NASA Images MCP Server

A project to search NASA's image library using an MCP server and display images in an interactive UI.

🌟 Features:

• Dual Transport Support: Supports both stdio and Streamable HTTP transport
• Image Search: Search by keywords using NASA's Images API
• Interactive UI: Beautiful image viewer using MCP Apps Pattern
• Image Navigation: Display search results sequentially
• Session Management: Stateful session management

Requirements

• Node.js 18 or higher
• npm or yarn
• NASA API Key (get free at nasa.gov/api)

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

cd nasa-images-mcp-server

2. Install dependencies:

npm install

3. Set up environment variables:

cp .env.example .env

Edit the .env file to configure your NASA API key:

NASA_API_KEY=your_api_key_here
PORT=3000

4. Build:

npm run build

Getting a NASA API Key

1. Visit https://api.nasa.gov/
2. Enter your name and email address in the form
3. The API key will be sent to your email immediately
4. Add it to your .env file

Rate Limits:

• DEMO_KEY: 30 requests/hour, 50 requests/day
• Registered key: 1000 requests/hour

Usage

stdio Mode (Recommended for MCP Clients like Claude Desktop)

In stdio mode, the server communicates via stdin/stdout — no HTTP server is started. Logs are written to stderr.

Run with npx (no installation required)

npx @kaitoy/nasa-images-mcp-server --stdio

Run from local build

Pass the --stdio flag to use stdio transport:

node build/index.js --stdio

Claude Desktop Configuration

Using npx (recommended):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "nasa-images": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@kaitoy/nasa-images-mcp-server", "--stdio"],
      "env": {
        "NASA_API_KEY": "your_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Using local build:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "nasa-images": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/nasa-images-mcp-server/build/index.js", "--stdio"],
      "env": {
        "NASA_API_KEY": "your_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

HTTP Server Mode

npm start

The server will start at http://localhost:3000.

Start on a Different Port

PORT=3001 npm start

About Transports

stdio Transport

Suitable for local MCP clients (e.g., Claude Desktop) that launch the server as a subprocess.

• Communicates via stdin/stdout
• Single session per process
• No network configuration required

Streamable HTTP Transport

The latest MCP HTTP transport protocol, suitable for remote or multi-client scenarios.

Key Features:

• ✅ Stateful Sessions: Issues a unique session ID for each client
• ✅ SSE Support: Supports push notifications from the server via Server-Sent Events
• ✅ JSON-RPC over HTTP: Communication via standard HTTP request/response
• ✅ Session Management: Automatic session lifecycle management

Integration with MCP Clients

Connecting with MCP Inspector (HTTP mode)

You can test the server using MCP Inspector:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector http://localhost:3000/mcp

Connecting with MCP Inspector (stdio mode)

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector node /path/to/nasa-images-mcp-server/build/index.js --stdio

Using with Custom MCP Clients

Steps to connect from a custom client:

1. Initialize Request (POST /mcp):

curl -X POST http://localhost:3000/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" \
  -d '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "id": 1,
    "method": "initialize",
    "params": {
      "protocolVersion": "2024-11-05",
      "capabilities": {},
      "clientInfo": {
        "name": "my-client",
        "version": "1.0.0"
      }
    }
  }'

The response headers will include mcp-session-id.

2. Subsequent Requests:

curl -X POST http://localhost:3000/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" \
  -H "mcp-session-id: <your-session-id>" \
  -d '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "id": 2,
    "method": "tools/list"
  }'

3. SSE Stream (GET /mcp):

curl -X GET "http://localhost:3000/mcp" \
  -H "mcp-session-id: <your-session-id>" \
  -H "Accept: text/event-stream"

Endpoints

Endpoint	Method	Description
/	GET	Server information and endpoint list
/health	GET	Health check (includes active session count)
/mcp	POST	JSON-RPC requests (initialization, tool calls, etc.)
/mcp	GET	SSE stream (for server notifications)
/mcp	DELETE	Close session

Available Tools

1. search_nasa_images

Search NASA's image library.

Parameters:

• query (string, required): Search query (e.g., "apollo 11", "mars rover")

Usage Example (JSON-RPC):

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 3,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "search_nasa_images",
    "arguments": {
      "query": "apollo 11 moon landing"
    }
  }
}

2. get_next_image

Display the next image from the current search results.

Parameters: None

Usage Example (JSON-RPC):

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 4,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "get_next_image",
    "arguments": {}
  }
}

Available Resources

nasa-image://current

Get the URL of the currently displayed image.

