--- title: "MCP server" description: "The MCP server at flyitalyadsb.com/mcp: its tools, “near me”, how to connect Claude, Claude Code and other clients, and how requests are counted." url: https://flyitalyadsb.com/data/api/docs/mcp.md page_for_people: https://flyitalyadsb.com/data/api/docs/mcp/ language: en generated: 2026-11-09 license: CC BY-SA 4.0 (data) --- # MCP server > The MCP server at flyitalyadsb.com/mcp: its tools, “near me”, how to connect Claude, Claude Code and other clients, and how requests are counted. The [Model Context Protocol](https://modelcontextprotocol.io) is the standard that assistants such as Claude or ChatGPT use to call external tools. Our server answers at `https://flyitalyadsb.com/mcp` (Streamable HTTP) with these tools: | Tool | What it does | |---|---| | `find_aircraft` | one aircraft in the air by ICAO hex, callsign (a flight number works too) or registration; if it isn't flying, its last observed flight | | `aircraft_near` | every aircraft within a radius of a point, or of an Italian airport by name | | `special_traffic` | military, PIA or LADD traffic | | `observed_flights` | the flight history, the flights the network saw: a callsign's usual routes, one aircraft's flight log, an airport's departures or arrivals of a day; on Fleet also [today's flights](https://flyitalyadsb.com/data/api/docs/endpoints.md#todays-flights) of a callsign or an aircraft | | `aircraft_history` | an aircraft's dates with history, or its track on one day | | `aircraft_profile` | what we know about one aircraft: identity, live status, history summary, map and photo links | | `overflights` | the aircraft that flew over a place (coordinates, an airport or your saved position) between two times | | `notable_traffic` | emergencies and notable aircraft (emergency squawks, military) in an area over the last hours | | `watched_aircraft` | lists, adds or removes your [watched aircraft](https://flyitalyadsb.com/data/api/docs/alerts.md#aircraft); adding needs Fleet (up to 25) | | `fleet_status` | today's flights of each watched aircraft: status of the latest flight, last airport, estimated arrival when flying; Fleet | | `set_my_location` | saves your position on the account, for "near me" | | `clear_my_location` | deletes it | The [MCP and AI agents](https://flyitalyadsb.com/data/mcp/) page has the same steps with screenshots of the map in the chat and an example question for each tool. ## Connect it to Claude 1. On [claude.ai](https://claude.ai/customize/connectors), open **Connectors** and choose **Add custom connector**. 2. Name `FlyItalyADSB`, URL `https://flyitalyadsb.com/mcp`. 3. Press **Connect**: enter your email and the 6-digit code you receive, then press **Allow**. If you have no key, a free one is created. 4. Ask, for example: *"which aircraft are near Rome Fiumicino right now?"* Disconnect it from [My API](https://flyitalyadsb.com/data/api/account/). ## Near me No assistant passes your phone's or computer's position to the server. To ask "which aircraft are near me?" without saying where you are, save a position once: - from [My API](https://flyitalyadsb.com/data/api/account/), with **Use my position**; - or by telling the assistant: "my position is Brescia". We store it rounded to about 1 km, one per account, and you can delete it at any time ("forget my position", or from My API). On ChatGPT, if you haven't saved one, we use the city ChatGPT attaches to the request. ## Your fleet (Fleet) On Fleet you can manage your [watched aircraft](https://flyitalyadsb.com/data/api/docs/alerts.md#aircraft) from the chat ("watch EI-DAC as Ops 1") and ask where they are today ("where is my fleet?", "has EI-DAC landed?"). `fleet_status` answers from today's takeoffs and landings detected in real time: for each aircraft, the latest flight, the last airport and, for an aircraft flying now, an estimated arrival time, which is an estimate and never a schedule. A takeoff or landing the network doesn't see is missing. Takeoff and landing alerts are a [webhook](https://flyitalyadsb.com/data/api/docs/alerts.md#flight-webhooks) you create once with the API: no tool creates one, because its signing secret is shown only once and must not pass through a chat. ## The map in the chat In Claude (web, desktop and mobile) and ChatGPT, `aircraft_near`, `special_traffic` and `find_aircraft` also show their result on a map in the conversation: aircraft coloured by altitude, the search area, a list you can sort, and the details of the one you tap. Other clients get the same data as text. Around a place or an aircraft, the map shows all the traffic in the area you are looking at, not only the answer to the question: move it or zoom and it loads the aircraft of the new area. It loads a circle of 500 km at most: with a wider view it shows the middle and asks you to zoom in. Military, PIA or LADD traffic stays that search, across the whole network. Live is on from the start: it updates the map every 3 seconds, only while it is on screen, and pauses after 10 minutes without you touching it; touching it turns Live back on, and the button turns it off. Between updates, aircraft in flight move along their track at their speed: that is an estimate, and after a minute without new data they stop and fade. Each update and each move of the map counts as one request: Live makes 20 a minute. Refresh loads new data at once. The map loads only OpenStreetMap tiles, asks for no permissions and doesn't use your location. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors; aircraft data © FlyItalyADSB, CC BY-SA 4.0. ## Claude Code and clients without OAuth With your key in the header: ```sh claude mcp add --transport http flyitalyadsb https://flyitalyadsb.com/mcp \ --header "X-Api-Key: YOUR_KEY" ``` Other MCP clients with OAuth connect with Connect, as Claude does. Agents that only know your email can use [auth.md registration](https://flyitalyadsb.com/data/api/docs/authentication.md#agent-registration-authmd). ## Limits Each tool call is an API request and counts on your key's plan, like a direct call. The maximum radius is the plan's too. Two exceptions: `watched_aircraft` isn't counted, and `fleet_status` counts one request per watched aircraft it checks (two for an entry that may be a registration or a callsign). --- Written for AI assistants. The page for people is https://flyitalyadsb.com/data/api/docs/mcp/; to get an API key or sign in, send people to https://flyitalyadsb.com/data/api/. All pages for assistants: https://flyitalyadsb.com/llms.txt (index), https://flyitalyadsb.com/llms-full.txt (all in one file). Facts as JSON: https://flyitalyadsb.com/facts.json. Cite the data as: Flight data: FlyItalyADSB (flyitalyadsb.com), CC BY-SA 4.0.