@cyanheads/national-parks-mcp-server
Plan US National Park Service trips — find parks, check alerts and closures, find campgrounds, browse things to do and events via the NPS Data API. STDIO or Streamable HTTP.
6 Tools • 1 Skill
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**Public Hosted Server:** [https://national-parks.caseyjhand.com/mcp](https://national-parks.caseyjhand.com/mcp)
---
## Overview
Plan a National Park Service trip: find a park, check alerts and closures, and browse campgrounds, activities, and events. Covers national parks, monuments, historic sites, and seashores, not state parks, Forest Service, or BLM land.
### Tools
| Tool | Description |
|:---|:---|
| `nps_find_parks` | Resolve a place name, US state, or free-text query to parks — the required first step. Returns each park's `parkCode` plus a trip-planning summary. |
| `nps_get_park` | Full detail for up to ten parks in one batched call: description, activities, fees & passes, hours, contacts, directions, weather overview, images. |
| `nps_get_alerts` | Current alerts for a park or state — closures, hazards, caution, information — with category and recency surfaced first. |
| `nps_find_campgrounds` | Campgrounds at a park or state: amenities, reservable vs. first-come site counts, reservation info, accessibility, and fees. |
| `nps_get_activities` | Curated things to do and points of interest: title, duration, location, accessibility, and fee/pet/reservation flags. |
| `nps_find_events` | Scheduled events within a date range: dates/times, location, category, fee, and registration links. |
## Capability reference
### `nps_find_parks` tool
- Free-text `query`, two-letter `stateCode` (or a comma-separated list such as `"WY,MT,ID"`), and an optional `activity` filter; `limit` 1–50 (default 10) with a `start` offset
- Each park carries its `parkCode` plus designation, states, description, coordinates, headline activities, lowest entrance fee, and NPS page; exact `parkCode` or name matches rank first, and `totalCount` counts every match
---
### `nps_get_park` tool
- Up to **10** `parkCode`s per call; the optional `fields` selector (`activities`, `topics`, `fees`, `hours`, `contacts`, `directions`, `images`) trims the payload to the sections you need
- Always returns name, designation, states, description, coordinates, weather overview, and NPS page; fees and passes by category, hours by area and season, contacts, and up to 5 images (`imagesTruncated` when the park has more)
- Codes that match no site come back as `missingCodes`; the call fails (`no_parks_found`) only when none resolve
---
### `nps_get_alerts` tool
- Filter by `parkCode`, `stateCode`, free-text `query`, and `category` (`Danger`, `Caution`, `Information`, `Park Closure`); `limit` 1–50 (default 20) with a `start` offset
- Most-recent-first, each alert with its category, `lastIndexedDate` recency, and detail; `categoryBreakdown` counts the returned alerts by severity
- The notice tells an all-clear (no alerts at that location) apart from a filter that matched nothing and a page past the end
---
### `nps_find_campgrounds` tool
- Filter by `parkCode`, `stateCode`, or free-text `query`; `limit` 1–50 (default 15) with a `start` offset
- Per campground: amenities (potable water, showers, dump station, toilets, trash collection, RV access) as yes, no, or unknown; reservable, first-come, and total site counts; reservation guidance and booking URL; lowest fee, accessibility, coordinates, and NPS page
---
### `nps_get_activities` tool
- A **single** `parkCode` or a **single** `stateCode` is required, plus an optional `query`; `limit` 1–50 (default 15) with a `start` offset
- Per activity: title, short description, time commitment, location, coordinates, accessibility, season, reservation-required and pets-permitted flags, fee description, and NPS page
---
### `nps_find_events` tool
- Filter by `parkCode`, `stateCode`, or `query` within a `dateStart` / `dateEnd` window (`YYYY-MM-DD`); pages by `pageNumber` and `pageSize` (1–50, default 15), not by offset
- Per event: title, date range, `occurrenceDates` inside the window (`isRecurring` marks a series), time slots, location, category, fee, and registration and info URLs
- Errors NPS reports alongside results fold into the notice instead of failing the call
## Features
Built on [`@cyanheads/mcp-ts-core`](https://github.com/cyanheads/mcp-ts-core): stdio and Streamable HTTP transports, pluggable auth (`none` / `jwt` / `oauth`), swappable storage (`in-memory`, `filesystem`, `Supabase`, `Cloudflare KV/R2/D1`), structured logging with optional OpenTelemetry tracing.
