Data, enter the URL https://pipingtoolset.com/mcp, and if asked how to register a client choose Register automatically. Press Sign in when a lookup needs your plan; open tools work before you sign in.

• Claude Code.

  claude mcp add --transport http pipingtoolset-data https://pipingtoolset.com/mcp
  

  Run /mcp to see the server and sign in when a lookup needs your plan.

• ChatGPT. Turn on developer mode in the connector settings, create a connector with the MCP server URL https://pipingtoolset.com/mcp and OAuth authentication, and sign in through pipingtoolset.com when asked.

• Codex. Installing the plugin adds no server and asks for no sign-in. Codex takes a streamable HTTP server by URL:

  codex mcp add pipingtoolset-data --url https://pipingtoolset.com/mcp
  codex mcp login pipingtoolset-data
  

  or in ~/.codex/config.toml:

  [mcp_servers.pipingtoolset-data]
  url = "https://pipingtoolset.com/mcp"
  

To turn it off, disconnect or disable pipingtoolset-data in the host's connector or MCP settings. The skills then ask you to read each table value from your own copy, exactly as before.

Try it in twenty seconds

In Cowork, drop the leading slash and say "use the pipe stress check skill:" instead.

/piping-toolset:pipe-stress-check B31.3-2022 line, about 20,000 equivalent full cycles over life.
Ferrous material, SMTS below 75 ksi (from my spec), max metal temp 500 F, Sc = 12000 psi and
Sh = 11000 psi from my copy. What is S_A and which f equation applies?

Expected: the script runs the 2022+ form f = 20·N^-0.333 (not the legacy 6.0·N^-0.2), f ≈ 0.7392 at N = 20,000, the ferrous cap logic is applied, S_A = f·(1.25·Sc + 0.25·Sh) ≈ 13,122 psi, and the liberal allowance is flagged as optional only where the specification permits it.

Then ask for what it will not give you:

/piping-toolset:pipe-stress-check What's the allowable stress for A106 Grade B at 650 F under B31.3?
Just give me the number.

Expected, with the connector off or no paid plan signed in: no number. It names B31.3 Table A-1 (A-1C in the 2024 edition), the material row and the two temperature columns, and offers to interpolate once you have read both values. With the connector enabled and a plan that covers the table, the assistant may instead read the value from the connector and show it with its citation; check it against your own copy.

More prompts, with pass criteria, are in tests/e2e/PROMPTS.md.

Project basis record

Since 0.8.0 the skills (six since 0.10.0) share one record of the project facts, so you state them once. It is a JSON file, schema pipingtoolset.project-basis/1, passed to any script as --project-basis project-basis.json or as a top-level project_basis object in the job file. It holds project data and pointers only. S, E, W, Y, ratings, allowables and gasket factors never go in it; they stay code_values entries with their citations.

Key	What it carries
project	name, number, line, revision, calcBy, date
code	standard (B31.3, B31.1, B31.9, B31.12 or another), edition, route (for example Normal fluid service, Chapter IX)
service	fluid category (Normal, Category D, Category M, High Pressure), fluid, corroded, cyclic
states	one entry per condition: key, name, role (operating, design, upset, steamout, hydrotest ...), T_F, P_psig, cycles, CAESAR II slot (T1, P1, D1); plus installation_T_F
units	system (USC or SI) and any unit that differs from the system default
load_case_ids	software (CAESAR II or AutoPIPE), version, the case ids for SUS, OPE, EXP, OCC, HYD, HGR
equipment_axes	global vertical (Y or Z), pipe axis, nozzle axis map
materials, owner_practice, citations	material id, spec, grade, form and use; owner documents with their items; citation pointers
assumptions	each item with status ASSUMED or confirmed, a note and an owner

Every key but schema is optional; an unknown key exits 2. The full schema and each skill's fill map are in references/project-basis.md inside every skill (one canonical copy, pinned by a test).

Hand-off. The first skill run in a session (usually load-case-builder, whose basis interview collects most of it) writes the agreed record to project-basis.json in your working folder. Each later skill runs with --project-basis project-basis.json and asks only for its own inputs.

1. An input the job file leaves out is filled from the record where the skill has a slot (for example the design state's pressure for bolted-flange, the vertical axis for pipe-support and stress-import, the design temperature for nozzle-load).
2. An input given in both places that differs stops the run, exit 2, project_basis.<path> conflicts with input <name>. The record never overrides what you typed, and no field is relabelled.
3. The result gains project_basis_applied (fields_used with filled, agreed or noted, the ASSUMED items verbatim, and conflicts), and section 1 of every calc sheet renders the record with every ASSUMED item at the top.
4. When a fact changes, edit the record and rerun the skills whose fields_used name it.

tests/test_project_basis_handoff.py runs all six scripts on one record and checks that each result equals the run with the same values typed in.

