zainibeats/tmdb-mcp
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The TMDB MCP Server provides a secure interface for AI assistants to access movie and TV show data from The Movie Database (TMDB) API.
TMDB MCP Server
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides read-only access to The Movie Database (TMDB) API for movie and TV show information.
Purpose
This MCP server provides a secure interface for AI assistants (eg. Claude Desktop, LM Studio, Cline etc.) to query movie and TV show data from TMDB, including searching, retrieving details, discovering content, and getting recommendations.
Features
Current Implementation
search_movies- Search for movies by title with pagination supportsearch_tv- Search for TV shows by title with pagination supportsearch_multi- Search across movies, TV shows, and peopleget_movie_details- Get comprehensive details about a specific movieget_tv_details- Get comprehensive details about a specific TV showget_top_rated_movies- Retrieve top-rated movies with paginationget_top_rated_tv- Retrieve top-rated TV shows with paginationget_popular_movies- Get currently popular movies with paginationget_popular_tv- Get currently popular TV shows with paginationget_trending- Get trending content (movies/TV/all) for day or weekget_similar_movies- Find movies similar to a given movieget_similar_tv- Find TV shows similar to a given TV showget_genres- Get list of available genres for movies or TVget_movie_credits- Get cast and crew information for a movieget_movie_reviews- Get user reviews for a movie with paginationdiscover_movies- Discover movies with advanced filters (genre, year, rating, etc.)discover_tv- Discover TV shows with advanced filters
Prerequisites
- Docker Desktop with MCP Toolkit enabled
- Docker MCP CLI plugin (
docker mcpcommand) - TMDB API Key (free from https://www.themoviedb.org/settings/api)
Installation
Follow the for step-by-step instructions to get the MCP server up and running. The process includes building the Docker image, configuring your TMDB API key, setting up the MCP catalog, and integrating with Claude Desktop.
Usage Examples
In Claude Desktop, you can ask:
- "Find the TMDB ID for Breaking Bad"
- "Search for movies with 'inception' in the title"
- "Show me the top rated sci-fi movies"
- "Get details about movie ID 550"
- "Find TV shows similar to The Office"
- "What movies are trending this week?"
- "Show me popular TV shows page 2"
- "Get the cast of The Dark Knight"
- "Find horror movies from 2023 with rating above 7"
- "Search for content related to Christopher Nolan"
Architecture
Claude Desktop → MCP Gateway → TMDB MCP Server → TMDB API
↓
Docker Desktop Secrets
(TMDB_API_KEY)
Development
Local Testing
# Set environment variables for testing
export TMDB_API_KEY="your-api-key"
# Run directly
python tmdb_server.py
# Test MCP protocol
echo '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"tools/list","id":1}' | python tmdb_server.py
Adding New Tools
- Add the function to
tmdb_server.py - Decorate with
@mcp.tool() - Update the catalog entry with the new tool name
- Rebuild the Docker image
API Rate Limits
TMDB API has the following rate limits:
- 40 requests per 10 seconds
- No daily limit for free tier
License
MIT License