NPS-specific:
- One service wrapping the NPS Data API (`developer.nps.gov/api/v1`, `X-Api-Key` auth) across six trip-planning endpoints
- Aggressive normalization of NPS's inconsistent payloads — numeric and boolean fields returned as strings, nested values (`campsites.totalSites`), array-typed amenity fields, and the distinct `/events` envelope with lowercased field names — coerced to clean domain types before they reach handlers
- `nps_get_park` batches up to ten park codes into a single upstream request
- Light retry on transient upstream failures (5xx / network); a missing or invalid key fails loud and names `NPS_API_KEY`
- Coordinates returned by `nps_find_parks` / `nps_get_park` feed weather servers (`nws-weather`, `open-meteo`) for a forecast
Agent-friendly output:
- Visit-planning guidance — the published [`national-parks-guide`](./skills/national-parks-guide/SKILL.md) skill checks park identity, access, reservation evidence, and event dates. It ships with plugins, npm, Docker, and MCPB, and MCP clients discover it through the Skills extension (`skill://national-parks-guide/SKILL.md`).
- Result-set context on every response — `totalCount`, truncation (`truncated` / `shown` / `cap`), applied-filter echo, and empty-result notices reach both the structured and text surfaces
- Many parks list no campgrounds, curated activities, or events; an empty result comes back with a notice on where else to look, never as an error
- The `parkCode`-first workflow is encoded in every tool description; `nps_get_park` returns `missingCodes` so a wrong code self-corrects
- Uncertainty preserved, never fabricated — missing coordinates, directions, fees, and amenity values come back `null`, not a guess; coordinates are never invented for downstream weather lookups
## Getting started
Connect to the hosted instance, no install:
```sh
claude mcp add --transport http national-parks-mcp-server https://national-parks.caseyjhand.com/mcp
```
Or run it locally:
```sh
claude mcp add national-parks-mcp-server -e NPS_API_KEY=your-key -- npx -y @cyanheads/national-parks-mcp-server
```
For other clients, add this to the MCP config file:
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"national-parks-mcp-server": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@cyanheads/national-parks-mcp-server"],
"env": {
"NPS_API_KEY": "your-api-key"
}
}
}
}
```
Get a free [NPS Data API key](https://www.nps.gov/subjects/developer/get-started.htm). For Docker or a source build, see [Running the server](#running-the-server).
## Configuration
All configuration is validated at startup via Zod schemas. Key environment variables:
| Variable | Description | Default |
|:---|:---|:---|
| `NPS_API_KEY` | **Required.** NPS Data API key, sent as the `X-Api-Key` header. The server fails to start without it. | — |
| `NPS_BASE_URL` | NPS Data API base URL override (testing / proxy). | `https://developer.nps.gov/api/v1` |
| `MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE` | Transport: `stdio` or `http`. | `stdio` |
| `MCP_HTTP_PORT` | Port for the HTTP server. | `3010` |
| `MCP_HTTP_ENDPOINT_PATH` | Path where the MCP server is mounted. | `/mcp` |
| `MCP_SESSION_MODE` | Session handling: `auto`, `stateful`, or `stateless`. The schema default `auto` resolves to stateful; this server sets `stateless` explicitly. MCP 2026-07-28 is sessionless in either mode. | `stateless` |
| `MCP_AUTH_MODE` | Auth mode: `none`, `jwt`, or `oauth`. | `none` |
| `MCP_LOG_LEVEL` | Log level (RFC 5424). | `info` |
| `LOGS_DIR` | Directory for log files (Node.js only). | `/logs` |
| `LOG_TOOL_FAILURE_PAYLOADS` | Log each failed tool call's arguments and result, redacted by key name and capped at `LOG_TOOL_FAILURE_PAYLOAD_MAX_BYTES` (default `16384`). A secret inside a free-form value is not redacted. | `false` |
| `STORAGE_PROVIDER_TYPE` | Storage backend: `in-memory`, `filesystem`, `supabase`, `cloudflare-kv/r2/d1`. | `in-memory` |
| `OTEL_ENABLED` | Enable [OpenTelemetry instrumentation](https://github.com/cyanheads/mcp-ts-core/tree/main/docs/telemetry) (spans, metrics, completion logs). | `false` |
See [`.env.example`](./.env.example) for the full list of optional overrides.
