SightRadar MCP Server

Face recognition for AI assistants. Index event photos, find every photo a person appears in from one selfie, run batches, manage webhooks and billing, all from Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code or any MCP client.

There are two ways to connect. Both expose the same tools.

	Remote (hosted)	Local (this package)
URL / command	`https://mcp.sightradar.com/mcp`	`npx -y sightradar-mcp`
Sign-in	SightRadar account (email + password, Google or email link), or an API key as a Bearer token	`SIGHTRADAR_API_KEY`
Install	Nothing	Node.js 20+
Images from your computer	No (URLs or base64)	Yes, `file_path`

Remote server (recommended)

Add https://mcp.sightradar.com/mcp as a custom connector. On first use your browser opens sightradar.com, you sign in and choose what the assistant may do. Each connection gets its own revocable key, listed under API keys as MCP: <app name>.

Claude (claude.ai, Desktop): Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector → paste the URL.
ChatGPT: Settings → Apps & Connectors → Create → paste the URL, authentication OAuth.
Claude Code: claude mcp add --transport http sightradar https://mcp.sightradar.com/mcp

Cursor (~/.cursor/mcp.json) / VS Code (.vscode/mcp.json, key servers):

{ "mcpServers": { "sightradar": { "url": "https://mcp.sightradar.com/mcp" } } }

Prefer an API key? Send it as a header instead of signing in:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sightradar": {
      "url": "https://mcp.sightradar.com/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer frs_your_key" }
    }
  }
}

Local server

Create an API key at sightradar.com/dashboard/keys, then:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sightradar": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "sightradar-mcp"],
      "env": { "SIGHTRADAR_API_KEY": "frs_your_key" }
    }
  }
}

That block works in Claude Desktop (claude_desktop_config.json), Cursor, Windsurf, Cline and most clients. Claude Code:

claude mcp add sightradar --env SIGHTRADAR_API_KEY=frs_your_key -- npx -y sightradar-mcp

Variable	Default
`SIGHTRADAR_API_KEY`	(required)	API key
`SIGHTRADAR_SCOPES`	`read,search,write,delete`	Which tool groups to expose. `all` adds `account`; `read` gives a read-only server.
`SIGHTRADAR_FILE_ROOTS`	your home folder	Folders `file_path` may read (separated by `:` on macOS/Linux, `;` on Windows). `none` turns `file_path` off.
`SIGHTRADAR_BASE_URL`	`https://api.sightradar.com`	API base URL
`SIGHTRADAR_TIMEOUT_MS`	`120000`	Per-request timeout
`SIGHTRADAR_DEBUG`	unset	Log each tool call (no arguments or results) to stderr

Tools

Credits: 100,000 credits = US$1. Every billable tool states its price in its description, and accepts an idempotency_key so a retry is never charged twice.

read — free

Tool
`list_collections`	Collections with photo, face and selfie counts; search and paging
`get_collection`	One collection's status and counts (`verify` recounts from the vector store)
`get_deletion_status`	Progress of a collection deletion
`list_batches` / `get_batch` / `get_batch_photos`	Batch jobs, status (one or up to 5000 at once) and per-photo results
`list_webhooks` / `list_webhook_failures`	Webhook endpoints and dead-lettered deliveries
`get_balance` / `get_usage`	Credit balance; usage summary, daily series or storage

search — spends credits, stores nothing

Tool	Credits
`search_faces`	93	Find every photo in a collection containing the person in a selfie (or an embedding)
`search_by_point_id`	62	Repeat a registered selfie's search without re-sending it
`detect_faces`	93	Faces, bounding boxes and quality in an image
`compare_faces`	93 per image	Are two faces the same person?

