@veniceai/mcp-server

Model Context Protocol server for the Venice API - uncensored, private AI for any MCP host (Claude Desktop, Cursor, ChatGPT, LM Studio, Continue, LibreChat, Open WebUI, AnythingLLM, Jan, Le Chat).

Plug Venice's chat, image, video, audio, music, and character models into any agent in 30 seconds. 31 tools across all modalities, one config block.

Quick start

1. Get a key from venice.ai

See the API key guide for step-by-step instructions.

2. Add this to your MCP host config

Claude Desktop (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS, %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json on Windows), Cursor (~/.cursor/mcp.json), LM Studio, etc:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "venice": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@veniceai/mcp-server@0.2.0"],
      "env": { "VENICE_API_KEY": "<your-venice-api-key>" }
    }
  }
}

3. Restart your MCP host

That's it. Type a prompt — your agent now has chat, image, video, music, TTS, ASR, and 25 more Venice tools.

What you get

31 tools spanning every Venice modality, 3 resources (venice://models, venice://styles, venice://voices) and 3 prompt templates (uncensored research, NSFW creative writing, image style explorer).

💬 Chat & embeddings

🎨 Image

🎬 Video

🔊 Audio (TTS / ASR)

🎵 Music

🌐 Web augment

📚 Catalog

⛓️ Crypto

💳 x402 wallet helpers

Optional — only needed if you authenticate with a wallet via x402 instead of an API key. See x402 — pay with a wallet.

Configuration

Self-hosting (Streamable HTTP)

/mcp is a credential-backed tool execution endpoint: callers can spend the configured Venice API key or x402 balance. When HTTP mode binds outside loopback, startup fails unless VENICE_MCP_AUTH_TOKEN is set, or VENICE_MCP_ALLOW_UNAUTHENTICATED_HTTP=1 is explicitly set behind a trusted authenticated proxy.

docker run -p 3333:3333 \
  -e VENICE_API_KEY=<your-venice-api-key> \
  -e VENICE_MCP_AUTH_TOKEN=<choose-a-long-random-token> \
  ghcr.io/veniceai/venice-mcp-server:latest
# server at http://localhost:3333/mcp

Clients should send Authorization: Bearer <choose-a-long-random-token> with HTTP MCP requests. HTTP clients should create new sessions without an mcp-session-id header and then reuse the server-issued session ID; unknown or malformed caller-provided session IDs are rejected. For reproducible production installs, pin the npm package version as shown in the examples instead of using an unversioned latest install path.

Or run from source — see Development below.

x402 — pay with a wallet, no account required

Skip this section if you're using VENICE_API_KEY. Everything below is optional and only matters if you specifically want to pay with a crypto wallet instead of a Venice account.

Venice supports authenticating with a SIWE-signed wallet token (a.k.a. SIWX) backed by prepaid USDC credit on Base mainnet, in addition to the normal API key flow. This lets you use Venice with no email, phone, or KYC — your wallet is the only identity.

Two-line config

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "venice": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@veniceai/mcp-server@0.2.0"],
      "env": { "VENICE_SIWX_TOKEN": "<base64 SIWE payload>" }
    }
  }
}

The MCP server forwards VENICE_SIWX_TOKEN as the X-Sign-In-With-X header on every Venice API call.

How it works

ONE-TIME SETUP (per wallet)
  Sign a SIWE message → produces a SIWX token (base64 JSON)
  Set VENICE_SIWX_TOKEN in this MCP server's env

TOP UP (when balance is low)
  POST /api/v1/x402/top-up  (no payment header)  →  402 + payment requirements
  Sign a USDC EIP-3009 transferWithAuthorization in your wallet
  POST /api/v1/x402/top-up with X-402-Payment: <signed>  →  Venice settles via
  Coinbase CDP facilitator and credits your prepaid balance

EVERY INFERENCE CALL
  MCP server sends X-Sign-In-With-X: <SIWX token>
  Venice → wallet → credit account → debits and runs inference

This MCP server never sees your private key. SIWE signing and USDC authorization happen in your wallet (MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, viem script, etc.) — the server is purely a header forwarder.

The helper tools venice_x402_balance, venice_x402_top_up_info, and venice_x402_transactions make balance + top-up flow inspectable from inside the agent.

Why prepaid instead of per-call?

• ⚡ Latency — once topped up, calls are sub-100ms (no on-chain settlement per call)

• 🧮 Throughput — Coinbase CDP facilitator settles top-ups in batches

• 🔒 Privacy — wallet ↔ credit account is the only identity link; no email/phone/KYC

• 🪙 DIEM shortcut — wallets linked to a Venice user with DIEM staked consume from staking balance, no USDC needed

• 💸 Min top-up $5 (anti-dust). Minimum balance to inference is $0.10.

