Skip to content
verify mcp Beta VerifyMCP is currently in beta. If you notice any issues, get in touch and we’ll put it right.

io.github.cyanheads/openaq-mcp-server

REMOTE · OPENAQ.CASEYJHAND.COM · 2 COMPONENTS · SCANNED SEP 22

Find air-quality stations and read pollutant observations from government monitors via OpenAQ v3.

0 this week 82 Trust /100
Trust breakdown (7 categories)

How this component scores in each security and reliability category. Every signal is checked automatically against the live server, and we only credit what we can confirm. How we score → Why this is hard to score →

Endpoint Security66
  • The endpoint's TLS certificate is valid, in date, and uses a strong key. View diagnostics → Pass
  • Authorisation not fully verified: no authorisation is required to call this server, and 7 tool(s) never declared a destructiveHint. The MCP spec treats an absent hint as destructive by default, so we cannot call this surface safe. See how to fix → View diagnostics → Unverified
  • HTTPS is enforced; there's no plaintext access path. View diagnostics → Pass
  • The HSTS (Strict-Transport-Security) header is present. View diagnostics → Pass
  • DNSSEC is configured correctly; the domain's records validate against the full chain to the root. View diagnostics → Pass
Transport & Reachability100
Schema Quality & AI Usability77
  • 100% of prompts and resources have a non-trivial description (not blank, and not just the item's name).Pass
  • AI-judged instruction clarity (excellent).Pass
  • Context-footprint check failed: tool/resource definitions use about 2318 tokens (~289/item across 8 items; 7 tools + 1 resources), over budget; trim descriptions and params. See how to fix → Fail
  • Usage-examples check failed: none of the tools include examples. See how to fix → Fail
Stability & Change Management100
  • No destabilizing schema changes in the last 30 days.Pass
Tool Coverage100
  • 100% of tools have a non-trivial description (not blank, and not just the tool's name).Pass
  • 100% of tool parameters carry a description.Pass
  • Structured output schemas are declared (100% of tools); any adoption earns full credit.Pass
Tool Safety100
  • No prompt-injection markers were found in the server instructions, tool names or descriptions we captured.Pass
  • We read all 7 captured tool definition(s), and no name or description among them implies an irreversible operation.Pass
  • An AI judge read all 9 captured unit(s) of tool text and found none that tries to manipulate the model reading it.Pass
Capabilities100
  • Implements a current MCP spec version (2026-07-28).Pass
Install

How do I install the io.github.cyanheads/openaq-mcp-server server?

io.github.cyanheads/openaq-mcp-server is a hosted endpoint at https://openaq.caseyjhand.com/mcp, so there is nothing to install locally. Ready-made configuration for Claude, Cursor, VS Code, Codex and 5 more is on this page, copied from each client's own documentation.

remote · openaq.caseyjhand.com

# add to Claude Code
claude mcp add --transport http cyanheads-openaq-mcp-server 'https://openaq.caseyjhand.com/mcp'
// .cursor/mcp.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cyanheads-openaq-mcp-server": {
      "url": "https://openaq.caseyjhand.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}
// .vscode/mcp.json
{
  "servers": {
    "cyanheads-openaq-mcp-server": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://openaq.caseyjhand.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}
# ~/.codex/config.toml
[mcp_servers.cyanheads-openaq-mcp-server]
url = "https://openaq.caseyjhand.com/mcp"
// opencode.json
{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
  "mcp": {
    "cyanheads-openaq-mcp-server": {
      "type": "remote",
      "url": "https://openaq.caseyjhand.com/mcp",
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
}
# add to OpenClaw
openclaw mcp add cyanheads-openaq-mcp-server --url 'https://openaq.caseyjhand.com/mcp' --transport streamable-http
# ~/.hermes/config.yaml
mcp_servers:
  cyanheads-openaq-mcp-server:
    url: "https://openaq.caseyjhand.com/mcp"
// ~/.netclaw/config/netclaw.json
{
  "McpServers": {
    "cyanheads-openaq-mcp-server": {
      "Transport": "http",
      "Url": "https://openaq.caseyjhand.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}
# add to Vellum
assistant mcp add cyanheads-openaq-mcp-server -t streamable-http -u 'https://openaq.caseyjhand.com/mcp'
// mcp.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cyanheads-openaq-mcp-server": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://openaq.caseyjhand.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

The mcpServers block is a cross-client convention. Remote transports vary, so check your client's docs.

