Pixabay

Pixabay MCP Server provides access to Pixabay's royalty-free image and video search and retrieval capabilities through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). You can search across millions of images and videos, apply advanced filters, and retrieve specific items by ID, all from a local or remote MCP client.

How to use

You use a client that speaks MCP to interact with the Pixabay MCP Server. Start the local server, then point your client at the server to perform actions such as searching for images or videos and fetching specific items by ID. Typical workflows include performing image searches with filters (term, orientation, category, color, and more), performing video searches with video-type filters, and requesting individual items by their Pixabay ID. The server returns metadata that includes URLs for different sizes, dimensions, counts, user information, tags, and categories so you can display and manage results in your application.

How to install

Prerequisites you need before installing: Node.js and npm. Ensure you have a working development environment for running JavaScript applications.

Step 1: Clone the repository and navigate into the project directory.

Step 2: Install dependencies.

Step 3: Build the project.

Configuration and usage notes

API Key setup is required to access Pixabay data. You should obtain a Pixabay API key and provide it to the server as an environment variable. The recommended approach uses a system environment variable so the key remains out of configuration files.

Environment variable setup examples for common shells are shown below. Replace your-api-key-here with your actual key.

export PIXABAY_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

Claude Desktop configuration (MCP client integration)

Add the server to Claude Desktop via its configuration file so you can access it directly from the Claude interface.

macOS configuration path:

Windows configuration path:

Recommended (system environment variable) configuration example for Claude Desktop is shown here.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pixabay": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/pixabay-mcp-server/dist/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Alternative local config (API key in config file, less secure)

If you choose to store the API key in the config file, use the following structure.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pixabay": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/pixabay-mcp-server/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "PIXABAY_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Runtime commands to start the server

To run the server locally, execute the start command that launches the MCP server script. The configuration example uses Node to run the built server.

Available tools

search_images

Search for royalty-free images with filters such as q, lang, image_type, orientation, category, min_width/min_height, colors, editors_choice, safesearch, order, page, and per_page.

search_videos

Search for royalty-free videos with filters similar to image search, including video_type and other image-like filters.

get_image_by_id

Retrieve a specific image by its Pixabay ID using the provided id parameter.

get_video_by_id

Retrieve a specific video by its Pixabay ID using the provided id parameter.