Pixabay MCP server

The Pixabay MCP server enables AI assistants to search Pixabay's image and video libraries through a Model Context Protocol interface, providing structured results with validation to ensure reliable access to media resources.

Installation

Using npx (Recommended)

Add this configuration to your Claude Desktop configuration file:

• On MacOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• On Windows: %APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pixabay-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["pixabay-mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "PIXABAY_API_KEY": "your_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Local Installation Alternative

1. Clone and build the project:

git clone https://github.com/zym9863/pixabay-mcp.git
cd pixabay-mcp
npm install
npm run build

2. Add the server configuration to your Claude Desktop config file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pixabay-mcp": {
      "command": "/path/to/pixabay-mcp/build/index.js",
      "env": {
        "PIXABAY_API_KEY": "your_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

API Key Setup

You'll need a Pixabay API key to use this server. Obtain your key from Pixabay API Documentation. The same key works for both image and video endpoints.

Configuration

The server can be configured using these environment variables:

Name	Required	Default	Description
PIXABAY_API_KEY	Yes	-	Your Pixabay API key
PIXABAY_TIMEOUT_MS	No	10000 (planned)	Request timeout in milliseconds
PIXABAY_RETRY	No	0 (planned)	Number of retry attempts

Available Tools

Image Search

The search_pixabay_images tool allows you to search for images with these parameters:

• Required: query (string) - Your search term
• Optional:
  • image_type (all|photo|illustration|vector)
  • orientation (all|horizontal|vertical)
  • per_page (3-200) - Number of results to return

Video Search

The search_pixabay_videos tool lets you search for videos:

• Required: query (string) - Your search term
• Optional:
  • video_type (all|film|animation)
  • orientation (all|horizontal|vertical)
  • per_page (3-200) - Number of results to return
  • min_duration - Minimum video length
  • max_duration - Maximum video length

Response Format

Currently, the server returns human-readable text responses. Here's an example:

Found 120 images for "cat":
- cat, pet, animal (User: Alice): https://.../medium1.jpg
- kitten, cute (User: Bob): https://.../medium2.jpg

In future versions, structured JSON responses will be available for easier integration with automation workflows.

Debugging

Since MCP servers communicate over stdio, you can use the MCP Inspector for debugging:

npm run inspector

This will provide a URL to access debugging tools in your browser.

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 "pixabay-mcp" '{"command":"/path/to/pixabay-mcp/build/index.js","env":{"PIXABAY_API_KEY":"your_api_key_here"}}'

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": {
        "pixabay-mcp": {
            "command": "/path/to/pixabay-mcp/build/index.js",
            "env": {
                "PIXABAY_API_KEY": "your_api_key_here"
            }
        }
    }
}

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": {
        "pixabay-mcp": {
            "command": "/path/to/pixabay-mcp/build/index.js",
            "env": {
                "PIXABAY_API_KEY": "your_api_key_here"
            }
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect