gtfs-pro-mcp

A Model Context Protocol server that turns any WP GTFS Pro transit site into a set of tools for AI assistants. Point it at an agency's WordPress site and Claude, ChatGPT, or any other MCP-compatible client can answer rider questions from the agency's live GTFS and GTFS-Realtime data — nearest stops, next departures, routes, live bus positions, and service alerts.

It talks to the site's public REST API (/wp-json/wp-gtfs-pro/v1/*) — no plugins, no database access, no credentials required. One MCP server covers one transit site (which may host multiple agency feeds).

Why this exists: the only other transit MCP servers are single-agency, hard-coded hobby projects. This one works with any GTFS Pro install, driven entirely by configuration.

Tools

The realtime tools (get_service_alerts, get_live_vehicles) never error on missing data — an empty result means "nothing active right now," not "no service." The tool descriptions tell the AI this explicitly.

Requirements

• Node.js 18 or newer

• A transit website running WP GTFS Pro 1.5+ with its REST API publicly reachable

Configuration

Provide settings via a JSON config file or environment variables (env vars win where both are set). Only the site URL is required.

// gtfs-pro.config.json
{
  "gtfs_pro_url": "https://your-agency-site.org",
  "feed_id": "default",
  "cache_ttl_seconds": 30,
  "agency_name": "Your Transit Agency",
  "agency_description": "Public transit serving ... (cities, landmarks, region)."
}

Pass a non-default config path with --config /path/to/config.json or the GTFS_PRO_CONFIG env var.

Use with Claude Desktop

Edit claude_desktop_config.json (Settings → Developer → Edit Config) and add:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gtfs-pro-transit": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "gtfs-pro-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "GTFS_PRO_URL": "https://your-agency-site.org",
        "GTFS_PRO_FEED_ID": "default",
        "GTFS_PRO_AGENCY_NAME": "Your Transit Agency"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop, then ask: "What bus stops are near <a place in the service area>?" or "When's the next bus from <stop name>?"

Use with ChatGPT / other MCP clients

Any client that launches a local stdio MCP server works the same way — run npx -y gtfs-pro-mcp with the same environment variables, or install globally:

npm install -g gtfs-pro-mcp
GTFS_PRO_URL=https://your-agency-site.org gtfs-pro-mcp

Local development

npm install
npm run build       # compile TypeScript to dist/
node test/smoke.mjs # exercise all 9 tools against a live site

How it fits together

AI assistant  ──MCP/stdio──►  gtfs-pro-mcp  ──HTTPS──►  WP GTFS Pro REST API
(Claude, GPT)                 (this package)            /wp-json/wp-gtfs-pro/v1/*

A future release adds a Streamable-HTTP transport so the server can run as a hosted remote service (one endpoint per agency) instead of a local process.

License

GPL-2.0-or-later © Digital Mountaineers