Changelog

Every change we have recorded for this component, newest first. Security-relevant changes are always shown. ▲ marks a change for the better, ▼ a change for the worse; unmarked changes are neutral.

  • 20 Sept 26 0
    • Server version: 0.1.8 → 0.1.9 functional
    • “openaq_get_measurements” reworded the description of “canvas_id” cosmetic
  • 9 Sept 26 0
    • Stability: 0.97 → pass security
  • 8 Sept 26 +1

    No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 93 to 97. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 28 days of observed history at the previous scan, 29 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.

  • 7 Sept 26 −1
    • Stability: pass → 0.93 functional
  • 29 Aug 26 0
    • Stability: 0.97 → pass security
  • 28 Aug 26 0
    • Stability: pass → 0.97 functional
  • 26 Aug 26 0
    • We updated how we score, so this day's move reflects our rubric, not a change to the server See what changed → functional
  • 25 Aug 26 0
    • Stability: 0.97 → pass security
    • MCP protocol: Implements a current MCP spec version (2026-07-28). functional
    • MCP protocol version: 2025-11-25 → 2026-07-28 functional
    • Server version: 0.1.7 → 0.1.8 functional
Diagnostics

Diagnostic detail from the automated scan of this channel: what the scanner observed at each step, so you can see exactly where a check passed or failed. It is informational only and never changes the trust score.

Captured 22 Sept 2026 · Probed https://openaq.caseyjhand.com/mcp

TLS valid

Negotiated TLS 1.3 with TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 .

Subject Issuer Valid from Valid until Key Signature Serial
CN=caseyjhand.com CN=WE1,O=Google Trust Services,C=US 4 Sept 2026 3 Dec 2026 ECDSA 256 ECDSA-SHA256 a6985204ed51ae050e7738aa6be668e9
SANs: caseyjhand.com, *.caseyjhand.com
CN=WE1,O=Google Trust Services,C=US (CA) CN=GTS Root R4,O=Google Trust Services LLC,C=US 13 Dec 2023 20 Feb 2029 ECDSA 256 ECDSA-SHA384 7ff31977972c224a76155d13b6d685e3
CN=GTS Root R4,O=Google Trust Services LLC,C=US (CA) CN=GlobalSign Root CA,OU=Root CA,O=GlobalSign nv-sa,C=BE 15 Nov 2023 28 Jan 2028 ECDSA 384 SHA256-RSA 7fe530bf331343bedd821610493d8a1b

Background: What to check on a remote MCP endpoint →

DNSSEC secure

Validation of openaq.caseyjhand.com. Secure

Zone DS Keys Algorithms Outcome
. trust_anchor 20326, 38696 8, 8 Verified
com. present 19718 13 Verified
caseyjhand.com. present 2371 13 Verified
openaq.caseyjhand.com. Verified address RRset verified with the apex keys
Authentication No authorisation required

The endpoint answered without asking for a token. Anyone who knows the URL can reach it.

Result No authorisation required
HTTP status 200
Header Value
strict-transport-security max-age=63072000; includeSubDomains; preload
x-content-type-options nosniff

Background: How OAuth 2.1 works in the 2026 MCP spec →

Transports 2 probes
Transport URL Outcome Status Location
streamable-http https://openaq.caseyjhand.com/mcp Verified 200
http (plaintext) http://openaq.caseyjhand.com/mcp HTTPS enforced 301 https://openaq.caseyjhand.com/mcp
MCP tools · 7 exposed · ~2,076 tokens

The tools this component advertises to a client, with an estimated token cost for each. Expand a tool to see its parameters and schema. The per-tool counts are indicative and are not scored directly; the schema's total context footprint is one signal in Schema Quality & AI Usability. A tool's description is untrusted text the model reads on every call, which is what makes this list a security surface and not just an inventory: how tool poisoning works →

Tool Tokens
openaq_dataframe_describe ~85

List the tables and columns staged on a DataCanvas so you can write valid SQL for openaq_dataframe_query without guessing column names. Returns each measurement table (measurements_<sensorId>) with its row count and column names. Requires DataCanvas to be enabled.