MIME Type: text/uri-list

ui://nasa-images/viewer

HTML UI resource for the image viewer.

MIME Type: text/html;profile=mcp-app

Architecture

stdio Mode

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│     MCP Client (Claude Desktop, etc.)       │
│                   ↕ stdin/stdout            │
└───────────────────┼─────────────────────────┘
                    │
┌───────────────────┼─────────────────────────┐
│  NASA Images MCP Server                     │
│  ┌────────────────┴──────────────────────┐  │
│  │  StdioServerTransport                 │  │
│  └───────────────────────────────────────┘  │
│  ┌───────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │  McpServer (MCP Apps Pattern)         │  │
│  │  - registerAppTool(search_nasa...)    │  │
│  │  - registerAppTool(get_next_image)    │  │
│  │  - registerAppResource(viewer UI)     │  │
│  │  - registerResource(image URL)        │  │
│  └───────────────────────────────────────┘  │
│  ┌───────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │  Session Manager                      │  │
│  │  - Manage search state per user       │  │
│  └───────────────────────────────────────┘  │
│  ┌───────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │  NASA API Client                      │  │
│  │  - Image search                       │  │
│  │  - Image URL retrieval                │  │
│  └───────────────────────────────────────┘  │
└───────────────────┼─────────────────────────┘
                    │ HTTPS
┌───────────────────┼─────────────────────────┐
│         NASA Images API                     │
│  https://images-api.nasa.gov/search         │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

HTTP Mode

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│     MCP Client (Inspector, Custom App)      │
│                                             │
│  ┌────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│  │  HTTP Client                           │ │
│  │  - POST /mcp (JSON-RPC requests)       │ │
│  │  - GET /mcp (SSE stream)               │ │
│  └────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│                   ↕                         │
└───────────────────┼─────────────────────────┘
                    │ HTTP/SSE
┌───────────────────┼─────────────────────────┐
│  NASA Images MCP Server (Express)           │
│  ┌────────────────┴──────────────────────┐  │
│  │  StreamableHTTPServerTransport        │  │
│  │  - Session management                 │  │
│  │  - JSON-RPC over HTTP                 │  │
│  │  - SSE for notifications              │  │
│  └───────────────────────────────────────┘  │
│  ┌───────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │  McpServer (MCP Apps Pattern)         │  │
│  │  - registerAppTool(search_nasa...)    │  │
│  │  - registerAppTool(get_next_image)    │  │
│  │  - registerAppResource(viewer UI)     │  │
│  │  - registerResource(image URL)        │  │
│  └───────────────────────────────────────┘  │
│  ┌───────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │  Session Manager                      │  │
│  │  - Manage search state per user       │  │
│  └───────────────────────────────────────┘  │
│  ┌───────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │  NASA API Client                      │  │
│  │  - Image search                       │  │
│  │  - Image URL retrieval                │  │
│  └───────────────────────────────────────┘  │
└───────────────────┼─────────────────────────┘
                    │ HTTPS
┌───────────────────┼─────────────────────────┐
│         NASA Images API                     │
│  https://images-api.nasa.gov/search         │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Main Components

• src/index.ts: Express server and transport management
• src/mcp-server.ts: MCP server logic (tool and resource registration)
• src/session-manager.ts: Session management (search state persistence)
• src/nasa-api.ts: NASA API client
• src/types.ts: TypeScript type definitions

Development

Watch Mode

npm run watch

Automatically rebuilds when files change.

Development Mode

npm run dev

Builds and immediately starts the server.

Troubleshooting

Port Already in Use

Error: listen EADDRINUSE: address already in use

Solution: Specify a different port:

PORT=3001 npm start

"Cannot find module" Error

Run:

npm run build

to compile TypeScript.

API Rate Limit Error

• If using DEMO_KEY, obtain your own API key from api.nasa.gov
• Limited to 30 requests per hour

"Not Acceptable" Error

The client must accept both MIME types:

• application/json
• text/event-stream

curl -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" ...

Session Not Found

Save the mcp-session-id header returned after the initialization request and send it as the mcp-session-id header in subsequent requests.

Security Notes

• This server has CORS enabled (for development)
• In production, implement proper CORS settings and rate limiting
• Manage NASA API keys via environment variables; do not hardcode them

License

MIT

References

• Model Context Protocol Specification
• MCP TypeScript SDK
• MCP Apps Extension
• Streamable HTTP Transport
• NASA Images API
• NASA Open APIs

Contributing

Pull requests are welcome! Bug reports and feature requests are accepted via Issues.

Support

If you encounter issues, please create an Issue or refer to the NASA API support page.