The full upstream README, mirrored here for reference. Install config, tool schemas, adoption signals, and an original overview live on the Unusual Whales MCP listing page.
Inspired by erikmaday/unusual-whales-mcp - the original community MCP server for Unusual Whales by Erik Maday.
The official Unusual Whales MCP server. Connect any MCP-compatible client to 200+ market data endpoints covering options flow, dark pool, congressional trading, Greek exposure, volatility, futures, and more.
Get your key at unusualwhales.com/settings/api-dashboard.
Remote (recommended) — no install, connects to the hosted endpoint:
Claude Desktop does not natively support remote MCP servers yet, so we use
mcp-remoteto bridge the connection. Requires Node.js 18+.
After adding the config, fully quit and reopen your AI assistant. Just saving the file is not enough — the MCP server connects at startup.
Config file locations:
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json.cursor/mcp.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json.vscode/mcp.json~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json| Problem | Fix |
|---|---|
| Server not connecting | Make sure the URL is exactly https://api.unusualwhales.com/api/mcp. Common mistake: using unusualwhales.com/public-api/mcp (that's the docs page, not the server). |
| Tools not appearing | Fully quit and reopen your client after adding the config. Verify your JSON has no trailing commas. |
| 401 Unauthorized | Check your API key is correct and active. Remote config needs "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY" in the --header arg. Local config needs UW_API_KEY in env. |
| npx not found (nvm users) | Claude Desktop doesn't inherit your shell PATH. Use the full path to npx in the command field (e.g. /Users/you/.nvm/versions/node/v20.x.x/bin/npx) and add "env": { "PATH": "/Users/you/.nvm/versions/node/v20.x.x/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin" }. |
Once connected, just ask about the market in natural language:
The server exposes tools across 16 data categories. Your MCP client will call them automatically based on your questions.
| Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| Stock | Options chains, Greeks, IV rank, OHLC candles, max pain, OI, volatility, quotes |
| Options | Contract flow, historic prices, intraday data, volume profiles |
| Flow | Options flow alerts, the full trades tape, multi-leg strategies, net flow by expiry, sector flow |
| Dark Pool | Transactions with NBBO context, price level filtering, volume by price level |
| Futures (Premium) | CME contracts, cross-contract flow, time & sales, OHLCV candles, session stats — requires the Advanced tier or futures add-on |
| Congress | Congressional trades, late filings, individual member activity |
| Politicians (Premium) | Portfolios, recent trades, holdings by ticker — contact support to upgrade |
| Insider | Insider transactions, sector flow, ticker flow |
| Institutions | 13F filings, holdings, sector exposure, ownership changes |
| Market | Market tide, sector tide, economic calendar, FDA calendar, correlations |
| Earnings | Premarket and afterhours schedules, historical earnings |
| ETF | Holdings, exposure, inflows/outflows, sector weights |
| Shorts | Short interest, FTDs, short volume ratio, borrow rates |
| Seasonality | Monthly performers, yearly patterns, historical seasonality |
| Screener | Stock screener, options screener, unusual options activity, analyst ratings |
| News | Market news headlines |
The MCP now includes public-style stock tools that map directly to the stock fundamentals and technical indicator endpoints.
| Tool | What it returns |
|---|---|
get_fundamental_breakdown | Filing-based fundamentals, revenue segmentation, EPS, dividends, and balance-sheet trends |
get_stock_financials | Combined financials payload with income statements, balance sheets, cash flows, and earnings |
get_income_statements | Income statement history with optional report_type filter |
get_balance_sheets | Balance sheet history with optional report_type filter |
get_cash_flows | Cash flow history with optional report_type filter |
get_earnings_history | Historical reported/estimated EPS and earnings surprises with optional report_type filter |
get_technical_indicator | Indicator series for SMA, EMA, RSI, MACD, BBANDS, STOCH, ADX, ATR, OBV, VWAP, CCI, WILLR, AROON, and MFI |
The grouped local-package tools uw_fundamentals and uw_technicals remain available for clients that prefer the existing action-based interface.
