@cyanheads/smithsonian-mcp-server

v0.1.4 pre-1.0

Search and explore 19.4 million Smithsonian Open Access museum objects, retrieve CC0 media, and discover cross-collection connections via MCP.

public 5 tools protocol 2025-11-25 github cyanheads/smithsonian-mcp-server

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

codex mcp add smithsonian-mcp-server --url https://smithsonian.caseyjhand.com/mcp

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

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "smithsonian-mcp-server": {
      "command": "bunx",
      "args": [
        "@cyanheads/smithsonian-mcp-server@latest"
      ]
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "smithsonian-mcp-server": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://smithsonian.caseyjhand.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

curl -X POST https://smithsonian.caseyjhand.com/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "MCP-Protocol-Version: 2025-11-25" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"initialize","params":{"protocolVersion":"2025-11-25","capabilities":{},"clientInfo":{"name":"curl","version":"1.0.0"}}}'

Built on@cyanheads/mcp-ts-core v0.9.16

Tools

smithsonian_search

open-world

Search across 19.4 million Smithsonian objects by text query and optional filters. Filters narrow by museum unit, object type, decade, culture, geographic place, and online/CC0 availability. Returns curated summaries (title, date, museum, thumbnail URL, CC0 flag) with the total match count. The record_id in each result is the identifier for smithsonian_get_object, smithsonian_find_related, and smithsonian_get_media.

read

invocation

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "smithsonian_search",
    "arguments": {
      "query": "<query>"
    }
  }
}

schema

{
  "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "query": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Free-text search. Use specific terms for precision (\"Tlingit totem pole\") or broad terms for browsing (\"quilt\")."
    },
    "filters": {
      "description": "Optional structured filters to narrow the search.",
      "type": "object",
      "properties": {
        "unit_code": {
          "description": "Museum unit code (e.g. \"NASM\", \"NMNH\", \"SAAM\", \"NMAH\", \"NMAAHC\", \"NMAI\", \"NPG\", \"CHNDM\", \"SIL\"). Search first to discover valid codes.",
          "type": "string"
        },
        "object_type": {
          "description": "Object type term (e.g. \"Aircraft\", \"Painting\", \"Fossil\"). Search first to discover valid values.",
          "type": "string"
        },
        "date_decade": {
          "description": "Decade filter (e.g. \"1920s\", \"1960s\"). Must match the \"NNNNs\" format exactly.",
          "type": "string"
        },
        "culture": {
          "description": "Culture term (e.g. \"Plains Indian\", \"Aztec\"). Search first to discover valid values.",
          "type": "string"
        },
        "place": {
          "description": "Geographic place (e.g. \"United States of America\"). Search first to discover valid values.",
          "type": "string"
        },
        "online_only": {
          "description": "When true, restrict to objects that have any online media.",
          "type": "boolean"
        },
        "cc0_only": {
          "description": "When true, restrict to CC0 open-access objects. Useful before calling smithsonian_get_media.",
          "type": "boolean"
        }
      },
      "additionalProperties": false
    },
    "rows": {
      "default": 20,
      "description": "Page size (default 20, max 100).",
      "type": "integer",
      "minimum": 1,
      "maximum": 100
    },
    "start": {
      "default": 0,
      "description": "Pagination offset — 0-indexed. Use with rows for paging through large result sets.",
      "type": "integer",
      "minimum": 0,
      "maximum": 9007199254740991
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "query",
    "rows",
    "start"
  ],
  "additionalProperties": false
}

view source ↗

smithsonian_get_object

open-world

Fetch the full catalog record for a Smithsonian object by its record_id (from smithsonian_search results). Returns all available metadata: title, dates, materials, dimensions, provenance, exhibition history, credit line, accession identifiers, and a media summary. Call smithsonian_get_media for full image URLs. Use record_id values from smithsonian_search — do not manually construct IDs.

read

invocation

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "smithsonian_get_object",
    "arguments": {
      "id": "<id>"
    }
  }
}

schema

{
  "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "id": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Object record_id from smithsonian_search results (e.g. \"nasm_A19670093000\")."
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "id"
  ],
  "additionalProperties": false
}

view source ↗

smithsonian_get_media

open-world

Return all available CC0 images for a Smithsonian object at multiple resolutions. Only CC0 (open access) images are returned — throws Forbidden when an object has media but none of it is CC0. Each image entry includes thumbnail (~120px), screen-size (~800px), and high-resolution JPEG/TIFF URLs with pixel dimensions. Use smithsonian_search with filters.cc0_only to find CC0 objects before calling this tool.

read

invocation

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "smithsonian_get_media",
    "arguments": {
      "id": "<id>"
    }
  }
}

schema

{
  "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "id": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "record_id of the object (e.g. \"nasm_A19670093000\") from smithsonian_search or smithsonian_get_object."
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "id"
  ],
  "additionalProperties": false
}

view source ↗

smithsonian_explore

open-world

Browse Smithsonian collections by category to answer "what does the Smithsonian have about X?" questions. Constructs and executes a category-constrained search, then returns an overview: total count, a curated set of sample objects, and a breakdown of which museums hold matching objects. Four browse modes: museum (by unit code or name), culture (by culture term), period (by decade), medium (by object type). Use as the entry point for open-ended research.

read

invocation

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "smithsonian_explore",
    "arguments": {
      "mode": "<mode>",
      "value": "<value>"
    }
  }
}

schema

{
  "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "mode": {
      "type": "string",
      "enum": [
        "museum",
        "culture",
        "period",
        "medium"
      ],
      "description": "Browse dimension: \"museum\" (by unit code/name), \"culture\" (by culture term), \"period\" (by decade like \"1940s\"), \"medium\" (by object type like \"Painting\")."
    },
    "value": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Category value appropriate to the mode. museum: unit code (\"NMNH\") or full name (\"National Museum of Natural History\"). culture: term (\"Aztec\", \"Sioux\"). period: decade (\"1940s\", \"1860s\"). medium: object type (\"Painting\", \"Aircraft\", \"Fossil\")."
    },
    "rows": {
      "default": 10,
      "description": "Number of sample objects to return (default 10, max 50).",
      "type": "integer",
      "minimum": 1,
      "maximum": 50
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "mode",
    "value",
    "rows"
  ],
  "additionalProperties": false
}

view source ↗

smithsonian_find_related

open-world

Discover objects across Smithsonian collections related to a given anchor object. Fetches the anchor object's metadata (culture, period, object type, maker names, topic terms), then fans out up to 4 parallel searches using different metadata signals as queries. Deduplicates against the anchor and merges results into a ranked list. Cross-museum discovery is the differentiator — an NASM aerospace anchor may surface related objects from NMNH, SAAM, and NMAH.

read

invocation

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "smithsonian_find_related",
    "arguments": {
      "id": "<id>"
    }
  }
}

schema

{
  "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "id": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "record_id of the anchor object (e.g. \"nasm_A19670093000\") from smithsonian_search or smithsonian_get_object."
    },
    "limit": {
      "default": 10,
      "description": "Maximum number of related objects to return (default 10, max 20).",
      "type": "integer",
      "minimum": 1,
      "maximum": 20
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "id",
    "limit"
  ],
  "additionalProperties": false
}

view source ↗