# Opensky [Health: Active]

**Category:** 💻 Developer Tools  
**Repository:** https://github.com/pipeworx-io/mcp-opensky  
**GitHub Stars:** 0  
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**Directory Page:** https://allmcps.com/mcp/opensky

## Description
OpenSky MCP — OpenSky Network API (free, no auth for anonymous access)

## Claude Desktop Quick Installation
Remote MCP endpoint (confidence: high). Install path detected from listing signals. Add as a URL/SSE server in your client:

```json
"mcpServers": {
  "opensky": {
    "url": "https://pipeworx.io"
  }
}
```

## Documentation & README

# OpenSky MCP

Live aircraft positions and airspace-activity summaries, keyless.

Part of [Pipeworx](https://pipeworx.io) — an MCP gateway connecting AI agents to 1476+ live data sources.

## Auth

None. No key, no signup.

## What this pack actually calls

**Not OpenSky.** OpenSky Network blackholes datacenter egress — the connection
hangs with no response and no reset, from Cloudflare Workers and from a non-CF
relay alike, with valid OAuth2 credentials. It works from a residential IP,
which is what makes it look fixable; it is not, and credentials do not change
it. Do not spend time trying again.

The tools keep the OpenSky names because that is what agents reach for, and
serve the same live picture from the keyless community ADS-B mirrors:
[adsb.lol](https://api.adsb.lol) → [airplanes.live](https://api.airplanes.live)
→ [adsb.fi](https://opendata.adsb.fi), tried in that order. Every response
carries a `source` field naming the mirror that answered and a `note` saying
the data is not OpenSky's.

State vectors are returned in **OpenSky's field names and units** — metres and
m/s, not readsb's feet and knots — so code written against the OpenSky shape
keeps working rather than silently misreading altitudes.

## Tools

| Tool | Call it as | Returns |
|---|---|---|
| `get_states` | `opensky_get_states` | Live state vectors, filtered by `icao24` or by `lat`/`lon`/`radius_nm` |
| `get_aircraft` | `opensky_get_aircraft` | Where one aircraft is right now, by ICAO24 hex |
| `get_flights` | `get_flights` | Historical flight legs — **not available**, returns an explicit not-available result naming what does work |
| `airspace_activity` | `airspace_activity` | Aircraft count, country breakdown, altitude and airborne split over a named region |

Two of these names are also exported by other packs (`country-state-city` has
its own `get_states`; `flights` and `adsb` both have `get_aircraft`), so on the
full catalog the gateway exposes this pack's as `opensky_*`. The middle column
is what you actually call there. On a scoped connection — `/opensky/mcp` — the
bare names work, because there is nothing to collide with.

## What is not available, and why

Historical endpoints. The community mirrors are live-only, and OpenSky is the
only source of "which airports did this aircraft fly between last Tuesday".
`get_flights` therefore returns `found: false` with a reason rather than
answering a past-window question with a live snapshot.

There is no global "every aircraft right now" query either — the mirrors serve
a circle around a point, so `get_states` needs either an `icao24` filter or a
location. Called with neither, it says so and gives the arguments to retry with.

## Coverage caveats

- Receiver-based. Mid-ocean, and areas with few ground receivers, are thin.
- Military and state aircraft routinely disable transponders, so
  `airspace_activity` undercounts non-civilian traffic. Read it as a
  civilian-aviation normalcy signal, not an order of battle.
- Regions larger than the feeds can cover in one pass report
  `coverage: "partial"`, and their counts are a **floor**, not a total.
- `origin_country` is derived from the ICAO 24-bit address block, which is
  allocated by country of registration — it is not transmitted by the aircraft.
  Only blocks confirmed against live registrations are mapped (validated at
  1,125 aircraft agreeing, 0 conflicts); anything else reports `unknown`
  rather than guessing.

## Related

- `flights` — `get_flight_route` (callsign → airline and route),
  `get_arrivals` / `get_departures` (live airport activity inferred from ADS-B)
- `adsb` — the same mirror chain with readsb-native field names and units
- `aviation-weather` — METAR/TAF/SIGMET for the airports involved
- `faa-delays` — FAA ground stops and delay programs for US airports

## Data sources

- https://api.adsb.lol
- https://api.airplanes.live
- https://opendata.adsb.fi

## Quick Start

Add to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.):

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

### What this endpoint actually serves

`tools/list` at `https://gateway.pipeworx.io/opensky/mcp` returns the tools in the table
above **plus the shared Pipeworx meta-tools** — `ask_pipeworx`,
`discover_tools`, `search_within`, `remember`/`recall` and the rest of the
gateway-wide set. So the tool count you see is larger than this table: a
single-pack endpoint currently lists roughly 30 shared tools alongside the
pack's own. The connection's `initialize` response states its exact scope, and
is the authoritative answer for a given day.

This is deliberate, not multiplexing by accident. The meta-tools are what let a
scoped connection answer a question this pack does not cover — via
`ask_pipeworx`, which routes across the whole catalog — without you adding a
second MCP server. There is currently no way to mount a pack endpoint without
them; if the extra schemas cost you more context than the routing is worth,
connect to the full gateway once rather than to several pack endpoints.

Or connect to the full Pipeworx gateway to get every pack's tools listed
directly, instead of just this one's:

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

Both URLs reach the same gateway and the same 1476+ data sources. The
only difference is which pack's tools are listed **directly**; `ask_pipeworx`
reaches all of them from either one.

## Using with ask_pipeworx

Instead of calling tools directly, you can ask questions in plain English —
this works on the pack endpoint above as well as on the full gateway:

```
ask_pipeworx({ question: "your question about Opensky data" })
```

The gateway picks the right tool and fills the arguments automatically.

## More

- [Docs and guides](https://pipeworx.io/docs)
- [pipeworx.io](https://pipeworx.io)

## License

MIT