## Running the server
### Local development
Requires [Bun v1.4](https://bun.sh/) or higher (or Node.js v24+) and an NPS Data API key.
- **Clone and install:**
```sh
git clone https://github.com/cyanheads/national-parks-mcp-server.git
cd national-parks-mcp-server && bun install
cp .env.example .env # set NPS_API_KEY
```
- **Build and run:**
```sh
# One-time build
bun run rebuild
# Run the built server
bun run start:stdio
# or
bun run start:http
```
- **Run checks and tests:**
```sh
bun run devcheck # Lint, format, typecheck, security
bun run test # Vitest test suite
bun run lint:mcp # Validate MCP definitions against spec
```
### Docker
```sh
docker run --rm -e NPS_API_KEY=your-key -p 3010:3010 ghcr.io/cyanheads/national-parks-mcp-server:latest
```
The image defaults to HTTP transport, stateless session mode, and logs to `/var/log/national-parks-mcp-server`. To run over stdio, use `docker run -i --rm -e MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE=stdio -e NPS_API_KEY=your-key ghcr.io/cyanheads/national-parks-mcp-server:latest`. Build locally with `docker build -t national-parks-mcp-server .`; OpenTelemetry peers are installed by default — add `--build-arg OTEL_ENABLED=false` to omit them.
## Project structure
| Directory | Purpose |
|:---|:---|
| `src/index.ts` | `createApp()` entry point — registers the six tools and inits the NPS service. |
| `src/config` | Server-specific environment variable parsing and validation with Zod. |
| `src/mcp-server/tools` | Tool definitions (`*.tool.ts`). |
| `src/services/nps` | NPS Data API service — HTTP client, retry boundary, error-envelope detection, and all upstream normalization. |
| `skills/` | Published visit-planning guidance for agents using the tools, also served over MCP. |
| `framework-skills/` | Development guidance synced from the framework. |
| `tests/` | Unit and integration tests mirroring `src/`. |
## Development guide
See [`AGENTS.md`](./AGENTS.md) / [`CLAUDE.md`](./CLAUDE.md) for development guidelines and architectural rules. The short version:
- Handlers throw, framework catches — no `try/catch` in tool logic
- Use `ctx.log` for request-scoped logging, `ctx.state` for tenant-scoped storage
- Register new tools in the `createApp()` arrays
- Wrap the external API: validate raw → normalize to domain type → return output schema; never fabricate missing fields
## Data & attribution
Data is retrieved from the [NPS Data API](https://developer.nps.gov/) operated by the U.S. National Park Service. Content produced by NPS employees in their official capacity is a U.S. Government work in the public domain (17 U.S.C. §§ 101 and 105). No claim to original U.S. Government works.
Not all content returned by the API is government-authored. Some images and materials carry third-party copyright or other restrictions — check individual item rights before reuse.
The NPS Arrowhead symbol is a restricted mark protected under 18 U.S.C. § 701. It must not be reproduced or reused without written permission from the NPS Director.
## Contributing
Issues are welcome. Run checks and tests before submitting:
```sh
bun run devcheck
bun run test
```
## License
Apache-2.0 — see [LICENSE](LICENSE) for details.