Per-call HTTP 402 — not supported

Venice rejects X-402-Payment on inference routes. The header is only accepted on /api/v1/x402/top-up. This is by design — Venice settles top-ups in batches via the Coinbase CDP facilitator, then debits a fast off-chain credit account on inference. If you need per-call settlement semantics, you'll need a separate proxy that pays the credit account on demand.

Auth-mode coverage notes

Some Venice endpoints don't accept both auth modes:

Hybrid

Set both VENICE_API_KEY AND VENICE_SIWX_TOKEN — API key wins. SIWX is only used when the key is absent.

Architecture

┌──────────────────────┐        stdio  OR        ┌────────────────────────┐
│  MCP host            │      Streamable HTTP    │  @veniceai/mcp-server  │
│  (Claude / Cursor /  ├────────────────────────▶│  - 31 tools            │
│   ChatGPT / etc.)    │                         │  - 3 resources         │
└──────────────────────┘                         │  - 3 prompts           │
                                                 │  - header forwarder    │
                                                 └────────────┬───────────┘
                                                              │ HTTPS
                                                              │   Authorization: Bearer ***
                                                              │   OR
                                                              │   X-Sign-In-With-X: <SIWX>
                                                              ▼
                                                 ┌────────────────────────┐
                                                 │  Venice API            │
                                                 │  api.venice.ai         │
                                                 └────────────────────────┘

Tool reference (endpoints + auth modes)

Inference (API key OR x402 wallet)

Catalog & quotes (auth-free)

Characters (API key only)

x402 wallet helpers (SIWX only)

Development

npm install
npm run build
npm test                  # full suite (71 tests across 10 suites, ~3s)
npm run test:unit         # unit tests only
npm run test:integration  # spawns dist/cli.js + a mock Venice over real stdio JSON-RPC
npm start                 # stdio mode
npm run start:http        # http mode on :3333

Test layout

test/
├── config.test.ts             # env parsing, defaults, header precedence
├── format.test.ts             # 402 formatter cases
├── venice-client.test.ts      # HTTP client + real mock Venice
├── tools.test.ts              # 31 tool registry + endpoint+method+body mappings
├── integration.test.ts        # end-to-end JSON-RPC over stdio against a mock Venice
└── helpers/
    ├── stub-client.ts         # in-process VeniceClient stub
    └── mock-venice-server.ts  # real http.Server fake of Venice for integration tests

The integration suite spawns the compiled CLI and speaks JSON-RPC on its stdin/stdout, exercising initialize → tools/list → tools/call → resources/list → resources/read against a real HTTP mock Venice in three auth scenarios (API key only, SIWX only, no auth).

End-to-end with live Venice + Base mainnet

test/e2e/ is a phased harness against the real Venice API and real Base mainnet — not a mock. It generates a throwaway wallet, signs SIWE + EIP-3009 payloads with viem, and drives the MCP server via JSON-RPC over stdio. The wallet is persisted at .e2e-wallet.json (chmod 600, gitignored — never commit).

# Comprehensive — all 31 tools × both auth modes, side-by-side report
VENICE_API_KEY=<your-venice-api-key> npm run test:e2e:all-tools

FAQ

Do I have to deal with crypto? No. The simple path is VENICE_API_KEY + a normal Venice account. x402 is an option for users who want a wallet-only flow.

Where does the wallet's private key live? Not in this server. You sign the SIWE message + USDC top-up authorizations in your own wallet (MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, viem-script, etc.). The server only sees the resulting SIWX token and never sees a private key.

Minimum top-up? $5 USD (anti-dust). Minimum balance to call inference is $0.10. Default suggested top-up is $10.

Privacy guarantees? No email, phone, or KYC if you go the SIWX path. The wallet ↔ credit account mapping is the only identity link. The MCP server itself does not log prompts or responses. Combine with X-Venice-TEE-Required: 1 (passed through by your client) to also run inference inside Intel TDX + NVIDIA NRAS confidential compute.

DIEM staking? If your wallet is linked to a Venice user with DIEM staked, calls consume from the staking balance instead of USDC credits — no top-up needed.

Getting 402 errors even though I have an API key? The most common cause is that VENICE_API_KEY isn't being forwarded to the MCP server process. Most MCP hosts (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Codex, etc.) only pass environment variables that are explicitly listed in the "env" block of your MCP config — system-level env vars are not automatically inherited. Make sure your config looks like this:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "venice": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@veniceai/mcp-server@0.2.0"],
      "env": { "VENICE_API_KEY": "<your-venice-api-key>" }
    }
  }
}

If the key is missing or blank, the server falls back to x402 mode and returns a 402 payment challenge.

Disclaimer

Community-maintained. Provided as-is, with no warranty or SLA from Venice AI. Use at your own risk.

License

MIT