Giphy MCP server

The MCP Server Giphy provides a simple interface for AI models to access and utilize GIFs from the Giphy API. It enables searching, retrieving random GIFs, and accessing trending content with comprehensive metadata and content filtering options.

Features

• Content Filtering: Filter results by rating (G, PG, PG-13, R) to ensure appropriate content
• Optimized Response Format: Response data optimized for AI model consumption
• Multiple Search Methods: Support for query-based, random, and trending GIF retrieval
• Comprehensive Metadata: Each GIF comes with full metadata including dimensions, formats, and attribution
• Pagination Support: Control result size and pagination for efficient API use

Installation and Setup

Getting a Giphy API Key

Before using the MCP Server Giphy, you need to obtain a Giphy API Key:

1. Sign up for a Giphy Developer account
2. Create an app to get an API key at Giphy Developer Dashboard
3. Choose between the free tier or paid options based on your needs

Environment Configuration

Create a .env file with your API key:

GIPHY_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

Installation

Install the package using npm:

npm install mcp-server-giphy

Usage

Using with Claude Desktop

To use this server with Claude Desktop, add the following to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "giphy": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-server-giphy"],
      "env": {
        "GIPHY_API_KEY": "<YOUR_API_KEY>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Available Tools

The MCP Server Giphy provides three main tools:

1. search_gifs

Search for GIFs on Giphy with a query string.

Inputs:

• query (string): Search query term or phrase
• limit (optional number): Maximum number of objects to return (default: 10, max: 50)
• offset (optional number): Results offset (default: 0)
• rating (optional string): Content rating (g, pg, pg-13, r)
• lang (optional string): Language code (default: en)

Returns: Array of GIF objects with metadata

2. get_random_gif

Get a random GIF from Giphy, optionally filtered by tag.

Inputs:

• tag (optional string): Tag to limit random results
• rating (optional string): Content rating (g, pg, pg-13, r)

Returns: Random GIF object with metadata

3. get_trending_gifs

Get currently trending GIFs on Giphy.

Inputs:

• limit (optional number): Maximum number of objects to return (default: 10, max: 50)
• offset (optional number): Results offset (default: 0)
• rating (optional string): Content rating (g, pg, pg-13, r)

Returns: Array of trending GIF objects with metadata

Response Format

Each GIF in the response includes:

• id: Unique Giphy identifier
• title: GIF title
• url: URL to the GIF on Giphy website
• images: Object containing various image formats, each with:
  • url: Direct URL to the image file
  • width: Image width
  • height: Image height
• Additional metadata when available

Starting the Server

If you need to start the server manually:

npx mcp-server-giphy

Make sure your environment has the GIPHY_API_KEY variable set.

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "giphy" '{"command":"npx","args":["-y","mcp-server-giphy"],"env":{"GIPHY_API_KEY":"<YOUR_API_KEY>"}}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For 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 > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

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

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "giphy": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "mcp-server-giphy"
            ],
            "env": {
                "GIPHY_API_KEY": "<YOUR_API_KEY>"
            }
        }
    }
}

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 explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "giphy": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "mcp-server-giphy"
            ],
            "env": {
                "GIPHY_API_KEY": "<YOUR_API_KEY>"
            }
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect