Met Museum

You can access The Met collection through a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enables natural language interactions for searching and retrieving artwork data. This MCP server exposes a set of endpoints and tools to explore departments, search objects, fetch detailed object data, and launch an interactive explorer app from MCP clients. It is useful for building AI assistants that seamlessly query the Met’s collection and present artwork information and images when available.

How to use

You can use this MCP server by connecting an MCP client and choosing one of the available tools or by launching the interactive explorer app. Typical workflows include listing all departments, searching for objects by terms (with options to filter by department or image availability), retrieving full object data for a specific item, and opening the interactive explorer to filter and inspect items within the Met collection.

How to install

Prerequisites: you need Node.js and a package manager such as npm or pnpm installed on your system.

Option A: Run the MCP server via HTTP transport from a local clone using the recommended command.

npx -y metmuseum-mcp --http

Additional configuration and usage notes

The server exposes two transport methods. The Streamable HTTP transport runs a server accessible at /mcp, and a default local HTTP endpoint is http://localhost:3001/mcp. You can customize the host and port with environment variables as described below.

Environment variables for the HTTP transport control port and host, as well as the allowed hosts for header validation.

Configuration and etiquette

For local development, you may run the server with a specific host and port, and you can restrict allowed hosts to your development domains. The following environment variables are recognized when starting the server in HTTP mode.

Troubleshooting and tips

If you encounter connection issues, verify that the MCP server is listening on the expected port and that your client can reach http://localhost:3001/mcp. Check that you started the server with HTTP transport enabled when attempting to connect via the HTTP endpoint.

Notes

This MCP server is a third‑party implementation of The Met’s collection data and is not affiliated with The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Use only in accordance with applicable licenses and terms.

Security considerations

If you expose the HTTP endpoint publicly, consider restricting access with a proper host allowlist and secure deployment practices to prevent unauthorized use.

Usage examples

Example questions you can pose to the MCP client when connected to this server include requesting a few paintings from a specific department, finding a painting by its title, or locating artworks with certain keywords in the title or description.

Where to start

Begin by listing departments to understand the available categories, then perform targeted searches, and finally fetch detailed object records as needed.

License

This MCP server is licensed under the MIT License. Review the license file for terms and conditions.

Other sections

For more advanced workflows, you can also launch the interactive explorer app to search, filter, and inspect objects from within MCP clients that support apps.

Available tools

List Departments

Lists all valid departments at The Met and returns each with its department ID and display name.

Search Museum Objects

Search objects by query with optional filters for images, title matching, department, paging, and page size.

Get Museum Objects

Retrieve full data for a specific object, including metadata and image if available, and optionally return the image encoded in base64.

Open Met Explorer App

Launch an interactive app to search, filter, and inspect Met objects from MCP clients that support Apps.