Ordnance Survey National Geographic Database MCP server

This Python-based MCP server provides access to Ordnance Survey APIs through a standardized protocol, bridging MCP clients with OS geographic data services. It handles authentication, rate limiting, and offers a simplified interface to complex OS APIs.

Requirements

• Python 3.11+
• OS API Key (set as environment variable OS_API_KEY)
• OS Data Hub account to get an API key
• Dependencies: aiohttp, mcp[cli]

Installation and Configuration

Configure the server in your MCP host configuration file (e.g., Claude Desktop):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "os-ngd-api": {
      "command": "/Users/username/.local/bin/uv",
      "args": ["--directory", "src/", "run", "server.py"],
      "env": {
        "OS_API_KEY": "your_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop Integration

This MCP service has been tested with Claude Desktop:

1. Ensure Claude Desktop is configured to access local tools
2. The service will be available as a tool once it's running
3. No additional network configuration is needed

Available Tools

The following tools are available through the MCP server:

• hello_world - Test connectivity
• check_api_key - Verify API key configuration
• list_collections - List available feature collections
• get_collection_info - Get details about a specific collection
• get_collection_queryables - Get filterable properties for a collection
• search_features - Search features by various criteria
• get_feature - Retrieve a specific feature by ID
• get_linked_identifiers - Find related identifiers
• get_bulk_features - Retrieve multiple features in a single call
• get_bulk_linked_features - Get linked features in bulk
• get_prompt_templates - Get standard prompt templates for common operations

Using Prompt Templates

This service provides pre-configured prompt templates to help you get started. To access these templates, ask Claude "show me available prompt templates" after setting up the server.

Features

The server provides access to several Ordnance Survey API features:

• Collection management (listing and querying collections)
• Feature search with spatial and attribute filters
• Individual feature retrieval by ID
• Linked identifier operations
• Bulk feature operations

How to add this MCP server to Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > MCP and click "Add new global MCP server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "cursor-rules-mcp": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "cursor-rules-mcp"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explictly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.