mikechao/metmuseum-mcp

Met Museum MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides access to the Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection through natural language interactions. This server allows AI models to search The Met's art collection and retrieve artwork details (including images) via tool results.

Table of Contents

• Features
  • List Departments
  • Search Museum Objects
  • Get Museum Object
  • Open Met Explorer App
• MCP Apps
• Prerequisites
• Quick Start
• Configuration
• Transports
  • Streamable HTTP Transport
• Usage with ChatGPT
• Usage with Claude Desktop
• Usage with LibreChat
• Example Queries
• Development
• Contributing
• License
• Disclaimer

Features

This server provides AI models the following tools to interact with the art collection of The Met:

1. List Departments (list-departments)

Lists all the valid departments at The Met

• Inputs:
  • None
• Output:

  Department ID: 1, Display Name: American Decorative Arts
  Department ID: 3, Display Name: Ancient Near Eastern Art
  ...
  

2. Search Museum Objects (search-museum-objects)

Search for various objects in The Met based on the inputs.

• Inputs:

  • q (string): The search term e.g. sunflowers
  • hasImages (boolean, optional, default: false): Only search for objects with images
  • title (boolean, optional, default: false): Returns objects that match the query, specifically searching against the title field for objects.
  • departmentId (number, optional): Returns objects that are a part of a specific department.
  • page (number, optional, default: 1): 1-based page number for results.
  • pageSize (number, optional, default: 24): Number of Object IDs per page (max 100).

• Outputs:

  Total objects found: 54
  Page: 1/3
  Object IDs: 436532, 789578, 436840, 438722,...
  

3. Get Museum Object (get-museum-object)

Get a specific object from The Met containing all open access data about that object, including its image (if the image is available under Open Access).

If there is an image and returnImage is true, it is returned as an image content block in the tool result (base64-encoded JPEG).

Use this tool when the user asks for deeper details on a specific artwork and you already have an objectId.

• Inputs:
  • objectId (number): The id of the object to retrieve
  • returnImage (boolean, optional, default: true): Whether to include the object's image (if available) in the tool result
• Outputs:

  Title: Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat (obverse: The Potato Peeler)
  Artist: Vincent van Gogh
  Artist Bio: Dutch, Zundert 1853–1890 Auvers-sur-Oise
  Department: European Paintings
  Credit Line: Bequest of Miss Adelaide Milton de Groot (1876-1967), 1967
  Medium: Oil on canvas
  Dimensions: 16 x 12 1/2 in. (40.6 x 31.8 cm)
  Primary Image URL: https://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/ep/original/DT1502_cropped2.jpg
  Tags: Men, Self-portraits
  

  If returnImage is true

  **base64 encoding of jpeg image**
  

4. Open Met Explorer App (open-met-explorer)

Launches an interactive MCP App (ui://met/explorer.html) that can search, filter, and inspect objects from within MCP clients that support Apps.

Recommended flow:

• Use open-met-explorer to launch and browse live search results (pass q to start searching immediately).

• After creating a curated list from current results, use get-museum-object only for items the user wants to explore in depth.

• Inputs (all optional):

  • q (string): Initial search term.
  • hasImages (boolean, default: true): Prefer objects with images.
  • title (boolean, default: false): Search titles only.
  • departmentId (number): Pre-select a department filter.

• Output:

  Opens the Met Explorer app in the client UI.
  

MCP Apps

▶️ Click to watch the demo video

There are now MCP Apps in this MCP Server. There is a UI component for the Open Met Explorer App tool and the Get Museum Object tool.

Prerequisites

• Node.js v18 or later

Quick Start

Run the server directly with npx — no install required:

npx -y metmuseum-mcp

This starts the server using stdio transport, which is what most MCP desktop clients expect.

For client-specific setup, see:

• Usage with Claude Desktop
• Usage with ChatGPT (requires Streamable HTTP transport)
• Usage with LibreChat

Configuration

The following environment variable applies to all transports:

Transports

This server supports two transports:

• Stdio transport (default): Used by MCP desktop clients (Claude Desktop, LibreChat MCP, etc.).
• Streamable HTTP transport: Run with --http to expose an MCP endpoint at /mcp.

Streamable HTTP Transport

Run with npx (recommended for end users):

npx -y metmuseum-mcp --http

Or run from a local clone:

pnpm run build
node dist/index.js --http

The server listens on:

http://localhost:3001/mcp

You can control HTTP server behavior with environment variables:

Example:

HOST=127.0.0.1 PORT=8080 ALLOWED_HOSTS=localhost,127.0.0.1 npx -y metmuseum-mcp --http

Usage with ChatGPT

The following steps allow you to use Met Museum MCP with the web UI of ChatGPT

1. Enable Developer Mode in ChatGPT

Settings → Apps → Advanced settings → Developer mode

Additional instructions here

2. Run the Met Museum MCP Server with Streamable HTTP Transport

npx -y metmuseum-mcp --http

By default the server will be listening on http://127.0.0.1:3001/mcp

3. Create a local tunnel to expose the MCP Server to ChatGPT

Sign up and configure ngrok, the free plan works.

ngrok http http://127.0.0.1:3001 --host-header=rewrite

Take note of the forwarding URL.

...
Forwarding                    https://john-joe-asdf.ngrok-free.dev -> http://localhost:3001
...

4. Add Met Museum MCP as a Connector to ChatGPT

Open ChatGPT Apps settings

Click Apps

Click Create Apps

Fill out the form using the URL from step 3 as the MCP Server URL, but add /mcp.

https://john-joe-asdf.ngrok-free.dev/mcp

For Authentication, select 'No Auth'

Tick the checkbox for 'I understand and want to continue'

Then click Create.

5. Using the Met Museum MCP Server

In the prompt input field you can use @name-of-server-from-step3 or In the ChatGPT UI, click the '+' button, scroll to '...more', select the newly created Met app, and enter your query.

Usage with Claude Desktop

Via MCP Bundle (MCPB)

1. Download the mcpb file from the Releases
2. Open it with Claude Desktop or Go to File -> Settings -> Extensions and drag the .mcpb file to the window to install it

Via npx

Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "met-museum": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "metmuseum-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Usage with LibreChat

Add the following in your librechat.yaml

mcpServers:
  metmuseum:
    command: npx
    args:
      - -y
      - metmuseum-mcp

Example Queries

Here are some questions you can ask the AI model when this server is connected:

Can you help me explore the works of Vincent Van Gogh?
Can you help me explore the Met?
Can you show me a few paintings from the Asian Art department?
Can you find the painting titled "Corridor in the Asylum"?
Can you find any art that has "cat" in the title or features "cats"?

Development

This project uses pnpm for local development and CI.

corepack enable
pnpm install
pnpm run build
pnpm run check

For non-interactive shells/CI runners, use CI=true pnpm install --frozen-lockfile.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

This MCP server is licensed under the MIT License. This means you are free to use, modify, and distribute the software, subject to the terms and conditions of the MIT License. For more details, please see the LICENSE file in the project repository.

Disclaimer

This library is not officially associated with The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It is a third-party implementation of the The Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection API with a MCP Server.