marinetraffic

This MCP server exposes MarineTraffic vessel data through a set of tools: get_vessel_position to fetch real-time position data by MMSI or IMO, get_vessel_details for detailed vessel information, search_vessels to find vessels by name, MMSI, IMO, or vessel type, and get_vessels_in_area to list vessels within a geographic radius. Vessels can be accessed directly via the vessel://{identifier} resource (by MMSI or IMO) or via vessels://area/{lat}/{lon}/{radius} to enumerate vessels in a region. Once running and configured with your MarineTraffic API key, you can use MCP tool blocks to call these capabilities and retrieve structured vessel data for downstream use in Claude or other MCP-enabled clients.

Prerequisites:

• Node.js 18 or higher
• An active MarineTraffic API key

Installation steps:

1. Install the MCP server package (example using Smithery):

npx -y @smithery/cli install @Cyreslab-AI/marinetraffic-mcp-server --client claude

2. Clone or download the repository source:

# If cloning from GitHub
git clone https://github.com/Cyreslab-AI/marinetraffic-mcp-server.git
cd marinetraffic-mcp-server

3. Install dependencies and build the server:

npm install
npm run build

4. Run or configure the server in your MCP environment, ensuring the MarineTraffic API key is set via MARINETRAFFIC_API_KEY. You can start the server locally with Node (example):

export MARINETRAFFIC_API_KEY=your-api-key-here
node build/index.js

5. If integrating with Claude Desktop/VSCode, reference the built index.js path and set the environment variable in your MCP settings as shown in the examples.

Notes and tips:

• Your MarineTraffic API key must be provided in the MARINETRAFFIC_API_KEY environment variable for the server to function.
• If you’re deploying this in Claude, ensure the path in the MCP settings points to the built server (build/index.js).
• Be mindful of MarineTraffic API rate limits based on your subscription; consider implementing caching or backoff handling on your side if you encounter rate limiting.
• The server exposes multiple tools; ensure your MCP settings authorize and expose the appropriate tool names (get_vessel_position, get_vessel_details, search_vessels, get_vessels_in_area).
• For local testing, you can access resources via vessel://123456789 or vessels://area/37.8199/-122.4783/10 to validate responses.
• If you encounter API errors, double-check the API key, network access, and that the built index.js path is correct in your MCP configuration.