Smithsonian MCP Server

@cyanheads/smithsonian-mcp-server Search 14.5M Smithsonian Open Access objects across 20+ museums via MCP, and retrieve CC0 images for the 5.2M that carry openly-licensed media. STDIO or Streamable HTTP. Its 7 documented tools cluster into smithsonian, filters.

People connecting media tools to Claude, Cursor, VS Code, or another MCP client. The project is written in TypeScript.

VERIFIED ACTIVE

LAST COMMIT 2026-08-25 · ★ 2 · #37 OF 155 MAINTAINED MEDIA · VERIFIED 2026-08-25

Apache-2.0 · TypeScript servers · how we verify → /methodology

01 · Install Smithsonian MCP Server

before you install - you'll need

Set MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE, MCP_LOG_LEVEL, SMITHSONIAN_API_KEY before connecting.

Claude Code

claude mcp add cyanheads-smithsonian-mcp-server --transport http https://smithsonian.caseyjhand.com/mcp

Claude Desktop / Cursor / VS Code - add to config

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cyanheads-smithsonian-mcp-server": {
      "url": "https://smithsonian.caseyjhand.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Same JSON for Cursor. For VS Code, rename the top-level key from `mcpServers` to `servers`.

Using another client? Same JSON, different key

Claude Desktop · mcpServers

Cursor · mcpServers

VS Code · servers

Windsurf · mcpServers

Zed · context_servers

Cline · mcpServers

Roo Code · mcpServers

Continue · mcpServers

LibreChat · mcpServers

Gemini CLI · mcpServers

Codex CLI · mcp_servers

Full setup guides: every client.

02 · Evidence

https://smithsonian.caseyjhand.com/mcp

transport: streamable-http

endpoint alive - responded to MCP initialize · probed 2026-08-25

Security posture

What to check before giving this server access to your agent - from the registry, GitHub, and our own probes. We don't score safety; we show what's verifiable.

runs as local process (stdio) - runs on your machine with your user's permissions · remote - your agent's requests go to smithsonian.caseyjhand.com

endpoint auth accepted our unauthenticated MCP initialize - no credentials needed to connect

license Apache-2.0 - declared in the repository

npm package @cyanheads/smithsonian-mcp-server - published under the repo owner's npm scope (@cyanheads)

registry namespace io.github.cyanheads is GitHub-verified and matches the repo owner

03 · What Smithsonian MCP Server can do

Prose above is summarized from the project's README and registry record - no invented capabilities.

What you can build

An agent gets 7 documented tools across smithsonian, filters, including smithsonian_search_objects, smithsonian_list_terms, smithsonian_get_object, smithsonian_get_media.

Capability map

Tools grouped from the project's README - what Smithsonian MCP Server lets an agent do.

Smithsonian

6 tools - e.g. Search across 14.5M objects by text query with optional filters (museum, type, date term, culture, place, topic, name, online-only, CC0). Returns curated summar; Enumerate the valid term vocabulary for an…

smithsonian_search_objects · smithsonian_list_terms · smithsonian_get_object · smithsonian_get_media · smithsonian_browse_category · smithsonian_find_related

Filters

1 tool - e.g. museum unit code, object type, indexed date term (1920s, 500-1500, 21st century, -2500), culture, geographic place, subject topic, named party (name), online-on

Filters

Latest releases

v0.3.6 · 2026-08-25

MCP 2026 compatibility and stateless HTTP · MCP 2026-07-28 works alongside 2025 clients; tool inputs are strict and schemas use JSON Schema 2020-12 with the structured error envelope · request-scoped logs can reach…

v0.3.5 · 2026-07-26

decoded object text, retryable host outages · title/description decode HTML entities and strip markup from upstream EDAN text (#49) · a host-level 404 on /search or /terms/{field} now retries as an upstream outage…

v0.3.4 · 2026-07-26

tightest-substring neighbor search · Neighbor-substring recovery hints on smithsonian_search_objects and smithsonian_browse_category now search for the tightest contains substring that still lists another term…

04 · Who maintains Smithsonian MCP Server

smithsonian-mcp-server is maintained by cyanheads. We track 125 MCP servers from cyanheads - 124 actively maintained, 1,730 combined GitHub stars, oldest repo from Dec 2024. Full record: all servers from cyanheads.

05 · Facts

repository: github.com/cyanheads/smithsonian-mcp-server
category: media - ranked #37 of 155 actively-maintained media servers as of 2026-08-25.
release cadence: 10+ releases in the last 90 days (latest 2026-08-25)
registry: io.github.cyanheads/smithsonian-mcp-server (active, first published 2026-05-30 · 29 versions)
packages: npm:@cyanheads/smithsonian-mcp-server · npm:@cyanheads/smithsonian-mcp-server

06 · Smithsonian MCP Server FAQ

Is Smithsonian MCP Server still maintained?

Yes - as of 2026-08-25, its last commit was 2026-08-25 and it shipped 10+ releases in the last 90 days. We re-verify nightly.

What can Smithsonian MCP Server do?

An agent gets 7 documented tools across smithsonian, filters, including smithsonian_search_objects, smithsonian_list_terms, smithsonian_get_object, smithsonian_get_media.

How do I install Smithsonian MCP Server?

Run `npx -y @cyanheads/smithsonian-mcp-server`. The README documents 3 environment variables (MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE, MCP_LOG_LEVEL, SMITHSONIAN_API_KEY) to set first. Set MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE, MCP_LOG_LEVEL, SMITHSONIAN_API_KEY before connecting. You can also paste the ready-made client config above.

Does Smithsonian MCP Server require authentication?

No - the endpoint accepted our unauthenticated MCP initialize when probed on 2026-08-25; you can connect without credentials.

07 · Alternatives to Smithsonian MCP Server

Alternatives to Smithsonian MCP Server

Maintained media servers if Smithsonian MCP Server isn't the fit.

More media MCP servers · Yt Mem AI · AlbumentationsX MCP · Macwhisper MCP Server · Livepilot

More TypeScript MCP servers · Socrata MCP Server · Stackexchange MCP Server · Survey MCP Server · Toolkit MCP Server · Treasury Fiscaldata MCP Server · see all