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Wikipedia MCP Image Crawler: Legal Sourcing & Seamless Integration - MCP Implementation

Wikipedia MCP Image Crawler: Legal Sourcing & Seamless Integration

Find, source, and use Wikipedia images legally—seamlessly integrated with Claude Desktop/Cline for your projects. Compliance meets creativity, hassle-free.

Research And Data
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This tool saved users approximately 12389 hours last month!

About Wikipedia MCP Image Crawler

What is Wikipedia MCP Image Crawler?

This tool is a purpose-built solution for retrieving images from Wikipedia while ensuring legal compliance and seamless integration into development workflows. Designed to address the critical need for verified, public-domain assets, it streamlines access to media through the Wikipedia API, prioritizing accurate attribution and licensing validation. The crawler was originally developed to support academic research projects requiring ethically sourced content, such as historical figure documentation.

How to Use Wikipedia MCP Image Crawler

Installation & Setup

  1. Clone the repository via git clone https://github.com/your-repo
  2. Install dependencies with npm install
  3. Build production-ready files using npm run build

ClaudE Platform Integration

Configure environment variables specifying API endpoints in .env files across platforms. macOS users should ensure ~/Library/Application Support directories have execution permissions. Dockerized deployments require mapping volume paths for persistent storage.

Execution Workflow

  • Search for assets with wiki_search "query" --limit=10
  • Validate metadata via wiki_inspect [asset_id]
  • Export results in CSV/JSON formats for downstream processing

Wikipedia MCP Image Crawler Features

Key Features

Feature Description
Smart Licensing Validation Automatically flags non-free media using ORES scoring algorithms
Dynamic Query Tuning Adaptive search parameters based on historical query performance metrics
Metadata Enrichment Returns 20+ standardized fields including Creative Commons licensing tiers

Use Cases

Academic Research

Automates discovery of legally usable images for peer-reviewed publications requiring CC BY-SA licensing

Educational Content

Powers interactive learning platforms with vetted historical artifacts and cultural heritage materials

Compliance Audits

Identifies licensing discrepancies in existing media libraries through batch validation pipelines

Wikipedia MCP Image Crawler FAQ

FAQ

Dependency Conflicts

Use npm dedupe to resolve version mismatches. Check compatibility matrix for supported Node.js versions

API Rate Limiting

Implement exponential backoff strategies for production deployments. Monitor X-Quota-Remaining headers to optimize request pacing

Licensing Discrepancies

Third-party tools like Creative Commons Licensor can cross-validate findings

Content

Wikipedia MCP Image Crawler

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for searching and retrieving images from Wikipedia Commons. This server provides tools to search for images and fetch detailed metadata through the Wikipedia API.

I created this tool because i needed images of Greek philosopher's. I needed to mak sure i had full attribution and licenses. This will search wikipedia only and download images that are in the public domain and free to use.

Features

Tools

  • wiki_image_search - Search for images on Wikipedia Commons

    • Search by query with customizable result limits (1-50)
    • Returns image URLs, dimensions, MIME types, and sizes
  • wiki_image_info - Get detailed information about specific images

    • Fetches comprehensive metadata including license and author
    • Returns full resolution URLs and description links

Installation

Prerequisites

  • Node.js 18 or higher
  • npm or pnpm package manager

Local Installation

  1. Clone the repository:

    git clone https://github.com/dazeb/wikipedia-mcp-image-crawler.git

cd wikipedia-mcp-image-crawler
  1. Install dependencies:

    pnpm install

  2. Build the server:

    pnpm run build

Integration with Claude

Claude Desktop App

Add the server configuration to your Claude config file:

MacOS :

nano ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Linux :

nano ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Windows :

notepad %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Add this configuration (adjust the path to where you cloned the repository):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "wikipedia-mcp-server": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/wikipedia-mcp-image-crawler/build/index.js"],
      "disabled": false,
      "autoApprove": []
    }
  }
}

VSCode Extensions

Cline VSCode Extension

For the Cline VSCode extension, add to:

MacOS :

~/Library/Application\ Support/Code/User/globalStorage/saoudrizwan.claude-dev/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json

Linux :

~/.config/Code/User/globalStorage/saoudrizwan.claude-dev/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json

Windows :

%APPDATA%\Code\User\globalStorage\saoudrizwan.claude-dev\settings\cline_mcp_settings.json

For VS Code Insiders, replace Code with Code - Insiders in the paths above.

Add this configuration to the JSON file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "wikipedia-mcp-server": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/wikipedia-mcp-image-crawler/build/index.js"],
      "disabled": false,
      "autoApprove": []
    }
  }
}

If the file already contains other MCP servers, add this entry to the existing mcpServers object.

Usage

Once installed, the server provides two main tools:

Image Search

Search for images matching a query:

{
  "name": "wiki_image_search",
  "arguments": {
    "query": "golden gate bridge",
    "limit": 5
  }
}

Image Information

Get detailed metadata for a specific image:

{
  "name": "wiki_image_info",
  "arguments": {
    "title": "File:Golden Gate Bridge.jpg"
  }
}

Development

Running in Watch Mode

For development with auto-rebuild:

pnpm run watch

Debugging

Since MCP servers communicate over stdio, use the MCP Inspector for debugging:

pnpm run inspector

This will provide a URL to access the debugging interface in your browser.

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