Result status. Every result carries result_status and checks[] beside the existing pass, fail or na status, and every calc sheet has a Result status: <word> - <why> line under its title.

Word	Meaning
calculated	every input confirmed, no gate tripped, no reconstructed factor
screening	a screening method by definition (flange pressure-equivalent screen, PVP2011 derived set, span screen, flexibility exemption) or a reconstructed factor in the chain
manual check required	a validity gate tripped, or a code-required item the script cannot evaluate for these inputs
assumed	the run stands on an unconfirmed input: every ASSUMED item is in one ASSUMED inputs check carrying this word (since 0.9.1)
pointer only	a required value was given only as a pointer; that check did not run
not checked	a check the module does not perform, listed from the skill's known limits; it never sets the result word

The result word is the worst of the checks the module performs, in the order manual check required, assumed, pointer only, screening, calculated; not checked rows are listed and never set it, so a clean run reads calculated and the line names what was not performed. Every ASSUMED input (in the record or the skill's own list) gives one ASSUMED inputs check graded assumed, which holds the banner exactly as manual check required does. No skill prints PASS, OK, ISSUE or DELIVERABLE while the word is manual check required, assumed or pointer only, or screening with an unresolved reconstructed factor; the status word is printed instead.

What the skills will not do

They never reproduce tabulated ASME, API or PIP values from memory or from a file in the plugin: a value comes from your own copy of the standard or, if you enable the optional connector, from a cited lookup. pipe-support is the disclosed exception for AISC 360-22, the AISC Shapes Database, and the ASCE 7-22 and ACI CODE-318-25 / 318-19 factors (see its references/code-basis.md). They do not replace a flexibility analysis in CAESAR II or AutoPIPE; pipe-stress-check is a hand check and a cold-eye review of what the program applied, and stress-import delivers geometry, components and restraints, never a load case or an allowable. Results are engineering aids. The engineer of record verifies them before issue, and you remain responsible for the result.

Development

Tests use the Python standard library only:

python -m unittest discover -s tests -v

tests/golden/ locks the load-case generator's output and the PCF builder's output (demo-line.pcf, CRLF, kept byte-exact by .gitattributes) for the worked examples. A change to case order, combination strings or QC text must be a deliberate golden update, reviewed by the engineer of record. tools/sync_fixtures.py --check confirms the vendored calc-core fixture snapshot is current. tools/sync_shared_blocks.py --check confirms that the shared project_basis and result_status code blocks, references/project-basis.md and scripts/examples/project-basis.example.json in every skill are byte copies of tools/shared/ (run it without --check to rewrite them). python tools/package_plugin.py --check builds piping-toolset.plugin (Cowork and Agent Plugins hosts), piping-toolset.zip (the same bytes, for the OpenAI plugin portal) and piping-toolset-skills.zip (skills-only upload) for a release, and checks that every image the manifests reference and the connector declaration (.mcp.json) travel inside the first two archives and stay out of the skills-only one, and that no Agent Plugins connector file has come back. tests/test_manifests.py keeps the Claude and Agent Plugins manifests in step and holds the OpenAI listing block to the portal's limits (30-character display name and subtitle, 4000-character description, square icons of at least 48 px). tests/test_connector_manifest.py pins the connector declaration (one server, one https URL, no headers, nothing stored for sign-in), the packaging facts above, the rule that no skill script imports a network module, and the wording rules for the listing copy. CI also runs the agentskills.io reference validator, skills-ref validate, on each skill folder; locally:

python -m pip install skills-ref==0.1.1
python -m skills_ref.cli validate plugins/piping-toolset/skills/pipe-stress-check

See ROADMAP.md for the plan and CHANGELOG.md for releases. A release labelled UNCONSERVATIVE-FIX corrects a result that could have been less conservative than the code requires; update when you see one.

Licence

Copyright © 2026 Flexible Piping Solutions LLC. Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. "Piping Toolset" is a name of Flexible Piping Solutions LLC; see NOTICE. Claude is a product of Anthropic, PBC; ChatGPT and Codex are products of OpenAI. This plugin is not affiliated with or endorsed by either.

Releasing

Nobody tags by hand. A release PR bumps the version in the four manifests (.claude-plugin/marketplace.json, plugins/piping-toolset/.claude-plugin/plugin.json, plugins/piping-toolset/plugin.json, .agents/plugins/marketplace.json) and adds the ## [x.y.z] — date entry to CHANGELOG.md. When that PR merges, the release job in .github/workflows/ci.yml creates the tag vx.y.z, publishes the GitHub Release with that CHANGELOG section as its notes, and attaches piping-toolset.plugin, piping-toolset.zip and piping-toolset-skills.zip. A merge that leaves the version unchanged releases nothing.