Mapbox MCP Server

The Mapbox MCP Server turns an AI assistant into a tool with spatial awareness. Instead of guessing addresses, distances, or travel times from memory, the assistant calls Mapbox's location services and works with real geodata. The server is maintained by Mapbox itself and implements the Model Context Protocol (MCP), so it works with Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Codex, VS Code, or Goose.

What is the Mapbox MCP Server?

Mapbox runs a platform for maps and location services that sits inside many navigation, logistics, and real-estate applications. According to the provider, the MCP server bundles more than 30 tools behind a single interface and connects them to AI clients. That lets you answer questions such as "Which cafés are within a ten-minute walk of the central station?" or "In what order should I visit five customers most efficiently?" in plain language, without writing API calls yourself.

Features and tools

The tools fall into several groups. Search and geocoding convert addresses into coordinates and back, find places by category, and return details such as opening hours. Routing calculates directions with traffic options, travel-time matrices between several points, isochrones as reachability zones, map matching for GPS traces, and optimisation of stop order. For visualisation, the server generates static map images and, in clients that support MCP Apps, interactive maps directly in the chat.

The offline tools are especially handy. They compute purely locally and therefore cause no API calls according to the README: distance, bearing, midpoint, area, buffers, bounding boxes, line simplification, and union, intersection, and difference of polygons. For data-analysis tasks around GeoJSON this is a real advantage, because the assistant no longer has to laboriously reimplement geometric operations.

Setup

The easiest route is the hosted endpoint at https://mcp.mapbox.com/mcp. On the first connection the client walks you through an OAuth login in the browser, and no local installation is required. If you prefer to run the server yourself, install the npm package @mapbox/mcp-server or build the Docker image from the repository and provide a Mapbox access token as an environment variable. According to the documentation, the token is used locally. Guides for Claude Desktop, VS Code, Cursor, and Goose are included in the repository.

Costs and licence

The server itself is open source under the MIT licence. The API-based tools require a Mapbox account, which can be created free of charge. Which quotas are included and when paid usage begins is governed by Mapbox on its official pricing page. The offline tools work without API costs.

Who is the Mapbox MCP Server for?

It suits developers who want to explore location features with an assistant in a prototype, teams in logistics, sales, or real estate who analyse routes, catchment areas, and accessibility, and analysts who want to evaluate geodata and present it as a map. Compared with a plain web search, the server returns reproducible, structured results from a specialised mapping provider. If you already use Mapbox, you save glue code. If you do not want to use Mapbox data, you need another provider, because the server is tied to this platform.

Security and limits

Requests reach Mapbox's services, so location data and search terms leave your own machine. Only pass confidential customer addresses after reviewing Mapbox's privacy terms. Access tokens belong in environment variables rather than prompts or repositories, and a dedicated token scoped as narrowly as possible limits the damage in case of misuse. Some tools, such as place details, are still in a preview phase according to the documentation and may change.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Mapbox MCP Server free? The server is open source. Using Mapbox services depends on your account and its quotas.

Do I need my own token? With the hosted endpoint the OAuth login is enough, while local setups need a Mapbox access token.

Do interactive maps work everywhere? Only in clients that support MCP Apps. Other clients receive a static map image instead.

Free Mapbox account, MCP client (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Codex, VS Code, Goose, etc.), and either an OAuth login for the hosted endpoint or a Mapbox access token for local operation (Node.js).

Hosted: claude mcp add --transport http mapbox https://mcp.mapbox.com/mcp and complete the OAuth login in the browser. Local: install the npm package @mapbox/mcp-server and set MAPBOX_ACCESS_TOKEN as an environment variable.

claude mcp add --transport http mapbox https://mcp.mapbox.com/mcp

OAuth login in the browser for the hosted endpoint; Mapbox access token as an environment variable for local operation.

Permissions follow the Mapbox account or the scope of the access token. The tools read and compute location data; they do not modify customer data.

API-based tools send coordinates, addresses, and search terms to Mapbox. The offline geospatial tools compute locally without an API call.

Transmission of location and address data to a third party, access tokens in insecure configurations, unexpected API costs under heavy use, and preview tools whose behaviour may change.