The server includes 30+ ready-to-use analysis prompts. Ask to use any prompt by name.
| Prompt | What it does |
|---|---|
daily-summary | Market overview with tide, sectors, flow, dark pool |
morning-briefing | Morning tide, earnings, and key activity |
end-of-day-recap | EOD top movers, sectors, and themes |
weekly-expiration | Max pain, gamma, and OI for weekly expiry |
top-movers | Top tickers by net premium and options impact |
| Prompt | What it does |
|---|---|
ticker-analysis | Deep dive: options, dark pool, insiders, catalysts |
options-setup | IV rank, term structure, max pain analysis |
pre-earnings | Historical moves, IV, positioning before earnings |
greek-exposure | Gamma, delta, vanna exposure by strike |
short-interest | Short interest, FTDs, squeeze potential |
option-contract | Deep dive on a specific option contract |
correlation-analysis | Cross-ticker correlation analysis |
| Prompt | What it does |
|---|---|
unusual-flow | Scan for unusual options activity |
dark-pool-scanner | Large dark pool prints and institutional activity |
sector-flow | Options flow sentiment by sector group |
| Prompt | What it does |
|---|---|
congress-tracker | Recent congressional trading with patterns |
politician-portfolio | Portfolio holdings for a specific politician |
insider-scanner | Insider buying/selling patterns |
institutional-activity | 13F filings, holdings changes, sector rotation |
analyst-tracker | Analyst ratings with options flow correlation |
| Prompt | What it does |
|---|---|
earnings-calendar | Earnings with IV and expected moves |
fda-calendar | FDA events with biotech options activity |
economic-calendar | FOMC, CPI, jobs data with positioning |
| Prompt | What it does |
|---|---|
iv-screener | High/low IV rank stocks for options strategies |
bullish-confluence | Bullish flow + dark pool + insider buying |
bearish-confluence | Bearish flow + distribution + insider selling |
news-scanner | Headlines with related options flow |
seasonality | Historical seasonal patterns |
etf-flow | ETF inflows/outflows and exposure |
Chain prompts for deeper analysis:
All optional. The defaults work for most users.
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
UW_API_KEY | required | Your Unusual Whales API key |
UW_RATE_LIMIT_PER_MINUTE | 120 | Max requests per minute |
UW_MAX_RETRIES | 3 | Retry attempts for failed requests |
UW_CIRCUIT_BREAKER_THRESHOLD | 5 | Failures before circuit opens |
UW_CIRCUIT_BREAKER_RESET_TIMEOUT | 30000 | Ms before retrying after circuit opens |
LOG_LEVEL | info | Logging verbosity (debug, info, warn, error) |
UW_ENABLE_PREMIUM_TOOLS | unset | Set to 1/true to expose every premium tool and command |
UW_PREMIUM_TOOLS | unset | Comma-separated allowlist of premium tools/commands to expose, e.g. uw_futures,uw_flow.full_tape |
Every endpoint the server exposes is published as machine-readable JSON, generated from the same catalog the server registers from:
| File | Contents |
|---|---|
docs/endpoints.json | Full JSON Schema for every command's parameters, plus route and query-param renames |
docs/endpoints-compact.json | One row per endpoint — route, description, required/optional params. Use this to find an endpoint, then look it up in the full file |
Both are regenerated with npm run docs and verified in CI, so they cannot drift from the
server. To check the catalog against the live upstream API:
WebSocket channels (/api/socket/*) are intentionally not exposed: MCP is request/response.
Use the REST endpoints directly for streaming.
See CONTRIBUTING.md.
This project builds on the foundational work of Erik Maday, whose unusual-whales-mcp was the first community MCP server for Unusual Whales and demonstrated how to bring market data into the MCP ecosystem.
MIT - see LICENSE.
Originally inspired by the UW community MCP erikmaday/unusual-whales-mcp.