Smithsonian MCP Server

@cyanheads/smithsonian-mcp-server Search 14.5M Smithsonian Open Access objects across 20+ museums via MCP, and retrieve CC0 images for the 5.2M that carry openly-licensed media. STDIO or Streamable HTTP. Its 7 documented tools cluster into smithsonian, filters.

People who work with art, cyanheads and museum and want it reachable from Claude, Cursor, VS Code, or another MCP client. The project is written in TypeScript.

VERIFIED ACTIVE

LAST COMMIT 2026-08-25 · ★ 2 · #81 OF 173 MAINTAINED MEDIA · VERIFIED 2026-09-18

Apache-2.0 · TypeScript servers · how we verify → /methodology

01 · Install Smithsonian MCP Server

before you install - you'll need

Set MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE, MCP_LOG_LEVEL, SMITHSONIAN_API_KEY before connecting.

Claude Code

claude mcp add cyanheads-smithsonian-mcp-server --transport http https://smithsonian.caseyjhand.com/mcp

Claude Desktop / Cursor / VS Code - add to config

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cyanheads-smithsonian-mcp-server": {
      "url": "https://smithsonian.caseyjhand.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Same JSON for Cursor. For VS Code, rename the top-level key from `mcpServers` to `servers`.

Using another client? Same JSON, different key

Claude Desktop · mcpServers

Cursor · mcpServers

VS Code · servers

Windsurf · mcpServers

Zed · context_servers

Cline · mcpServers

Roo Code · mcpServers

Continue · mcpServers

LibreChat · mcpServers

Gemini CLI · mcpServers

Codex CLI · mcp_servers

Full setup guides: every client.

02 · Evidence

https://smithsonian.caseyjhand.com/mcp

transport: streamable-http

endpoint alive - responded to MCP initialize · probed 2026-09-17

Security posture

What to check before giving this server access to your agent - from the registry, GitHub, and our own probes. We don't score safety; we show what's verifiable.

runs as local process (stdio) - runs on your machine with your user's permissions · remote - your agent's requests go to smithsonian.caseyjhand.com

endpoint auth accepted our unauthenticated MCP initialize - no credentials needed to connect

license Apache-2.0 - declared in the repository

npm package @cyanheads/smithsonian-mcp-server - published under the repo owner's npm scope (@cyanheads)

registry namespace io.github.cyanheads is GitHub-verified and matches the repo owner

03 · What Smithsonian MCP Server can do

Prose above is summarized from the project's README and registry record - no invented capabilities.

What you can build

An agent gets 7 documented tools across smithsonian, filters, including smithsonian_search_objects, smithsonian_list_terms, smithsonian_get_object, smithsonian_get_media.

Capability map

Tools grouped from the project's README - what Smithsonian MCP Server lets an agent do.

Smithsonian

6 tools - e.g. Search across 14.5M objects by text query with optional filters (museum, type, date term, culture, place, topic, name, online-only, CC0). Returns curated summar; Enumerate the valid term vocabulary for an…

smithsonian_search_objects · smithsonian_list_terms · smithsonian_get_object · smithsonian_get_media · smithsonian_browse_category · smithsonian_find_related

Filters

1 tool - e.g. museum unit code, object type, indexed date term (1920s, 500-1500, 21st century, -2500), culture, geographic place, subject topic, named party (name), online-on

Filters

Latest releases

v0.3.6 · 2026-08-25

MCP 2026 compatibility and stateless HTTP · MCP 2026-07-28 works alongside 2025 clients; tool inputs are strict and schemas use JSON Schema 2020-12 with the structured error envelope · request-scoped logs can reach…

v0.3.5 · 2026-07-26

decoded object text, retryable host outages · title/description decode HTML entities and strip markup from upstream EDAN text (#49) · a host-level 404 on /search or /terms/{field} now retries as an upstream outage…

v0.3.4 · 2026-07-26

tightest-substring neighbor search · Neighbor-substring recovery hints on smithsonian_search_objects and smithsonian_browse_category now search for the tightest contains substring that still lists another term…

04 · Who maintains Smithsonian MCP Server

smithsonian-mcp-server is maintained by cyanheads. We track 125 MCP servers from cyanheads - 119 actively maintained, 1,816 combined GitHub stars, oldest repo from Dec 2024. Full record: all servers from cyanheads.

05 · Facts

repository: github.com/cyanheads/smithsonian-mcp-server
category: media - ranked #81 of 173 actively-maintained media servers as of 2026-09-18.
release cadence: 10+ releases in the last 90 days (latest 2026-08-25)
registry: io.github.cyanheads/smithsonian-mcp-server (active, first published 2026-05-30 · 29 versions)
packages: npm:@cyanheads/smithsonian-mcp-server · npm:@cyanheads/smithsonian-mcp-server

06 · Smithsonian MCP Server FAQ

Is Smithsonian MCP Server still maintained?

Yes - as of 2026-09-18, its last commit was 2026-08-25 and it shipped 10+ releases in the last 90 days. We re-verify nightly.

What can Smithsonian MCP Server do?

An agent gets 7 documented tools across smithsonian, filters, including smithsonian_search_objects, smithsonian_list_terms, smithsonian_get_object, smithsonian_get_media.

How do I install Smithsonian MCP Server?

Run `npx -y @cyanheads/smithsonian-mcp-server`. The README documents 3 environment variables (MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE, MCP_LOG_LEVEL, SMITHSONIAN_API_KEY) to set first. Set MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE, MCP_LOG_LEVEL, SMITHSONIAN_API_KEY before connecting. You can also paste the ready-made client config above.

Does Smithsonian MCP Server require authentication?

No - the endpoint accepted our unauthenticated MCP initialize when probed on 2026-09-17; you can connect without credentials.

07 · Alternatives to Smithsonian MCP Server

Alternatives to Smithsonian MCP Server

Maintained media servers if Smithsonian MCP Server isn't the fit.

More media MCP servers · Audio Calibration MCP · EvoBurrow MCP · Yt Mem AI · Crochet Engine · YTDL RMCP (dinglebear-ai)

More TypeScript MCP servers · Socrata MCP Server · Sports MCP Server · Stackexchange MCP Server · Survey MCP Server · Toolkit MCP Server · see all