The Movie DB

You deploy a Movie Database MCP Server to connect a client to The Movie Database API and access movie data through a simple, event-driven MCP channel. This server provides endpoints to fetch popular and now-playing movies, detailed movie data, cast lists, and search results, making it easy to build cinema-related apps with live, consistent data.

How to use

Set up your client to connect to the local MCP server. Run the server locally, then point your MCP client to the provided URL. You can run the server in a local development environment and test all supported endpoints by invoking them through your client’s MCP configuration.

Once the server is running, configure your MCP client with the connection details shown below. The server exposes an HTTP MCP endpoint at the specified URL and also can run locally as a standard input/output (stdio) process for simpler development workflows.

Supported endpoints you can invoke through your client include retrieving popular movies, current releases, detailed movie data, cast lists, and movie searches. You pass parameters like language, page numbers, movie identifiers, and search queries to tailor results.

How to install

Prerequisites: make sure you have a modern runtime that can execute the server. This setup uses Bun to run the server entry point. You can also use a compatible Node.js environment if you adjust the commands accordingly.

Step 1 Create your environment file with your API token. This token authenticates requests to The Movie Database API.

Step 2 Start the server locally using the runtime command shown here.

bun app.ts

Additional content

Environment variables: you provide a token to access the external API. Include token in your environment as shown in the server startup steps. The token is stored in a .env file as token=YOUR_API_TOKEN for local development.

Configuration overview: the server exposes an HTTP MCP endpoint at http://localhost:3000/mcp for client integration. You can also run the server as a local stdio process to simplify development workflows that spawn and communicate with the process directly.

Client configuration example for an HTTP MCP connection is shown below. You add this to your client’s MCP configuration to connect to the local server.

{
  "themoviedb-mcp": {
    "url": "http://localhost:3000/mcp",
    "type": "http"
  }
}

Troubleshooting and notes

If you encounter port binding issues, ensure no other process is listening on port 3000 and that Bun can execute your entry file. Verify that the .env file is present and contains your API token in the correct format.

Available tools

popular_movie

Fetches a list of popular movies with optional language and page parameters.

now_playing_movie

Retrieves currently playing movies with no required parameters.

movie_detail

Gets detailed information for a specific movie by ID, with an optional language parameter.

cast_list

Returns the cast list for a specific movie by ID, with an optional language parameter.

search_movie

Searches for movies by a query string, with optional language, year, and pagination parameters.