# Unsplash (npm · @pipeworx/mcp-unsplash)

Unsplash MCP.

- Trust score: 81/100 (high trust)
- Change this week: +4
- Registry status: active
- Liveness: live
- Owner verified: no
- Last scored: 2026-11-06

## Components

- remote · `gateway.pipeworx.io`: 78/100, [markdown](https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-unsplash/unsplash-mcp.md), [page](https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-unsplash/unsplash-mcp)
- npm · `@pipeworx/mcp-unsplash`: 81/100 (this document), [markdown](https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-unsplash/pipeworx-mcp-unsplash.md), [page](https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-unsplash/pipeworx-mcp-unsplash)

## Channel facts

- Registry: `npm`
- Package: `@pipeworx/mcp-unsplash`
- Version: `0.2.1`
- 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 2026-11-06.

- **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.
  - No production dependencies, so there is no dependency health to assess.
- **Provenance & Transparency**: 97/100
  - Source repository is publicly reachable at the declared URL.
  - Cryptographically verified build provenance (signed, bound to pipeworx-io/mcp-unsplash).
  - Clear OSI-approved license (MIT).
  - Actively maintained (last published 0 days ago).
  - Security-disclosure policy not yet verified: we couldn't inspect the source repository.
- **Schema Quality & AI Usability**: 69/100
  - AI-judged instruction clarity (good).
  - Tool/resource definitions use about 717 tokens (~47/item across 15 items; 15 tools + 0 resources), lean.
  - Usage-examples check failed: none of the tools include examples.
- **Stability & Change Management**: 27/100
  - Stability observed for 8 of 30 days with no destabilising changes; credit accrues until the full window elapses.
- **Tool Coverage**: 67/100
  - 100% of tools have a non-trivial description (not blank, and not just the tool's name).
  - 0% 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 15 captured tool definition(s), and no name or description among them implies an irreversible operation.
  - An AI judge read all 16 captured unit(s) of tool text and found none that tries to manipulate the model reading it.
- **Capabilities**: 100/100
  - Implements a supported MCP spec version (2025-11-25); the latest is 2026-07-28.

## Install

### How do I install the Unsplash MCP server?

Unsplash runs locally as an npm package, launched with npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-unsplash. 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 pipeworx-io-unsplash -- npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-unsplash
```

### Cursor

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pipeworx-io-unsplash": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@pipeworx/mcp-unsplash"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

### VS Code

```json
{
  "servers": {
    "pipeworx-io-unsplash": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@pipeworx/mcp-unsplash"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

### Codex

```bash
codex mcp add pipeworx-io-unsplash -- npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-unsplash
```

### opencode

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

### OpenClaw

```bash
openclaw mcp add pipeworx-io-unsplash --command npx --arg -y --arg @pipeworx/mcp-unsplash
```

### Hermes

```yaml
mcp_servers:
  pipeworx-io-unsplash:
    command: "npx"
    args: ["-y", "@pipeworx/mcp-unsplash"]
```

### Netclaw

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

### Vellum

```bash
assistant mcp add pipeworx-io-unsplash -t stdio -c npx -a -y @pipeworx/mcp-unsplash
```

### Other

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pipeworx-io-unsplash": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@pipeworx/mcp-unsplash"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

## 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.

### 2026-11-06 (score 81, +4)

- [functional regression] Security disclosure: fail → unverified
- [functional improvement] Stability: unverified → 0.27
- [functional] Package version: 0.2.0 → 0.2.1

### 2026-10-31 (score 77, 0)

- [functional regression] Security disclosure: unverified → fail

### 2026-10-29 (score 77)

First indexed and scored.

## MCP tools (15)

### `search_photos` (~42 tokens)

Search Unsplash photos by keyword (required); returns paginated results with image URLs, dimensions, photographer info, and alt text.

Input parameters:

- `query` (string, required)

### `photo` (~51 tokens)

Fetch full metadata for a single Unsplash photo by id, including all image URLs (raw, full, regular, small, thumb), EXIF, location, tags, and photographer.

Input parameters:

- `id` (string, required)

### `photo_random` (~39 tokens)

Retrieve one or more random Unsplash photos; supports optional filters (query, orientation, collections, topics, username, content_filter) passed as extra params.

### `photo_download` (~51 tokens)

Trigger the Unsplash required download-tracking event for a photo by id and return the download URL; must be called before presenting the download link to users per Unsplash API guidelines.

