parknyc-mcp

MCP server for ParkNYC (Flowbird) -- manage your NYC parking sessions, vehicles, and zones from any MCP client (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, etc.).

Note: The Flowbird consumer API is undocumented. This server was built by reverse-engineering the ParkNYC web app JavaScript bundles. No public API docs exist.

Setup

1. Install and build

git clone <repo-url> parknyc-mcp
cd parknyc-mcp
npm install
npm run build

2. Get your session cookies

The API authenticates via browser cookies. You need three: PHPSESSID, server, and user.

1. Open my.nyc.flowbirdapp.com in Chrome and log in. Check "Keep me logged in" to extend cookie lifetime from ~30 minutes to days/weeks.

2. Open DevTools (Cmd+Option+I) and go to the Network tab

3. Filter for customer/get and refresh the page

4. Click the customer/get request

5. Under Request Headers, find the Cookie line

6. Copy the full value -- it will look something like:

   server=.apachen2; PHPSESSID=abc123...; user=def456...

Important: Do not include the g_state cookie if present -- it contains JSON braces that break the config file. You only need PHPSESSID, server, and user.

3. Configure your MCP client

Claude Code

Add a .mcp.json file to your project root:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "parknyc": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/parknyc-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "PARKNYC_COOKIES": "server=.apachen2; PHPSESSID=your_session_id; user=your_user_cookie"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop config (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "parknyc": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/parknyc-mcp/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "PARKNYC_COOKIES": "server=.apachen2; PHPSESSID=your_session_id; user=your_user_cookie"
      }
    }
  }
}

4. Session expiry

Cookies expire periodically. If you checked "Keep me logged in", they should last days to weeks. Without it, sessions expire in ~30 minutes. When you start getting 401 errors, repeat step 2 to get fresh cookies and update your config.

Related MCP server: Palo Alto Networks MCP Server

Environment Variables

Available Tools

Read

Write

Example Usage

> Show my parking history from this week
> Do I have any active parking sessions?
> What vehicles are on my account?
> Search for zone 12345
> How much have I spent on parking this month?
> Start 15 minutes of parking at zone 12345 with my car

How It Works

The Flowbird/ParkNYC web app at my.nyc.flowbirdapp.com is a PHP-backed Angular SPA. This MCP server mimics the browser's API calls:

• Auth: Three cookies (PHPSESSID for PHP session, server for load balancer affinity, user for the auth identity token)

• Headers: X-MPP-Brand: parknyc on every request

• Params: platform=nyc, version=2.0.21+1792, and rt=<timestamp> on every request

• History: Uses /api/search/order/ with x-api-caller: customer header

• Parking: Two-step flow -- order/create (proposal) then order/confirm (payment)

Limitations

• No programmatic login: The login endpoint requires reCAPTCHA, so cookies must be obtained manually from a browser session

• Cookie expiry: PHP sessions and the user cookie expire; you'll need to refresh them periodically

• Start parking: The start_parking tool needs the zone's usertype value which varies by zone. This is still being refined and may not work for all zones

• Rate limits: Rapid API calls may trigger 503 responses from the server

License

MIT