Use ReliaSim From Claude or ChatGPT
The Assistant Asks the Engine, So the Numbers Come From the Simulation
Ask a general AI assistant how much a buffer would add to your line and it will give you a confident number with no model behind it. Connect it to ReliaSim® and it can look the answer up instead. It calls ReliaSim’s tools, gets results the simulation engine produced, and quotes them.
Why connect an assistant to a simulation
A language model is good at explaining, summarizing and answering follow-up questions. It can’t simulate your line, because it has no model of the line to run. When it answers a what-if question on its own, the number is a plausible guess. Why an AI can’t answer what-if goes into the reasons.
The Model Context Protocol (MCP) lets an assistant call outside tools during a conversation. ReliaSim publishes an MCP server, so the assistant can ask for a bottleneck analysis or a buffer sweep and get back results from the engine. The assistant does the talking and the tools supply the numbers.
What the ReliaSim server can answer
The public server at https://reliasim.com/mcp covers the eight reference bottling-line models in the Sandbox. Its tools return saved results from ReliaSim engine runs on those models:
- Bottleneck analysis. Which machine limits the line, with downtime by failure mode, throughput and OEE.
- Gain and loss. What the line gets back when each failure mode is removed one at a time, which often differs from what that mode appeared to cost.
- Buffer sweeps. Throughput as a buffer grows, and where the gains flatten.
- Model facts and comparisons. Each line’s layout, rates and failure data, and two models side by side.
- Concepts. Plain explanations of constraints, buffers, interrupts and the method.
Each tool tells the assistant to quote its numbers as returned. The server doesn’t need an API key or an account.
Connect from Claude
In Claude on the web or the desktop app, add a custom connector in your connector settings and paste the server URL:
https://reliasim.com/mcp
In Claude Code, add it from the terminal:
claude mcp add --transport http reliasim https://reliasim.com/mcp
Other MCP clients, such as Cursor, take the same URL. Custom connectors depend on your plan and on your workspace settings.
Connect from ChatGPT
ChatGPT can use a remote MCP server as a custom connector where your plan and workspace allow it. Add a connector, give it the same URL, and choose no authentication. If you don’t see the option, your workspace admin may need to turn on custom connectors first.
Questions to try
- “On the Buffer Options LEDS line, which failure mode is worth fixing first?”
- “On the Buffer Options line, how big should a buffer be before the gain flattens?”
- “Compare the constraint-level and LEDS-level versions of the same line.”
- “What’s the difference between a constraint and a converter?”
If the answer includes a number, ask the assistant which tool it came from. A good answer names the tool and the model.
Stop-data statistics from ReliaStats
A second server covers the statistics side: Weibull shape, availability, distribution choice and how to read validation bands. It lives at https://reliasim.com/reliastats/mcp/v1 and connects the same way. See ReliaStats for the browser tools it pairs with.
Or use the assistant in the Sandbox
Every demo in the Sandbox has an assistant beside it that answers from that demo’s own results, including the supply chain networks. It’s the quickest way to see the approach before you connect anything. For your own line or network, the models are built from your data as a project. How a ReliaSim project runs shows the steps.