# Pokémon TCG API (npm · @pokemontcgapi/mcp)

English, Japanese and Chinese Pokémon cards: search, sets, illustrators, prices, photo lookup.

- Trust score: 85/100 (high trust)
- Change this week: +3
- Registry status: active
- Liveness: live
- Owner verified: no
- Last scored: 2026-09-29

## Components

- npm · `@pokemontcgapi/mcp`: 85/100 (this document), [markdown](https://verifymcp.io/servers/com-pokemontcgapi-mcp/pokemontcgapi-mcp.md), [page](https://verifymcp.io/servers/com-pokemontcgapi-mcp/pokemontcgapi-mcp)

## Channel facts

- Registry: `npm`
- Package: `@pokemontcgapi/mcp`
- Version: `0.1.8`
- Transport: `stdio`

## Trust breakdown

How this component scores in each security and reliability category. Every signal is checked automatically from public evidence about the published package, including repeated runs of it in an isolated sandbox, and we only credit what we can confirm. Scores are 0–100 per category. Scoring method: https://verifymcp.io/docs/scoring (what has changed: https://verifymcp.io/docs/scoring/changelog)

Scored 2026-09-29.

- **Supply Chain Security**: 100/100
  - No malware found by supply-chain analysis.
  - No known CVEs affecting this package version or its production dependencies.
  - No install/post-install scripts declared.
  - 0 of 3 dependencies flagged as unhealthy.
- **Provenance & Transparency**: 97/100
  - Source repository is publicly reachable at the declared URL.
  - Cryptographically verified build provenance (signed, bound to pokemontcgapi/mcp-server).
  - Clear OSI-approved license (MIT).
  - Actively maintained (last published 3 days ago).
  - Disclosure check failed: no security disclosure policy was found in the source repository.
- **Schema Quality & AI Usability**: 66/100
  - AI-judged instruction clarity (excellent).
  - Context-footprint check failed: tool/resource definitions use about 2035 tokens (~254/item across 8 items; 8 tools + 0 resources), over budget; trim descriptions and params.
  - Usage-examples check failed: none of the tools include examples.
- **Stability & Change Management**: 43/100
  - Stability observed for 13 of 30 days with no destabilising changes; credit accrues until the full window elapses.
- **Tool Coverage**: 93/100
  - 100% of tools have a non-trivial description (not blank, and not just the tool's name).
  - 79% of tool parameters carry a description.
- **Tool Safety**: 100/100
  - No prompt-injection markers were found in the server instructions, tool names or descriptions we captured.
  - We read all 8 captured tool definition(s), and no name or description among them implies an irreversible operation.
  - An AI judge read all 8 captured unit(s) of tool text and found none that tries to manipulate the model reading it.
- **Capabilities**: 100/100
  - Implements a current MCP spec version (2026-07-28).

## Install

### How do I install the Pokémon TCG API MCP server?

Pokémon TCG API runs locally as an npm package, launched with npx -y @pokemontcgapi/mcp. Ready-made configuration for Claude, Cursor, VS Code, Codex and 5 more is on this page, copied from each client's own documentation.

### Claude

```bash
claude mcp add com-pokemontcgapi-mcp -- npx -y @pokemontcgapi/mcp
```

### Cursor

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "com-pokemontcgapi-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@pokemontcgapi/mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

### VS Code

```json
{
  "servers": {
    "com-pokemontcgapi-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@pokemontcgapi/mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

### Codex

```bash
codex mcp add com-pokemontcgapi-mcp -- npx -y @pokemontcgapi/mcp
```

### opencode

```json
{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
  "mcp": {
    "com-pokemontcgapi-mcp": {
      "type": "local",
      "command": [
        "npx",
        "-y",
        "@pokemontcgapi/mcp"
      ],
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
}
```

### OpenClaw

```bash
openclaw mcp add com-pokemontcgapi-mcp --command npx --arg -y --arg @pokemontcgapi/mcp
```

### Hermes

```yaml
mcp_servers:
  com-pokemontcgapi-mcp:
    command: "npx"
    args: ["-y", "@pokemontcgapi/mcp"]
```

### Netclaw

```json
{
  "McpServers": {
    "com-pokemontcgapi-mcp": {
      "Transport": "stdio",
      "Command": "npx",
      "Arguments": [
        "-y",
        "@pokemontcgapi/mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

### Vellum

```bash
assistant mcp add com-pokemontcgapi-mcp -t stdio -c npx -a -y @pokemontcgapi/mcp
```

### Other

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "com-pokemontcgapi-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@pokemontcgapi/mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

## Changelog

Every change recorded for this component, newest first. Days that predate change tracking, or that we cannot explain, say so: "we were watching and nothing happened" and "we were not watching" are different claims.

