Phototology AI MCP Server

by phototology-aicom.phototology/mcpv2.0.0

Persistent memory for visual intelligence. A photo registry: analyze once, look up free after that.

1Node.jsstdioofficial registry

context tax

pending

security

97/100

cold start

pending

freshness

Activetoday

Our reading of Phototology AI, from the data

Phototology AI is a memory MCP server from phototology-ai, listed in the official MCP Registry.

We haven't measured its tool list yet, so its token cost is unknown.

Maintenance is active: the last public signal was in the last day (2026-10-18). For comparison, 68% of memory servers are active or maintained.

With 1 GitHub stars it ranks #700 of 1,597 memory servers we index.

It runs locally on your machine over stdio and needs one secret (PHOTOTOLOGY_API_KEY); use a scoped, least-privilege key.

Install Phototology AI MCP server

claude mcp add phototology-ai -e PHOTOTOLOGY_API_KEY='<phototology-api-key>' -- npx -y @phototology/mcp

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "phototology-ai": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@phototology/mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "PHOTOTOLOGY_API_KEY": "<phototology-api-key>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json (global) or .cursor/mcp.json (project).

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "phototology-ai": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@phototology/mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "PHOTOTOLOGY_API_KEY": "<phototology-api-key>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Settings → Developer → Edit Config (claude_desktop_config.json), then restart.

{
  "servers": {
    "phototology-ai": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@phototology/mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "PHOTOTOLOGY_API_KEY": "<phototology-api-key>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Add to .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "phototology-ai": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@phototology/mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "PHOTOTOLOGY_API_KEY": "<phototology-api-key>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Add to ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json.

Configuration

Variable	Required	Secret	Description
PHOTOTOLOGY_API_KEY	yes	yes	Your Phototology API key (pt_live_... for production, pt_test_... for the free fixture sandbox). Get one at https://phototology.com/dashboard. New accounts include 1,000 free credits on email verification.
PHOTOTOLOGY_BASE_URL	—	—	Override the API base URL. Defaults to https://api.phototology.com. Used for local development against phototology-api.
PHOTOTOLOGY_MCP_NO_TELEMETRY	—	—	Set to 1 to disable anonymous telemetry: the editor name and version, the package version, and per tool call the tool name, success, duration, error code and counts. Never image content, file paths, tool inputs or outputs, or conversation text.
DO_NOT_TRACK	—	—	Set to 1 to disable telemetry. Same effect as PHOTOTOLOGY_MCP_NO_TELEMETRY; follows the cross-tool convention many CLIs honor.
PHOTOTOLOGY_MCP_ALLOWED_DIRS	—	—	Folders the server may read photos from and write enriched copies to, separated by : (; on Windows). Unset means any local path. Paths are checked after symlinks are resolved.

Security signals

97/100 — no known issues found as of 2026-10-19, from the checks below. This is not a guarantee of safety; review what a server can do before connecting it.

Deductions

No security policy (SECURITY.md)-3

Checks

✓Repository hygiene (archived, activity, license, security policy)
○Package metadata (install scripts, provenance) — pending
○Tool descriptions (prompt-injection and hidden-text heuristics) — pending
○Source scan (secrets, CVEs, risky code) by vectra-guard — pending

Scan it yourself before installing with vectra-guard, the open-source agent security CLI. Scoring rules

Freshness

Active — last maintenance signal today. The newest of the signals below sets the band.

Last commit (default branch)
2026-10-18 · today · GitHub
Latest release
2026-10-18 · today · GitHub · mcp-v2.0.0
Package published
no data · npm/PyPI
Registry entry updated
2026-10-18 · today · official registry · v2.0.0

How it compares in Memory

Against the most-starred memory servers we index. Token cost is per model turn, measured from each server's live tool list.

Server	Stars	Tools	Tokens / turn	Freshness	Runs
Phototology AI (this)	1	—	not measured	Active	local
Memory	91,356	—	not measured	Active	local
Hindsight	51,304	—	not measured	Active	—
Codebase Memory	46,873	—	not measured	Active	local
Cognee	32,506	—	not measured	Active	—
Honcho	7,681	—	not measured	Active	hosted

All memory MCP servers

FAQ

›How do I install the Phototology AI MCP server in Claude Code?

Run: claude mcp add phototology-ai -e PHOTOTOLOGY_API_KEY='<phototology-api-key>' -- npx -y @phototology/mcp. For Cursor, VS Code, Claude Desktop and Windsurf, use the install tabs above.

›Does Phototology AI require an API key?

Yes. It expects PHOTOTOLOGY_API_KEY, of which 1 is a secret.

›Can I use Phototology AI as a remote (hosted) MCP server?

No hosted endpoint is published; it runs locally over stdio.

›Is Phototology AI in the official MCP registry?

Yes, as com.phototology/mcp.

Sources and method

Official MCP Registry entry: updated 2026-10-18
GitHub repository: fetched 2026-10-19
Package registry (npm / PyPI): listed
Security signals, computed by us: 2026-10-19
Last checked against all sources: 2026-10-19

The description, packages and links come from the maintainer's own published metadata. Token cost, security signals, freshness and the reading above are MCPSkillHub's own measurements; see the methodology. Spot an error? Request a correction or claim the listing.