ign-apicarto

This MCP server acts as a bridge to query French geographic data via IGN's API Carto endpoints. It exposes a set of MCP tools that map to common IGN API Carto operations, such as retrieving communes by postal code, querying cadastral parcels, accessing administrative limits, and obtaining environmental or urban planning information. Clients can send natural language-like queries through MCP, which are then translated into appropriate API calls and returned in MCP-compatible responses. The server is designed to integrate with MCP-capable clients like Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Codex CLI, and other MCP-enabled tools, enabling natural language interfaces to IGN data sources.

To use the server, configure your MCP client to point at the ign-apicarto MCP service. You’ll specify the command and the path to the compiled server entry point (dist/index.js) as shown in the configuration examples. The server supports several core tools, including ign_get_communes_by_postal_code, ign_get_cadastre_parcelles, ign_get_cadastre_communes, ign_get_rpg, ign_get_nature_areas, ign_get_gpu_urbanisme, ign_get_aoc_viticoles (requires an IGN API key), ign_wfs_geoportail, and ign_get_administrative_limits. These tools let you perform address resolution, land parcel analyses, environmental data queries, urban planning checks, and more through natural language prompts fed via MCP.

Prerequisites:

• Node.js 16+ and npm
• Internet access to install dependencies

Installation steps:

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/votre-utilisateur/ign-apicarto-mcp-server.git
cd ign-apicarto-mcp-server

2. Install dependencies

npm install

3. Configure environment variables (optional but recommended)

# Copy example env to actual file
cp .env.example .env.local

Edit .env.local and add your IGN API key if you want to use the AOC viticoles endpoint:

# Obtain a free key: https://geoservices.ign.fr/
IGN_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

4. Build the project

npm run build

The compiled server will be available in the dist/ folder. 5) Run the server (example)

node dist/index.js

6. Optional: integrate with your MCP client by pointing to the server entry as shown in the configuration examples.

Tips and common considerations:

• The IGN API key (IGN_API_KEY) is required if you intend to access endpoints that require authentication, such as AOC viticoles. Without it, some tools may be unavailable.
• After building, ensure dist/index.js exists and is accessible by the runtime path you configure in MCP clients.
• If you plan to use in Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, or Codex CLI, copy the path to dist/index.js into the appropriate mcpServers configuration as described in the README examples.
• The mcp_config.json/CLI configuration typically references an absolute path to dist/index.js; adjust the path to your installation accordingly.
• When using multiple MCP servers, monitor the total number of active tools to stay within practical limits (as noted by some platforms).
• For the AOC viticoles endpoint, ensure your IGN API key has the necessary permissions and quota to avoid request failures.