Google Images Search MCP

🖼️ Google Images Search MCP

Search. See. Save. – The only MCP that shows Google Images results directly in your chat as actual images, not just links!

Unlike other tools that return text descriptions or links, this MCP displays search results as actual images in your conversation. Works with Cline and Windsurf.

Perfect for getting visual inspiration, finding assets for projects, or quickly browsing images without leaving your IDE.

Demo

Usage & Requirements

Requirements

Node.js v20+
Google Cloud Platform account (free tier sufficient)
Compatible IDE: Cline or Windsurf

Setup Guide

Follow these steps to set up this MCP:

Step 1: create Google Custom search engine

Go to Google Programmable Search Engine
Click "Add" to create a new search engine
In "Sites to search", enter * (asterisk) to search the entire web
Give your search engine a name (e.g., "My Image Search")
In the search engine settings, enable "Image search" option
Click "Create"
Copy the Search engine ID - you'll need this for configuration

Step 2: Get Google API Key

Go to Google Cloud Console API Credentials
If you don't have a project, create one
Click "+ CREATE CREDENTIALS" → "API key"
Copy the generated API key
(Optional) Restrict the API key to "Custom Search API" for security

Step 3: Configure MCP in Your IDE

Add the following configuration to your MCP settings:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "googleImagesSearch": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@srigi/mcp-google-images-search"],
      "env": {
        "API_KEY": "your-google-api-key-here",
        "SEARCH_ENGINE_ID": "your-search-engine-id-here"
      },
      "autoApprove": ["search_image", "persist_image"]
    }
  }
}

Replace your-google-api-key-here and your-search-engine-id-here with the values from steps 1 and 2.

Usage Example

Here's how to use the MCP once configured:

Search for images: Ask your AI assistant to search for images
Find 5 images of F-22
Get more results: Request additional search results
Find 5 more images
Save an image: Ask to save a specific result to your project
Save the 3rd image to the "assets" folder

The MCP will display the search results as actual images in your chat history, and you can easily save any of them to your local project directory.

🚀 Development

Want to contribute? Great! Quality contributions are welcomed.

Requirements: Node.js v20+, direnv, PNPM v10

Quick start:

Copy .envrc (example) to .envrc and add your Google API credentials
Run pnpm install && pnpm dev
Update your MCP configuration for development:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "googleImagesSearch": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/project/src/index.js", "--debug", "--pretty-print"],
      "env": {
        "API_KEY": "your-google-api-key-here",
        "SEARCH_ENGINE_ID": "your-search-engine-id-here"
      },
      "autoApprove": ["search_image", "persist_image"]
    }
  }
}

Debug options:

--debug - Enable detailed logging for troubleshooting
--pretty-print - Format JSON responses for better readability

Changes auto-recompile, but restart your MCP server to apply them. Check logs/info.log for debugging.

Use pnpm dev:inspector for interactive testing in the browser.

🛠️ Available Tools

🔍 search_image - Find images using Google's vast database

query (required) - What you're looking for
count (1-10, default: 2) - How many results
safe ('off'/'medium'/'high') - Filter level
startIndex - For pagination

💾 persist_image - Download and save images to your project

url (required) - Image URL to download
targetPath (required) - Where to save it (folder or full path)

Security features: Path validation, MIME type checking, 10MB size limit, supports all major image formats (JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP, SVG, etc.)

🔗 Links: GitHub • NPM • Issues

Google Images Search MCP