How to add Met Museum MCP Server to Claude Desktop

Search and explore The Metropolitan Museum of Art collection, including artwork details and images, via natural language. Paste the config into ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json and restart Claude Desktop.

Last updated June 14, 2026 · 30★ · stdio · no auth

Claude Desktop config for Met Museum MCP Server

npx -y metmuseum-mcp

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "met-museum-mcp-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "metmuseum-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Setup steps

1Open Claude Desktop → Settings → Developer → Edit Config (this opens ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json).
2Paste the Met Museum MCP Server config below under the top-level "mcpServers" key.
3Fill in any placeholder secrets (API keys, paths) in the snippet.
4Save the file, then fully quit and reopen Claude Desktop.
5Open a chat and confirm Met Museum MCP Server's tools appear under the 🔌 tools menu.

Before you start

Node.js v18 or later

What Met Museum MCP Server can do in Claude Desktop

list-departments

Lists all the valid departments at The Met, each with a Department ID and display name. Takes no inputs.

search-museum-objects

Searches for objects in The Met by a query term. Optional filters: hasImages (only objects with images), title (match against the title field only), departmentId (restrict to a department), and paginated results via page and pageSize (max 100). Returns the total count and a list of matching object IDs.

get-museum-object

Retrieves a specific object by objectId with all open-access data (title, artist, bio, department, credit line, medium, dimensions, primary image URL, tags). If returnImage is true (default) and an image is available under Open Access, the image is included as a base64-encoded JPEG content block.

open-met-explorer

Launches the interactive Met Explorer MCP App (ui://met/explorer.html) to search, filter, and inspect objects from within MCP clients that support Apps. All inputs optional: q (initial search term), hasImages (default true), title (search titles only), departmentId (pre-select a department filter).

Security

No API key or authentication is required; the server calls the public Met Collection API anonymously. When run with the Streamable HTTP transport (--http), the server binds to 127.0.0.1 by default and validates the Host header against an allowlist (ALLOWED_HOSTS, default localhost,127.0.0.1); review HOST/PORT/ALLOWED_HOSTS before exposing it beyond localhost.

Met Museum MCP Server + Claude Desktop FAQ

Where is the Claude Desktop config file?

Claude Desktop reads MCP servers from ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json. Paste the Met Museum MCP Server config there under the "mcpServers" key and restart the client.

Is Met Museum MCP Server safe to use with Claude Desktop?

Do I need an API key or account?

No. The server uses the public Met Collection API anonymously, so no API key or authentication is required.

Is this an official Metropolitan Museum of Art project?

No. It is a third-party implementation of the public Met Collection API and is not officially associated with The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Can I use it with ChatGPT or other HTTP clients?

Yes. Run the server with the --http flag (npx -y metmuseum-mcp --http) to expose a Streamable HTTP MCP endpoint at http://localhost:3001/mcp, then connect it as a connector (for ChatGPT, typically via a tunnel such as ngrok).

View repo Full Met Museum MCP Server page