Nano Banana — Remote MCP Server

A small remote MCP server that exposes Gemini image generation/editing as a custom connector you can add to Claude on web, mobile, and desktop — so it works in every chat, not just on one PC.

Tools:

• generate_image(prompt) — returns a new image inline in the chat.
• edit_image(imageUrl, prompt) — edits an image from a public URL, returns it inline.

How it differs from the local setup

The local nano-banana server runs node on your PC and only works in Claude Desktop / Claude Code on that machine. This remote version runs on an always-on host at a public URL, which is what claude.ai (web + mobile) requires.

Environment variables

Var	Required	Purpose
GEMINI_API_KEY	yes	Your Google Gemini API key (kept server-side)
MCP_AUTH_TOKEN	recommended	Shared secret. If set, requests must include it (see below)
GEMINI_IMAGE_MODEL	no	Defaults to gemini-2.5-flash-image
PORT	no	Host sets this automatically

How auth works

If MCP_AUTH_TOKEN is set, the token must be supplied one of three ways. For the claude.ai connector dialog (URL only), put it in the path:

https://YOUR-APP-URL/mcp/YOUR_TOKEN

(Also accepted: ?t=YOUR_TOKEN, or header Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN.)

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Deploy — Render (free, recommended for simplicity)

1. Put this remote-server/ folder in a GitHub repo.
2. Go to https://render.com → New → Web Service → connect the repo.
3. Render auto-detects render.yaml. Settings if asked: Runtime Node, Build npm install, Start npm start.
4. Under Environment, add secrets:
   • GEMINI_API_KEY = your key
   • MCP_AUTH_TOKEN = a long random string (your choice)
5. Deploy. You get a URL like https://nano-banana-remote-mcp.onrender.com.
6. Your connector URL is: https://nano-banana-remote-mcp.onrender.com/mcp/YOUR_TOKEN

Render's free tier sleeps after ~15 min idle, so the first call after a nap takes ~30–50s (it may need a retry). The $7/mo Starter tier stays always-on. Fly.io and Railway are alternatives if you prefer.

Verify it's live

Open https://YOUR-APP-URL/health in a browser — you should see {"ok":true,"model":"gemini-2.5-flash-image"}.

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Add it to Claude (works everywhere after this)

1. Go to claude.ai → Settings → Connectors (Pro/Max/Team/Enterprise plan required for custom connectors).
2. Add custom connector.
3. Name: Nano Banana. URL: https://YOUR-APP-URL/mcp/YOUR_TOKEN.
4. Save and enable it. It now syncs to web, mobile, and desktop.
5. In any chat: "generate an image of a banana on a surfboard".

Local test

cp .env.example .env   # fill in GEMINI_API_KEY, MCP_AUTH_TOKEN
npm install
npm start
node test-client.mjs   # exercises the MCP protocol against localhost