# Inaturalist [Health: Active]

**Category:** 🌳 Environment & Nature  
**Repository:** https://github.com/pipeworx-io/mcp-inaturalist  
**GitHub Stars:** 0  
**npm Downloads (last month):** 440  
**Views:** 3  
**Installs:** 0  
**Upvotes:** 0  
**Directory Page:** https://allmcps.com/mcp/inaturalist

## Description
iNaturalist MCP — citizen-science species observations (free, no auth for read-only)

## Tools
Capabilities this server exposes over MCP:

- **search_observations** — Search citizen-science wildlife observations on iNaturalist — ANY organism: plants, fungi, insects, birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians. This is the tool for "sightings/observations of <species> in <place> in <year>". Filter by taxon name (scientific or common, e.g. "Leucanthemum vulgare"/"oxeye daisy", "Pandion haliaetus"/"osprey"), place name ("Yukon", "California"), year, threatened status, or quality grade. Returns photographed sightings with coordinates, dates, and observer info. Pairs well with GBIF for cross-validation.
- **search_taxa** — Search iNaturalist taxa by name (common or scientific). Returns taxon ID, rank, ancestry, conservation status, and photo URL. Use the taxon ID for downstream filters or to disambiguate look-alike species.
- **top_species** — Most-frequently-observed species in a place over a date range. Auto-resolves place name to place_id. Returns ranked species with observation counts and taxonomic info. Great for "what wildlife lives here?" questions.

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

```json
"mcpServers": {
  "inaturalist": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["-y","@pipeworx/mcp-inaturalist"]
  }
}
```

## Documentation

## What Inaturalist does

Inaturalist exposes read-only access to iNaturalist citizen-science data through MCP. It covers observations of any organism, including plants, fungi, insects, birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. The integration is independent and unofficial; it is not affiliated with or endorsed by iNaturalist.

Three domain tools form the main interface:

- `search_observations` finds sightings using optional taxon, place, year, threatened-status, quality-grade, and page-size filters. Results include photographed observations with coordinates, dates, and observer information.
- `search_taxa` looks up common or scientific names and returns taxonomic identifiers, rank, ancestry, conservation status, and a photo URL.
- `top_species` ranks the most frequently observed species for a place, optionally over a year or date range, and includes observation counts and taxonomic details.

## How it works

The hosted MCP endpoint forwards requests to the public iNaturalist REST API at `https://api.inaturalist.org/v1/`. Read-only requests require no iNaturalist key or account. Taxon and place names can be resolved automatically, while a taxon ID returned by `search_taxa` can help disambiguate similar names or support later filtering.

Connect an MCP client to `https://gateway.pipeworx.io/inaturalist/mcp` to use the hosted version. The same gateway also provides a full endpoint at `https://gateway.pipeworx.io/mcp`; the pack endpoint lists the Inaturalist tools directly, while the full endpoint lists tools from the wider Pipeworx catalog. The pack endpoint also exposes shared Pipeworx meta-tools, including `ask_pipeworx`, `discover_tools`, `search_within`, and memory tools. `ask_pipeworx` can route a natural-language request across the gateway’s catalog.

The service can also be called without an MCP client through HTTP. Tool requests use endpoints such as `/v1/tools/search_observations`, and tool metadata can be inspected with a GET request to the corresponding tool path.

## Setup and configuration

For a hosted connection, add the MCP URL to the client configuration:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "inaturalist": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/inaturalist/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

A local npm bridge starts with `npx` and forwards requests to the same hosted gateway:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "inaturalist": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@pipeworx/mcp-inaturalist"]
    }
  }
}
```

The npm bridge needs network access and has no offline mode. Anonymous use is limited to 50 calls per day. A free Pipeworx account and `PIPEWORX_API_KEY` raise the allowance to 200 calls per day; the key is sent as a Bearer token. Set `PIPEWORX_META_TOOLS=1` if the local bridge should also list the shared gateway tools. When using an HTTPS proxy, Node’s fetch behavior may require `NODE_USE_ENV_PROXY=1`, depending on the Node version.

## Tools and capabilities

`search_observations` fits questions such as sightings of a species in a region during a particular year. It accepts common or scientific taxon names, place names, year, threatened status, quality grade, and result count. `search_taxa` is useful before observation searches when a name is ambiguous. `top_species` resolves a place name to a place identifier and returns ranked species for that location.

Observation results can be paired with GBIF data for cross-validation, although GBIF is not provided by these three tools. The service is read-only, so it is intended for querying and analysis rather than submitting or editing observations.

## Limitations and notes

The integration depends on the hosted Pipeworx gateway and the public iNaturalist API. Local use therefore still requires internet access. Anonymous npm-bridge calls have a daily limit, while authenticated calls are metered through the Pipeworx account. Pack connections include shared gateway schemas in addition to the Inaturalist tools, which can increase the tool list and context size. The MIT-licensed package is an unofficial integration.

_Full upstream README: https://allmcps.com/mcp/inaturalist/readme_