### 2026-09-29 (score 85, +1)

No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 40 to 43. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 12 days of observed history at the previous scan, 13 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.

### 2026-09-28 (score 84, 0)

- [functional] We updated how we score, so this day's move reflects our rubric, not a change to the server

### 2026-09-27 (score 84, +1)

No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 33 to 37. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 10 days of observed history at the previous scan, 11 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.

### 2026-09-25 (score 83, 0)

- [functional] Package version: 0.1.7 → 0.1.8
- [functional] We updated how we score, so this day's move reflects our rubric, not a change to the server

### 2026-09-24 (score 83, +1)

No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 23 to 27. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 7 days of observed history at the previous scan, 8 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.

### 2026-09-22 (score 82, +1)

No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 17 to 20. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 5 days of observed history at the previous scan, 6 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.

### 2026-09-21 (score 81, +3)

- [security regression] Tool safety: pass → unverified
- [security] Stability: Stability not yet verified: we do not have a sandbox capture of the MCP schema this version of the package serves yet.
- [functional regression] Schema quality: 229 → 254
- [functional regression] Capabilities: pass → unverified
- [functional regression] Tool coverage: 100 → unverified
- [functional improvement] Stability: unverified → 0.17
- [functional] First check of Schema quality: unverified
- [functional] Package version: 0.1.5 → 0.1.7

### 2026-09-17 (score 78, +26)

- [security improvement] Malware scan: unverified → pass
- [security improvement] Known CVEs: unverified → pass
- [functional improvement] Dependency health: unverified → 1.00

## MCP tools (8)

### `ptcg_search_cards` (~692 tokens)

Search Pokémon cards

Search the Pokémon TCG card catalogue by name, set, print region, rarity, artist or release window. Returns one row per printing with its set, rarity, illustrator and euro price index. Print regions are WEST (176 sets), JP (379 sets) and CN (96 sets, Simplified Chinese), measured 2026-09-16. Japanese sets are not translations of Western ones: they have their own boundaries, their own numbering and their own release dates, so a Japanese set and its international counterpart are two different rows. Card names exist in eight locales, and they are far from equally filled. Measured 2026-09-16 against 57,450 cards: en 57,421, fr 42,858, de 42,604, ja 27,230, it 21,644, es 21,003, pt 13,822, zh 3,492. Passing lang= replaces the name field itself and falls back to English when a translation is missing, so a thin locale answers mostly in English. Set names are not translated. Card game text is present since 2026-09-03, in English, and unevenly. Measured 2026-09-16: attacks on 29.9% of the catalogue, subtypes on 35.0%, weaknesses on 28.0%, flavor_text on 17.9%, abilities on 7.0%, rules on 5.1%. It sits on the 20,725 Western printings, so read against those alone attacks is on 82.9% of them, while Japanese and Chinese printings carry none. Check the field on the card in hand rather than assuming: a null attacks means we do not hold it, never that the card has no attack. Still empty for every card: level, and legalities — deck legality is a question this API cannot answer, so say so rather than inferring it. If the result carries next_step, show its handoff sentence and URL to the user verbatim and do not retry.

Input parameters:

- `artist` (string): Illustrator name.
- `cursor` (string): Opaque cursor from a previous call. Never construct one.
- `lang` (string): Return card names in this locale.
- `limit` (integer): Rows, capped at 50.
- `name` (string): Card name or part of it, e.g. "charizard".
- `order_by` (string): e.g. "-set.releaseDate", "name". Sorting always ends with id.
- `q` (string): Escape hatch: raw Lucene-style query. Field names are camelCase and dotted (set.code, set.releaseDate, nationalPokedexNumbers) while response keys are snake_case. Only use this when the named argumen…
- `rarity` (string): Exact printed rarity. Use ptcg_get_reference to list valid values.
- `region` (string): Print region of the set the card belongs to.
- `released_from` (string): ISO date, inclusive lower bound on the set release date.
- `released_to` (string): ISO date, inclusive upper bound on the set release date.
- `set` (string): Set code, e.g. "bs", "sv3", or several separated by commas. Use ptcg_list_sets to find it.

