# kkjdaniel/bgg-mcp [Health: Active]

**Category:** 🎮 Gaming  
**Repository:** https://github.com/kkjdaniel/bgg-mcp  
**GitHub Stars:** 52  
**Views:** 5  
**Installs:** 0  
**Upvotes:** 0  
**Directory Page:** https://allmcps.com/mcp/kkjdaniel-bgg-mcp

## Description
An MCP server that enables interaction with board game related data via the BoardGameGeek API (XML API2).

## Tools
Capabilities this server exposes over MCP:

- **bgg-search** — Search for board games with type filtering (base games, expansions, or all)
- **bgg-details** — Get detailed information about a specific board game
- **bgg-collection** — Query and filter a user's game collection with extensive filtering options
- **bgg-hot** — Get the current BGG hotness list
- **bgg-user** — Get user profile information
- **bgg-price** — Get current prices from multiple retailers using BGG IDs
- **bgg-trade-finder** — Find trading opportunities between two BGG users
- **bgg-recommender** — Get game recommendations based on similarity to a specific game
- **bgg-thread-details** — Get the full content of a specific BGG forum thread including all posts
- **bgg-rules** — Answer rules questions by searching BGG forums for relevant discussions and clarifications

## Claude Desktop Quick Installation
Heuristic fallback — verify the package name and runner against the repository README before running it. Uses `npx` (confidence: low):

```json
"mcpServers": {
  "bgg-mcp": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["-y","kkjdaniel-bgg-mcp"],
    "env": {
      "BGG_API_KEY": "",
      "BGG_COOKIE": "",
      "BGG_USERNAME": ""
    }
  }
}
```

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

## Documentation

## What kkjdaniel/bgg-mcp MCP server does

The kkjdaniel/bgg-mcp MCP server gives an MCP-compatible assistant access to BoardGameGeek data through the XML API2. It covers both public-style discovery and user-specific workflows, including searching for games, inspecting detailed records, reviewing collections, checking user profiles, and viewing the current BGG hotness list.

Available tools include:

- `bgg-search` for base games, expansions, or all result types.
- `bgg-details` for information about a specific game.
- `bgg-collection` for filtering a user’s collection.
- `bgg-hot` and `bgg-user` for trending games and profile data.
- `bgg-price` for retailer price comparisons using BGG IDs.
- `bgg-trade-finder` for comparing trading opportunities between two users.
- `bgg-recommender` for games similar to a selected title.
- `bgg-thread-details` for retrieving every post in a forum thread.
- `bgg-rules` for searching forum discussions related to rules questions.

The server also exposes `bgg://hotness` and `bgg://my-collection` resources. The personal collection resource requires `BGG_USERNAME`. Included prompts support generating a sales post from a for-trade collection and producing recommendations from a collection and preferences.

## How it works

The project is written in Go and uses the GoGeek v3 library to communicate with BoardGameGeek. Most tools require authentication to access the BGG API. Authentication can use either a BoardGameGeek API key or a BGG cookie.

Price results come from BoardGamePrices.co.uk and can cover multiple retailers. Recommendation results come from Recommend.Games and are based on similarity derived from BoardGameGeek data. The experimental `bgg-rules` tool searches BGG forums rather than relying only on structured game records; questions should explicitly ask the client to use that tool when needed.

## Setup and configuration

The kkjdaniel/bgg-mcp MCP server can run as the Docker image `kdaniel/bgg-mcp` or as a locally built Go binary. The documented Docker configuration starts the container interactively, removes it after exit, and passes `BGG_API_KEY` and `BGG_USERNAME` into the process.

For a manual installation, build the repository with `make build`, which produces `build/bgg-mcp`, or run `go build -o build/bgg-mcp`. Configure the resulting binary with `-mode stdio`.

Set `BGG_API_KEY` with a key obtained through BoardGameGeek’s API application process. The alternative `BGG_COOKIE` setting provides cookie-based authentication. Set `BGG_USERNAME` when using the personal collection resource or workflows that refer to the current user’s collection.

## Tools and capabilities

The collection tool supports extensive filtering, including examples based on ratings, play counts, player counts, unplayed status, and want or have relationships between users. Search can distinguish expansions from base games. Price queries accept BGG IDs and can compare titles across retailers or currencies such as GBP.

The server is suitable for requests such as identifying games similar to a title, finding games another user wants, checking a user’s BGG profile, reviewing trending games, or locating forum discussions that clarify a game rule.

## Limitations and notes

BGG authentication is required for most tools, so an API key or cookie must be configured before relying on the full tool set. The rules capability is marked experimental and searches forum discussions for relevant explanations; it is not described as an authoritative rules database. The available material does not specify a license or provide native configuration details for clients other than Claude Desktop, VS Code, and Cursor.

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