Input parameters:

- `id` (string, required)

### `photo_statistics` (~65 tokens)

Fetch view, download, and like statistics for a single Unsplash photo by id; supports resolution ("days") and quantity (1–30) to control the time-series window.

Input parameters:

- `id` (string, required)
- `quantity` (number)
- `resolution` (string)

### `list_photos` (~36 tokens)

Fetch Unsplash's public editorial feed of recently curated photos in chronological or popular order; returns paginated photo objects with URLs and metadata.

### `user` (~47 tokens)

Fetch the public Unsplash profile for a given username, including bio, location, follower/following counts, total photos/likes/collections, and portfolio URL.

Input parameters:

- `username` (string, required)

### `user_photos` (~40 tokens)

List photos uploaded by a specific Unsplash username; returns paginated photo objects with image URLs, likes, and metadata.

Input parameters:

- `username` (string, required)

### `user_likes` (~41 tokens)

List photos that a specific Unsplash username has liked; returns paginated photo objects with image URLs, photographer, and metadata.

Input parameters:

- `username` (string, required)

### `collections` (~35 tokens)

List featured Unsplash collections in paginated order; returns collection id, title, description, total photos, cover photo, and curator info.

### `collection` (~42 tokens)

Fetch metadata for a single Unsplash collection by id, including title, description, total photos, tags, cover photo, and curator profile.

Input parameters:

- `id` (string, required)

### `collection_photos` (~38 tokens)

List photos inside a specific Unsplash collection by id; returns paginated photo objects with image URLs and metadata.

Input parameters:

- `id` (string, required)

### `topics` (~40 tokens)

List Unsplash editorial topics (curated content channels like "nature", "architecture"); returns topic id, slug, title, description, cover photo, and curator.

### `topic` (~50 tokens)

Fetch metadata for a single Unsplash topic by id or slug (e.g. "animals"), including title, description, total photos, cover photo, and top contributors.

Input parameters:

- `id_or_slug` (string, required)

### `topic_photos` (~48 tokens)

List photos belonging to a specific Unsplash topic by id or slug; returns paginated photo objects with image URLs, EXIF, and photographer info.

Input parameters:

- `id_or_slug` (string, required)

## Diagnostics

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

## Score history

- 2026-11-06: 81
- 2026-11-05: 77
- 2026-11-04: 77
- 2026-11-03: 77
- 2026-11-02: 77
- 2026-11-01: 77
- 2026-10-31: 77
- 2026-10-30: 77
- 2026-10-29: 77

## Common questions

### What is the Unsplash MCP server?

Unsplash is an MCP server listed in the public MCP registry as io.github.pipeworx-io/unsplash. Unsplash MCP. This page covers its npm package (@pipeworx/mcp-unsplash).

### Is the Unsplash MCP server safe to use?

Unsplash scores 81 out of 100 on VerifyMCP. We found no known CVEs affecting it as of 6 November 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 Unsplash MCP server expose?

Unsplash exposes 15 tools: search_photos, photo, photo_random, photo_download, photo_statistics, and 10 more. Their descriptions and schemas cost roughly 665 tokens of context every time the server is loaded.

### Is the Unsplash MCP server still maintained?

Unsplash is still listed as active in the MCP registry. We last reached this channel on 6 November 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 Unsplash MCP server under?

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

### What did VerifyMCP test on the Unsplash MCP server?

VerifyMCP ran 15 checks on Unsplash, covering Malware scan, Known CVEs, Install scripts, Dependency health and 11 more. One item could not be completed, a gap on our side rather than a finding about Unsplash: Security disclosure. Endpoint Security and Transport & Reachability do not apply to an npm package, so they were not tested. The score does not measure everything, and the scoring documentation lists what it leaves out.

## Links

- npm package: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@pipeworx/mcp-unsplash
- Socket report: https://socket.dev/npm/package/@pipeworx/mcp-unsplash
- Repository: https://github.com/pipeworx-io/mcp-unsplash
- Website: https://pipeworx.io/packs/unsplash
- Changelog RSS feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-unsplash/pipeworx-mcp-unsplash.xml
- Changelog JSON feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-unsplash/pipeworx-mcp-unsplash/changelog.json
- Trust report (JSON): https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-unsplash/pipeworx-mcp-unsplash.json
- HTML version of this page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/pipeworx-io-unsplash/pipeworx-mcp-unsplash