NameTypeReqDescription
canvas_idstringyesDataCanvas id returned by openaq_get_measurements when a series spilled.
NameTypeReqDescription
errorobjectPresent when the call failed. Absent on success.
noticestringGuidance when the canvas holds no tables yet.
tablesarrayTables currently staged on the canvas.

No examples provided.

openaq_dataframe_query ~153

Run a read-only SQL SELECT against the measurement tables openaq_get_measurements staged on a DataCanvas. Reference tables by the name the measurements call returned (measurements_<sensorId>). For aggregation (monthly means, exceedance counts) and cross-sensor comparison over series too large to inline. Only SELECT is allowed — writes, DDL, and file/network table functions are rejected.

NameTypeReqDescription
canvas_idstringyesDataCanvas id returned by openaq_get_measurements when a series spilled.
sqlstringyesRead-only SELECT. Reference tables by the names openaq_get_measurements returned (e.g. measurements_1701). Use openaq_dataframe_describe first to see table and column names.
NameTypeReqDescription
errorobjectPresent when the call failed. Absent on success.
rowCountnumberFull result count before the row cap.
rowsarrayResult rows (capped at the canvas row limit).

No examples provided.

openaq_find_locations ~551

Find air-quality monitoring stations (measured by physical sensors, not modeled) near a point, within a bounding box, or by country. Returns each station's id, name, coordinates, distance from the query point (when searching by coordinates), country, provider, the parameters its sensors measure, and the timestamp of its most recent data (datetimeLast). Required first step: openaq_get_readings and openaq_get_measurements key on the location id this returns. Coverage is uneven and real — a station only reports the parameters it measures, and the absence of a nearby station means no monitoring there, not clean air. For dense modeled coverage anywhere on Earth, use open-meteo-mcp-server's air-quality tool instead.

NameTypeReqDescription
bboxstringBounding box as "minLon,minLat,maxLon,maxLat" (west,south,east,north). Alternative to coordinates+radius for area sweeps. Results have no distance field (no center point).
coordinatesstringCenter point as "latitude,longitude" (e.g. "47.6062,-122.3321"). Pair with radius for a near-me search. Resolve a place name to coordinates with openstreetmap-mcp-server or open-meteo geocode first.…
isostringRestrict to a country by ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code (e.g. "US", "IN", "DE"). Combine with bbox/coordinates to scope, or use alone for a country-wide list. Discover coverage with openaq_list_countries.
limitintegerMax stations to return (1–100). Default 20. Results are ordered by distance when searching by coordinates.
pageintegerWhich page of results to return (1-based). Default 1. The only way past the 100-station cap: with limit 100, page 2 returns stations 101–200. Distance ordering applies within a page, not across pages…
parametersIdintegerOnly return stations that measure this parameter id (e.g. 2 = PM2.5 µg/m³). Get ids from openaq_list_parameters — the same pollutant has several ids for different units. Narrows the station set; each…
radiusintegerSearch radius in metres around coordinates (1–25000; the API hard-caps at 25000). Default 12000 (~12km). Only used with coordinates.
NameTypeReqDescription
capnumberThe limit that was applied.
errorobjectPresent when the call failed. Absent on success.
locationsarrayMatching stations. Empty array means no monitoring coverage for the query — NOT clean air. Widen the radius, try openaq_list_countries, or use the modeled open-meteo air-quality tool.
noticestringGuidance when OpenAQ reports a lower-bound total without the result set hitting the limit.
shownnumberNumber of stations returned.
totalCountnumberTotal matching stations before the limit. A floor (not an exact count) when totalCountIsLowerBound is true.
totalCountIsLowerBoundbooleanTrue when OpenAQ reported a lower bound (">N"): totalCount is a floor and more stations match than the count shown.
truncatedbooleanTrue when the station list was capped at the limit.