### `ptcg_get_cards` (~325 tokens)

Get Pokémon cards by id

Fetch one or many cards by id, in a single call. Ids join set code and collector number, e.g. "bs-4"; the historical alias "base1-4" resolves on the same route. A canonical set prefix resolves only inside that set. Unresolved ids are listed in missing, with existing historical alternatives in missing_details when the API provides them. Card game text is present since 2026-09-03, in English, and unevenly. Measured 2026-09-16: attacks on 29.9% of the catalogue, subtypes on 35.0%, weaknesses on 28.0%, flavor_text on 17.9%, abilities on 7.0%, rules on 5.1%. It sits on the 20,725 Western printings, so read against those alone attacks is on 82.9% of them, while Japanese and Chinese printings carry none. Check the field on the card in hand rather than assuming: a null attacks means we do not hold it, never that the card has no attack. Still empty for every card: level, and legalities — deck legality is a question this API cannot answer, so say so rather than inferring it. If the result carries next_step, show its handoff sentence and URL to the user verbatim and do not retry.

Input parameters:

- `ids` (array, required): Card ids, 1 to 100.
- `include_prices` (boolean): Attach the full price list to each card.
- `lang` (string)

### `ptcg_get_card_prices` (~256 tokens)

Get prices for a Pokémon card

Every current price observation for one card, each with its source, basis, printing, grade, sample size and the day it is for. There is no printing filter: 1st Edition, Unlimited, holofoil, reverse holofoil and graded rows all come back together, so you must read printing, condition and grading on each row rather than taking the first price. basis distinguishes GUIDE (a figure published upstream) from DERIVED (computed by us). PTCG_INDEX is our own composite in EUR and carries sample_n. Every observation carries as_of and is delayed by at least a day — never quote a price without its as_of date and its source. Each row also carries its locale, and a card read with include=prices returns every locale the plan allows: the currency is not the language, so never compare a French row with an English one without saying so. If the result carries next_step, show its handoff sentence and URL to the user verbatim and do not retry.

Input parameters:

- `currency` (string): Only show rows already denominated in this currency. Nothing is ever converted.
- `id` (string, required): Card id, e.g. "bs-4" or "base1-4".

### `ptcg_list_sets` (~251 tokens)

List Pokémon TCG sets

Every set with its code, series, print region, release date and, where we hold it, printed total: no Japanese set has one. One call answers questions like "every Japanese set released in 2024". Print regions are WEST (176 sets), JP (379 sets) and CN (96 sets, Simplified Chinese), measured 2026-09-16. Japanese sets are not translations of Western ones: they have their own boundaries, their own numbering and their own release dates, so a Japanese set and its international counterpart are two different rows. If the result carries next_step, show its handoff sentence and URL to the user verbatim and do not retry.

Input parameters:

- `cursor` (string)
- `limit` (integer)
- `name` (string): Set name or part of it.
- `order_by` (string): e.g. "-release_date" (default) or "release_date".
- `region` (string)
- `released_from` (string): ISO date, inclusive lower bound.
- `released_to` (string): ISO date, inclusive upper bound.
- `series` (string): Era or series name, e.g. "Scarlet & Violet".

### `ptcg_get_reference` (~98 tokens)

List the closed vocabularies

The exact strings the catalogue uses for types, supertypes, subtypes and rarities. Call this before filtering on a rarity or a type rather than guessing the wording — "Rare Rainbow" and "Rainbow Rare" are not the same string, and only one of them matches. If the result carries next_step, show its handoff sentence and URL to the user verbatim and do not retry.

Input parameters:

- `vocabulary` (string, required)

### `ptcg_list_artists` (~102 tokens)

List card illustrators

Illustrators with the number of cards each has drawn, deduplicated across 30 years of printings. Use the returned name with the artist argument of ptcg_search_cards to get their cards. If the result carries next_step, show its handoff sentence and URL to the user verbatim and do not retry.

