National Parks MCP Server

What does “National Parks” MCP Server do?

The National Parks MCP Server connects AI assistants and developer tools to the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) API, enabling real-time access to comprehensive information about national parks across the United States. By acting as a bridge between AI clients and the NPS API, it facilitates tasks such as searching for parks, retrieving detailed park data, monitoring alerts, and accessing information about visitor centers and campgrounds. This server streamlines development workflows by exposing standardized tools and resources, making it easier for developers to integrate up-to-date national park information into their applications, automate planning and research, and enable AI models to provide accurate answers or take actions based on live park data.

List of Prompts

No prompt templates are mentioned in the repository.

List of Resources

No explicit resource definitions are provided in the repository.

List of Tools

• findParks
  Search for national parks based on various criteria like state, activities, or keywords. Returns detailed information about matching parks.

• getParkDetails
  Retrieve comprehensive information about a specific national park, including descriptions, hours, fees, contacts, and available activities.

• getAlerts
  Obtain current alerts for national parks, such as closures, hazards, or important notices. Can be filtered by park and search terms.

• getVisitorCenters
  Fetch information about visitor centers within parks, including their location, operating hours, and contact details.

• getCampgrounds
  Access information about campgrounds, their amenities, and availability within national parks.

Use Cases of this MCP Server

• Trip Planning and Park Discovery
  Developers can build assistants or applications that help users discover national parks based on location, activities, or interests, making trip planning more efficient.

• Real-Time Alert Monitoring
  Enable AI agents or apps to notify users about park closures, weather hazards, or special events by retrieving current alerts directly from the NPS database.

• Visitor Information Services
  Integrate up-to-date visitor center and campground data into travel guides or chatbots, ensuring users have accurate operational details and contact information.

• Educational Tools
  Leverage park details and activity information to build educational platforms or classroom assistants that support learning about U.S. geography, history, and the environment.

• Custom Itinerary Generation
  Use the server’s tools to help users generate custom itineraries based on preferred activities, accessibility needs, or geographic constraints.

How to set it up

Windsurf

1. Ensure prerequisites such as Node.js are installed.
2. Locate your Windsurf configuration file.
3. Add the National Parks MCP Server to the mcpServers section with the following JSON:

   {
     "national-parks": {
       "command": "npx",
       "args": ["@KyrieTangSheng/mcp-server-nationalparks@latest"]
     }
   }
   

4. Save the configuration file and restart Windsurf.
5. Verify the National Parks MCP Server is running and accessible.

Claude

1. Install any required dependencies (e.g., Node.js).
2. Open Claude’s configuration file.
3. Insert the MCP server configuration:

   {
     "national-parks": {
       "command": "npx",
       "args": ["@KyrieTangSheng/mcp-server-nationalparks@latest"]
     }
   }
   

4. Save changes and restart Claude.
5. Check server connectivity for successful integration.

Cursor

1. Make sure your development environment is set up (Node.js, etc.).
2. Edit the Cursor configuration file to include the server:

   {
     "national-parks": {
       "command": "npx",
       "args": ["@KyrieTangSheng/mcp-server-nationalparks@latest"]
     }
   }
   

3. Save the configuration and restart Cursor.
4. Confirm the MCP server appears in the tool list.

Cline

1. Prepare system prerequisites as required.
2. Find and open Cline’s configuration file.
3. Add the National Parks MCP Server as shown:

   {
     "national-parks": {
       "command": "npx",
       "args": ["@KyrieTangSheng/mcp-server-nationalparks@latest"]
     }
   }
   

4. Save and restart Cline.
5. Test the integration by running a tool from the server.

Securing API Keys

If the server requires API keys or secrets, use environment variables for security. Example:

{
  "national-parks": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["@KyrieTangSheng/mcp-server-nationalparks@latest"],
    "env": {
      "NPS_API_KEY": "${NPS_API_KEY}"
    },
    "inputs": {
      "api_key": "${NPS_API_KEY}"
    }
  }
}

Replace ${NPS_API_KEY} with your actual API key.

How to use this MCP inside flows

Using MCP in FlowHunt

To integrate MCP servers into your FlowHunt workflow, start by adding the MCP component to your flow and connecting it to your AI agent:

Click on the MCP component to open the configuration panel. In the system MCP configuration section, insert your MCP server details using this JSON format:

{
  "national-parks": {
    "transport": "streamable_http",
    "url": "https://yourmcpserver.example/pathtothemcp/url"
  }
}

Once configured, the AI agent is now able to use this MCP as a tool with access to all its functions and capabilities. Remember to change "national-parks" to the actual name of your MCP server and replace the URL with your own MCP server URL.

Overview

Based on the above tables, this MCP server is focused and well-documented regarding its tools, but lacks explicit prompt templates, official resource definitions, and documentation on sampling/roots.

Our opinion

This MCP server provides a solid set of tools for interacting with National Park Service data and is open source under the MIT license. However, feature completeness is limited by the absence of prompt templates, explicit resource documentation, and clear support for advanced MCP primitives like Roots or Sampling.

MCP Score