No examples provided.

openaq_get_measurements ~533

Historical measurement series for one pollutant at one station over a date range — for trend analysis and "was last week worse than the monthly average?". Pass a locationId and a parametersId and work in stations — you get the series for that pollutant at that station. Choose aggregation: raw (every reported value), hourly, or daily — daily and hourly add a per-bucket statistical summary (min, median, max, mean, sd). Large ranges produce thousands of rows and spill to a DataCanvas: the response returns a preview plus a canvasId and table name you query with openaq_dataframe_query. Values carry their unit; the server never converts between µg/m³, ppm, and ppb.

NameTypeReqDescription
aggregationstringTime bucketing. "raw" = every reported value (often hourly at source). "hourly"/"daily" = server-side rollups with a statistical summary per bucket. Use "daily" for multi-month trends to keep the ser…
canvas_idstringDataCanvas id from a prior openaq_get_measurements call, to reuse the same canvas (e.g. to compare two stations' series side by side). Omit to start fresh; the response returns a new canvas_id when t…
datetimeFromstringStart of the range, inclusive. Date "YYYY-MM-DD" (opens at 00:00:00Z that day) or full UTC "YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ". Omit to get the most recent values.
datetimeTostringEnd of the range, inclusive. Date "YYYY-MM-DD" covers that whole day (closes at 23:59:59Z) or full UTC "YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ". Must land after datetimeFrom — the two forms mix freely, so "2026-06-25"…
limitintegerMax rows per page from the API (1–1000). Default 1000. The tool pages internally up to the spill threshold.
locationIdintegeryesStation id from openaq_find_locations.
parametersIdintegeryesParameter id to pull the series for (e.g. 2 = PM2.5 µg/m³). Get ids from openaq_list_parameters. Must be a parameter the station measures — find_locations lists each station's parameters.
NameTypeReqDescription
aggregationstringBucketing applied
canvasIdstringDataCanvas id holding the pulled series. Query with openaq_dataframe_query. The pull stops at 5000 rows, so this is the whole series only when totalCount is at or below that — read the notice, which…
errorobjectPresent when the call failed. Absent on success.
locationobjectStation the series came from
noticestringWhat limited this response, when something did — the row cap, a failed page, or DataCanvas being unavailable — plus how to reach the rest.
parameterobjectWhat was measured, resolved from the station's sensor
rowCountnumberRows in this response (preview length when spilled)
sensorIdnumberResolved sensor id the series was pulled from
seriesarrayThe (possibly previewed) series, newest or oldest first per the API. When truncated, this is a preview — query canvasId for the rows staged there.
tableNamestringCanvas table name for the staged series (e.g. "measurements_1701"). Reference it in SQL.
totalCountnumberTotal rows in the full series.
truncatedbooleanTrue when the series exceeded the inline limit, so series is a preview and the pulled rows were staged on canvasId. Absent/false when everything fit inline. It says nothing about whether the pull its…

No examples provided.

openaq_get_readings ~272

Latest measured value for every sensor at a monitoring station — the current-conditions tool. Returns one record per parameter, each with the value, its unit, the UTC and local timestamp, and the sensor id, joined so every value carries its pollutant and unit (the raw latest feed is keyed only by sensor id). Pass a locationId from openaq_find_locations, or pass coordinates to auto-resolve to the nearest station that measures the requested parametersId. Data recency varies by station reporting cadence — read each value's timestamp to know whether "latest" is minutes or hours old. These are measured observations with coverage gaps, not a modeled grid.

NameTypeReqDescription
coordinatesstringFallback "latitude,longitude" when you do not have a locationId — resolves to the nearest station (within 25km) that measures parametersId, then reads its latest values. Requires parametersId.
locationIdintegerStation id from openaq_find_locations. Provide this OR coordinates. When set, returns the latest value for every sensor at this station.
parametersIdintegerRequired with coordinates: which parameter id the nearest station must measure (get ids from openaq_list_parameters). With locationId, optionally filters the returned values to this parameter id; omi…
NameTypeReqDescription
errorobjectPresent when the call failed. Absent on success.
locationobjectThe station these readings came from
noticestringGuidance when the station resolved but returned no recent values.
readingsarrayLatest value per sensor. An old datetime means the station reports infrequently or is stale — not that the value is current.

