Met Museum MCP Server

[![themet logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/73/The_Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art_Logo.svg/250px-The_Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art_Logo.svg.png)](https://www.metmuseum.org/)

# Met Museum MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides access to the Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection through natural language interactions. This server allows AI models to search The Met's art collection and retrieve artwork details (including images) via tool results.

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## Features

This server provides AI models the following tools to interact with the art collection of The Met

### 1. List Departments (list-departments)

Lists all the valid departments at The Met

- Inputs:
  - None
- Output:
  ```
  Department ID: 1, Display Name: American Decorative Arts
  Department ID: 3, Display Name: Ancient Near Eastern Art
  ...
  ```

### 2. Search Museum Objects (search-museum-objects)

Search for various objects in The Met based on the inputs.

- Inputs:
  - `q` (string): The search term e.g. sunflowers
  - `hasImages` (boolean, optional, default: false): Only search for objects with images
  - `title` (boolean, optional, default: false): Returns objects that match the query, specifically searching against the title field for objects.
  - `departmentId` (number, optional): Returns objects that are a part of a specific department.
  - `page` (number, optional, default: 1): 1-based page number for results.
  - `pageSize` (number, optional, default: 24): Number of Object IDs per page (max 100).
- Outputs:

  ```
  Total objects found: 54
  Page: 1/3
  Object IDs: 436532, 789578, 436840, 438722,...
  ```

### 3. Get Museum Objects (get-museum-object)

Get a specific object from The Met containing all open access data about that object, including its image (if the image is available under Open Access).

If there is an image and `returnImage` is true, it is returned as an image content block in the tool result (base64-encoded JPEG).

Use this tool when the user asks for deeper details on a specific artwork and you already have an `objectId`.

- Inputs:
  - `objectId` (number): The id of the object to retrieve
  - `returnImage` (boolean, optional, default: true): Whether to include the object's image (if available) in the tool result
- Outputs:
  ```
  Title: Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat (obverse: The Potato Peeler)
  Artist: Vincent van Gogh
  Artist Bio: Dutch, Zundert 1853–1890 Auvers-sur-Oise
  Department: European Paintings
  Credit Line: Bequest of Miss Adelaide Milton de Groot (1876-1967), 1967
  Medium: Oil on canvas
  Dimensions: 16 x 12 1/2 in. (40.6 x 31.8 cm)
  Primary Image URL: https://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/ep/original/DT1502_cropped2.jpg
  Tags: Men, Self-portraits
  ```
  If returnImage is true
  ```
  **base64 encoding of jpeg image**
  ```

### 4. Open Met Explorer App (open-met-explorer)

Launches an interactive MCP App (`ui://met/explorer.html`) that can search, filter, and inspect objects from within MCP clients that support Apps.

Recommended flow:

- Use `open-met-explorer` to launch and browse live search results (pass `q` to start searching immediately).
- After creating a curated list from current results, use `get-museum-object` only for items the user wants to explore in depth.

- Inputs (all optional):
  - `q` (string): Initial search term.
  - `hasImages` (boolean, default: true): Prefer objects with images.
  - `title` (boolean, default: false): Search titles only.
  - `departmentId` (number): Pre-select a department filter.

## Transports

This server supports two transports:

- **Stdio transport (default):** Used by MCP desktop clients (Claude Desktop, LibreChat MCP, etc.).
- **Streamable HTTP transport:** Run with `--http` to expose an MCP endpoint at `/mcp`.

### Streamable HTTP Transport

Run with `npx` (recommended for end users):

```bash
npx -y metmuseum-mcp --http
```

Or run from a local clone:

```bash
pnpm run build
node dist/index.js --http
```

The server listens on:

```text
http://localhost:3001/mcp
```

You can control server behavior with environment variables:

| Variable             | Default               | Description                                                                                               |
| -------------------- | --------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `PORT`               | `3001`                | HTTP port used by the Streamable HTTP server.                                                             |
| `HOST`               | `127.0.0.1`           | Network interface the HTTP server binds to.                                                               |
| `ALLOWED_HOSTS`      | `localhost,127.0.0.1` | Comma-separated host allowlist for host header validation (example: `localhost,127.0.0.1,my-domain.com`). |
| `MET_API_TIMEOUT_MS` | `10000`               | Timeout in milliseconds for outbound requests to the Met Collection API.                                  |

Example:

```bash
HOST=127.0.0.1 PORT=8080 ALLOWED_HOSTS=localhost,127.0.0.1 npx -y metmuseum-mcp --http
```

### Usage with Claude Desktop

## Via MCP Bundle (MCPB)

1. Download the `mcpb` file from the [Releases](https://github.com/mikechao/metmuseum-mcp/releases)
2. Open it with Claude Desktop
   or
   Go to File -> Settings -> Extensions and drag the .mcpb file to the window to install it

## Via npx

Add this to your `claude_desktop_config.json`:

```json
{
  "mcp-servers": {
    "met-museum": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "metmuseum-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

### Usage with LibreChat

Add the following in your `librechat.yaml`

```yaml
mcpServers:
  metmuseum:
    command: npx
    args:
      - -y
      - metmuseum-mcp
```

## Example queries

Here some questions you can ask the AI model when this server in connected:

```
Can you help me explore the Met?
Can you show me a few painting from the Asian Art department?
Can you find the painting titled "Corridor in the Asylum"?
Can you find any art that has "cat" in the title or features "cats"?
```

## Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

### Development

This project uses `pnpm` for local development and CI.

```bash
corepack enable
pnpm install
pnpm run build
pnpm run check
```

For non-interactive shells/CI runners, use `CI=true pnpm install --frozen-lockfile`.

## License

This MCP server is licensed under the MIT License. This means you are free to use, modify, and distribute the software, subject to the terms and conditions of the MIT License. For more details, please see the LICENSE file in the project repository.

## Disclaimer

This library is not officially associated with The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It is a third-party implementation of the [The Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection API](https://metmuseum.github.io/) with a MCP Server.