# carvector-mcp [Health: Active]

**Category:** 🚆 Travel & Transportation  
**Repository:** https://github.com/carvectorio/carvector-mcp  
**GitHub Stars:** 1  
**npm Downloads (last month):** 390  
**Views:** 1  
**Installs:** 0  
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**Directory Page:** https://allmcps.com/mcp/carvector-mcp

## Description
Vehicle specs, federal recalls, and OBD-II DTC reference for AI agents via MCP.

## Tools
Capabilities this server exposes over MCP:

- **search_vehicles** — Search the CarVector catalog by year, make, and/or model. Returns matching vehicles with their id and specs. Use this first to resolve a vehicle id, then call get_vehicle or get_recalls with that id.
- **get_vehicle** — Get full specifications for one vehicle by its id (an opaque token returned by search_vehicles). Returns engine, drivetrain, body details, a representative image, and recall count.
- **get_recalls** — Get federal recall campaigns for a vehicle by its id. Returns each campaign with component, summary, consequence, and remedy.
- **lookup_dtc** — Look up an OBD-II diagnostic trouble code (e.g. P0420). Returns the code title, category, severity, and safety/emissions flags. Reference only — does not include repair cost estimates.
- **get_complaints** — Get the owner-complaint signal for a vehicle by its id: an aggregate (totals by component and year, plus crash/fire/injury counts) and the most-recent complaints. Requires a Pro plan or higher.
- **get_tsbs** — Get the manufacturer technical service bulletin (TSB) index for a vehicle by its id — bulletin metadata (id, date, type, affected components, summary), not the documents themselves. Requires a Business plan or higher.
- **get_investigations** — Get federal defect investigations for a vehicle by its id — a leading indicator that often precedes recalls. Returns each action with subject, component, open/close dates, and status. Requires a Business plan or higher.

## Claude Desktop Quick Installation
Install path detected from listing signals. Uses `npx` (confidence: high):

```json
"mcpServers": {
  "carvector-mcp": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["-y","carvector-mcp"],
    "env": {
      "CARVECTOR_API_KEY": ""
    }
  }
}
```

**Requires environment variables:** `CARVECTOR_API_KEY` — the values above are empty placeholders; fill in real credentials before running (see the repository for what each one is for).

## Documentation

## What carvector-mcp MCP server does

carvector-mcp MCP server gives an MCP-compatible agent access to vehicle information served by the CarVector API. Available data includes vehicle records, representative images, engine and drivetrain specifications, federal recalls, owner complaints, manufacturer service-bulletin indexes, federal defect investigations, and OBD-II diagnostic trouble code classifications.

The vehicle catalog is organized by year, make, model, trim, and engine variant. Agents can first resolve a vehicle with `search_vehicles`, then use its identifier for more detailed requests. The DTC reference returns a code's title, category, severity, and safety or emissions flags.

## How it works

The package is a thin client rather than a local database. Each tool call is forwarded to `api.carvector.io` and authenticated with the configured CarVector API key. No vehicle data is bundled with the package, so returned information depends on the API and the account's plan and rate limits.

The normal flow is to search for a vehicle, retrieve its full record, and then request related recalls, complaints, technical service bulletins, or investigations. `lookup_dtc` accepts an OBD-II code directly and does not require a vehicle lookup. The MCP client itself uses API-key authentication; x402 payment support applies to direct HTTP API calls, not this package.

## Setup and configuration

Create a CarVector account and obtain an API key, then provide it as `CARVECTOR_API_KEY` in the MCP client's server configuration. A stdio setup can run the package with `npx -y carvector-mcp`. The command-line `--key` option is also available, although keys passed as arguments may be visible in process listings.

Clients that support HTTP MCP can instead connect to `https://api.carvector.io/v1/mcp` and send the API key as a Bearer authorization header. The local package exits without an API key. Calls count against the account's plan limit and appear in the CarVector dashboard.

## Tools and capabilities

- `search_vehicles`: Finds matching vehicles by year, make, and model, returning identifiers and specifications.
- `get_vehicle`: Returns detailed vehicle data, including engine, drivetrain, body, representative image, and recall count.
- `get_recalls`: Retrieves federal recall campaigns with component, summary, consequence, and remedy fields.
- `get_complaints`: Provides component-level owner-complaint aggregates and recent filings. This requires the Pro plan.
- `get_tsbs`: Returns a manufacturer's service-bulletin index and requires the Business plan. It provides bulletin metadata, not the bulletin documents.
- `get_investigations`: Returns federal defect investigations and requires the Business plan.
- `lookup_dtc`: Classifies an OBD-II code by title, category, severity, and safety or emissions flags.

## Limitations and notes

carvector-mcp MCP server provides reference data; it does not perform repairs or provide repair-cost economics. DTC responses are classifications rather than a complete diagnostic procedure. Vehicle images are representative illustrations, not photographs.

Complaints, service bulletins, and investigations have plan requirements. The client has no built-in dataset and cannot return information independently of the CarVector API. The repository describes the client as open source under the MIT license, while the underlying data is served by CarVector.

The client sends the API key to the CarVector host and is described as having no telemetry, analytics, disk writes, or additional hosts. The repository lists the official MCP SDK as its only package dependency.

_Full upstream README: https://allmcps.com/mcp/carvector-mcp/readme_