No examples provided.

openaq_list_countries ~241

Catalog of country-level coverage: id, ISO code, name, the date span of available station data (datetimeFirst/datetimeLast), and which parameters are measured anywhere in that country. The availability check before a regional sweep — answers "which countries have NO2 monitoring?" and tells you whether a country has recent data before you call openaq_find_locations. Coverage is uneven worldwide; this surfaces where measured data exists.

NameTypeReqDescription
parametersIdintegerOnly return countries that measure this parameter id somewhere (e.g. 2 = PM2.5 µg/m³) — the one-call answer to "which countries have NO2 monitoring?". Get ids from openaq_list_parameters; the same po…
querystringCase-insensitive filter over the bounded country catalog (~153) by code and name. A two-letter query is treated as an exact ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code (e.g. "US" → United States); longer queries match a…
NameTypeReqDescription
countriesarrayMatching countries with coverage metadata.
errorobjectPresent when the call failed. Absent on success.
noticestringGuidance when the query matched nothing.
totalCountnumberTotal countries matched after filtering.

No examples provided.

openaq_list_parameters ~241

Catalog of every measurable pollutant and its canonical unit: id, code, display name, unit, and a one-line description (pm25, pm10, o3, no2, so2, co, bc, and ~38 more). This is the unit-disambiguation reference — the same pollutant exists under several ids with different units (CO is id 4 in µg/m³, id 8 in ppm, id 102 in ppb), so use this to pick the exact parametersId for openaq_find_locations / openaq_get_readings / openaq_get_measurements and to interpret a reading's unit. A small bounded catalog fetched live from OpenAQ.

NameTypeReqDescription
pollutantsOnlybooleanWhen true, exclude meteorological/auxiliary parameters (temperature, humidity, wind, pressure, particle-count channels) and return only air pollutants. Default false (full catalog).
querystringCase-insensitive filter over the bounded parameter catalog (~44) by code, display name, and description (e.g. "pm" for particulates, "ozone", "co"). Omit to list everything.
NameTypeReqDescription
errorobjectPresent when the call failed. Absent on success.
noticestringGuidance when the query matched nothing.
parametersarrayMatching parameters. Multiple rows can share a name with different ids/units — pick the id whose unit you want.
totalCountnumberTotal parameters matched after filtering.

No examples provided.

Common questions

What is the io.github.cyanheads/openaq-mcp-server server?

io.github.cyanheads/openaq-mcp-server is listed in the public MCP registry as io.github.cyanheads/openaq-mcp-server. Find air-quality stations and read pollutant observations from government monitors via OpenAQ v3. This page covers its hosted endpoint (https://openaq.caseyjhand.com/mcp).

Is the io.github.cyanheads/openaq-mcp-server server safe to use?

io.github.cyanheads/openaq-mcp-server scores 82 out of 100 on VerifyMCP. 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 io.github.cyanheads/openaq-mcp-server server expose?

io.github.cyanheads/openaq-mcp-server exposes 7 tools: openaq_find_locations, openaq_get_readings, openaq_get_measurements, openaq_list_parameters, openaq_list_countries, and 2 more. Their descriptions and schemas cost roughly 2,076 tokens of context every time the server is loaded.

Does the io.github.cyanheads/openaq-mcp-server server require authentication?

No. We connected to io.github.cyanheads/openaq-mcp-server without credentials and it answered, so anything it exposes is reachable by anyone who knows the address.

Is the io.github.cyanheads/openaq-mcp-server server still maintained?

io.github.cyanheads/openaq-mcp-server is still listed as active in the MCP registry. We last reached this channel on 22 September 2026. Those dates come from our own scans of the registry and the channel itself, not from anything the publisher announced.