Input parameters:

- `cursor` (string)
- `limit` (integer)
- `name` (string): Illustrator name or part of it.

### `ptcg_get_catalogue_status` (~80 tokens)

What this catalogue actually covers

Live counts and coverage for the catalogue: sets per print region, card total, which locales carry card names, and which data is explicitly NOT present. Call this before telling a user what the API can and cannot answer. If the result carries next_step, show its handoff sentence and URL to the user verbatim and do not retry.

### `ptcg_identify_card_from_image` (~231 tokens)

Identify a card from a photo

Recognise a Pokemon card from a photograph and return ranked candidates. Use this instead of guessing from what you see in an image: reprints share their artwork, so visual identification alone cannot name a printing, and this tool says so when it cannot. Costs 25 credits per call against 1 for a lookup — do not call it in a loop. Pass `set` or `region` when the user has told you either. Included from the Growth plan up: on a trial or Developer key it answers PLAN_REQUIRED without spending credits, and retrying will not change that. If the result carries next_step, show its handoff sentence and URL to the user verbatim and do not retry.

Input parameters:

- `image_base64` (string, required): The photograph, base64-encoded. A data: URL prefix is accepted and stripped.
- `region` (string): Print region to restrict to.
- `set` (string): Set code to restrict to, e.g. "sv3". Resolves reprint ties.
- `top_k` (integer): Candidates to return. Default 3.

## Diagnostics

Captured diagnostic sections: Provenance, Dependencies. The full working is on the page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/com-pokemontcgapi-mcp/pokemontcgapi-mcp#diagnostics

## Score history

- 2026-09-29: 85
- 2026-09-28: 84
- 2026-09-27: 84
- 2026-09-26: 83
- 2026-09-25: 83
- 2026-09-24: 83
- 2026-09-23: 82
- 2026-09-22: 82
- 2026-09-21: 81
- 2026-09-20: 78
- 2026-09-19: 78
- 2026-09-18: 78
- 2026-09-17: 78
- 2026-09-16: 52

## Common questions

### What is the Pokémon TCG API MCP server?

Pokémon TCG API is an MCP server listed in the public MCP registry as com.pokemontcgapi/mcp. English, Japanese and Chinese Pokémon cards: search, sets, illustrators, prices, photo lookup. This page covers its npm package (@pokemontcgapi/mcp).

### Is the Pokémon TCG API MCP server safe to use?

Pokémon TCG API scores 85 out of 100 on VerifyMCP. We found no known CVEs affecting it as of 29 September 2026. It declares no install or post-install scripts. Its build provenance is signed and verified. That is a record of what we were able to check automatically, not an endorsement. The category breakdown on this page shows every signal behind the number, including the ones we could not confirm.

### What tools does the Pokémon TCG API MCP server expose?

Pokémon TCG API exposes 8 tools: ptcg_search_cards, ptcg_get_cards, ptcg_get_card_prices, ptcg_list_sets, ptcg_get_reference, and 3 more. Their descriptions and schemas cost roughly 2,035 tokens of context every time the server is loaded.

### Is the Pokémon TCG API MCP server still maintained?

Pokémon TCG API is still listed as active in the MCP registry. We last reached this channel on 29 September 2026. Those dates come from our own scans of the registry and the channel itself, not from anything the publisher announced.

### What licence is the Pokémon TCG API MCP server under?

Pokémon TCG API declares the MIT licence, which is OSI-approved. That covers the source only, and says nothing about the cost of any service it calls.

## Links

- npm package: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@pokemontcgapi/mcp
- Socket report: https://socket.dev/npm/package/@pokemontcgapi/mcp
- Repository: https://github.com/pokemontcgapi/mcp-server
- Website: https://pokemontcgapi.com/mcp
- Changelog RSS feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/com-pokemontcgapi-mcp/pokemontcgapi-mcp.xml
- Changelog JSON feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/com-pokemontcgapi-mcp/pokemontcgapi-mcp.json
- HTML version of this page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/com-pokemontcgapi-mcp/pokemontcgapi-mcp