write — spends credits / stores data

Tool	Credits
`index_photo`	93	Store a photo's faces in a collection
`register_selfie`	93	Store a person's selfie; returns its point id and embedding
`submit_batch`	62 per photo	Up to 1000 photo URLs, index or match, processed in the background
`requeue_failed_batch_photos`	62 per photo	Retry failed batch photos (preview, then execute)
`create_collection` / `recreate_collection`	free
`create_webhook` / `replay_webhook_failures`	free	Signed deliveries for batch and deletion events

delete — free

Tool
`delete_collection`	Soft delete with a 7-day restore window by default; `immediate` or `compliance` erase permanently
`restore_collection`	Undo a soft delete
`delete_photo` / `restore_photo`	Remove or restore one photo's faces
`delete_webhook`	Stop deliveries to an endpoint

account — free, off by default on the local server

Tool
`list_api_keys` / `create_api_key` / `revoke_api_key`	API keys
`get_profile` / `update_profile`	Name and organization
`get_billing_settings` / `update_auto_recharge` / `get_invoice`	Auto-recharge, orders and invoice PDFs
`get_notification_settings` / `update_notification_settings` / `manage_notification_recipient`	Email alerts and extra recipients
`list_team_members`	Organization members

Prompts and resources

Clients that show MCP prompts (Claude's "+" menu, / commands) get three ready-made workflows:

Prompt	What it does
`find_person_in_event`	Checks the balance, searches a collection with a selfie and lists the matching photos
`index_event_photos`	Picks `index_photo` or `submit_batch` by photo count and states the cost before starting
`account_health`	Balance, recent usage, failed batch photos and failed webhook deliveries

Resources: sightradar://docs/pricing-and-limits (credits per operation, rate limits, image and deletion limits) and sightradar://collections/{collection_id} (one collection's counts, needs the read scope).

Images

Image tools take exactly one of:

image_url: a public http(s) URL. SightRadar downloads it, so it must be reachable from the internet.
gcs_key: an object key on the CDN configured for your account.
image_base64: the bytes as base64 or a data: URL. The remote server accepts up to 10 MB; the local server up to 30 MB.
file_path (local server only): a JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF, BMP, TIFF or HEIC file inside SIGHTRADAR_FILE_ROOTS.

Files and base64 data are checked to be real images before anything is uploaded.

Example prompts

"Create a collection called wedding-2026-10 and index every photo in ~/Pictures/wedding."
"Here is a selfie of Priya: which photos in wedding-2026-10 is she in?"
"Submit these 600 photo URLs as a batch into marathon-7 and tell me when it's done."
"How many credits did I spend this week, and on what?"
"Delete the test-event collection." (The assistant confirms first, and the delete can be undone for 7 days.)

Safety

Tools carry MCP annotations (readOnlyHint, destructiveHint), so clients can ask before destructive calls.
Deletes are soft by default. Permanent erasure needs immediate or compliance to be set explicitly.
Scopes limit what a connection can do. A read-only connection cannot spend credits or change data.
The local server reads files only inside SIGHTRADAR_FILE_ROOTS, after resolving symlinks, and only image files.
API errors come back as tool results with the error code, a hint and the request id, never as stack traces.

Troubleshooting

You see	Meaning
`401` / `unauthorized`	The API key was revoked or mistyped. Create a new one at sightradar.com/dashboard/keys; remote connections: reconnect.
`402` / `insufficient_credits`	Top up at sightradar.com/dashboard/billing.
`409` / `duplicate_request_already_processed`	That `idempotency_key` was already used and charged; the earlier call succeeded.
`file_path ... is outside the folders this server may read`	Add the folder to `SIGHTRADAR_FILE_ROOTS` (`:`-separated on macOS/Linux, `;` on Windows).
`429`	Over the per-key request rate (50 per second) or the account's in-flight cap. Wait and retry.

Development

npm install
npm test          # unit tests against a mocked API
npm run build
SIGHTRADAR_API_KEY=frs_... node scripts/smoke.mjs   # free live calls over stdio

createSightRadarServer({ api, scopes }) and TOOLS are exported for embedding the same tools in another host.

SightRadar MCP Server