MCP server

Skydex in Claude, ChatGPT and other AI assistants

Skydex runs a public MCP server. Connect it to your assistant and it can look up aircraft types, airports, ships and receiver stations, and see what the Skydex network hears right now. It is free, read-only and needs no account or key.

Open since 4 November 2026.

Server address

https://skydex.online/api/mcp

Streamable HTTP, no sign-in. Add it to your assistant as a custom connector or MCP server.

How to connect

Claude (web and desktop)

Open Settings, then Connectors, and add a custom connector named Skydex with the address above. Custom connectors are available on the Claude plans that include them. After that, ask your question and Claude calls Skydex when it needs the data.

Claude Code

Run this once in a terminal:

claude mcp add --transport http skydex https://skydex.online/api/mcp

ChatGPT

Add a custom connector (an MCP server) in the ChatGPT settings with the same address. Depending on your plan, this may need developer mode switched on first.

Cursor and other clients

Any client that speaks MCP over Streamable HTTP works with the same address. In Cursor, add it to mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "skydex": {
      "url": "https://skydex.online/api/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Or give this page to your assistant

Paste the link to this page and ask it to connect Skydex. Claude Code can add the server by itself. In claude.ai and ChatGPT the assistant walks you through the settings, because only you can add a connector there.

Questions it can answer

  • What is flying over Hamburg right now?
  • How many different Boeing 737-800s has the Skydex network heard?
  • Which ships are near Rotterdam right now, and where are they going?
  • Which Skydex receivers in Germany have the best Signal?
  • Tell me about airport EDDH and its busiest connections.
  • How do I feed Skydex from my own ADS-B receiver?

Tools

This list is read from the server itself, so it always matches what your assistant sees. The descriptions are in English because that is the text the assistant reads.

search Search Skydex
Find anything Skydex knows by name or code: an aircraft type designator (B738, A388), a registration (D-ABNK), an ICAO24 hex address (3c49cb), an airline code or callsign (DLH, EWG1KL), an airport code (EDDH, HAM), a ship name, MMSI or IMO. Returns up to five matches per kind, each with the URL of its Skydex page. Use it first when the user names something and you do not know which tool fits.
aircraft_type Aircraft type
Facts about one aircraft type by its ICAO designator (B738 = Boeing 737-800, A20N = Airbus A320neo): model, manufacturer, seats, range, size, rarity in the game, and what the Skydex receiver network heard of it (how many different airframes, on how many airframe-days, by how many stations, since when). "Sightings" means airframe × UTC day, never flights.
airframe Airframe
One individual aircraft by its ICAO24 hex address (six hex digits, e.g. 3c49cb): registration, type, operator and its history in Skydex. Skydex has a page only for airframes a player has caught; for any aircraft flying right now use aircraft_near instead.
airport Airport
One airport by ICAO code (EDDH, KJFK): name, city, runways, elevation, and what Skydex receivers heard of it over the last 30 days: airline flight numbers heading to or from it per UTC day (not runway movements), the busiest connections, types and airlines players caught there.
airports_near Airports near a point
Airports within a radius of a point, nearest first, with how many airline flights Skydex heard to or from each over the last 30 days.
aircraft_near Aircraft flying near a point right now
Aircraft the Skydex receiver network hears right now within a radius of a point, nearest first: callsign, type, registration, airline, distance (km) and direction from the point, altitude (ft), speed (kt), heading, climb or descent. For "what is above me" with a signed-in feeder, above_me needs no coordinates. Privately flown aircraft are counted but never identified. The data is live (a few seconds old); coverage depends on where volunteers run receivers, so an empty answer can mean "no receiver there" rather than "empty sky".
vessels_near Ships near a point right now
Ships (AIS) currently tracked within a radius of a point, nearest first: name, MMSI, category, flag, length, speed (kn), destination. Pleasure craft are counted but never named.
vessel Vessel
One ship by its MMSI (nine digits): name, type, flag, size, builder and its history in Skydex. Skydex has a page only for vessels a player has caught; for ships at sea right now use vessels_near.
stations Receiver stations
The Skydex receiver network: volunteer ADS-B (aircraft) and AIS (ships) stations ranked by Signal, the score for uptime, volume, persistence and unique coverage. Filter by band and country. Locations are published at region level only.
station One receiver station
One receiver station by its slug (as in skydex.online/station/<slug>): online status, what it heard today and over 30 days, range, uptime, Signal and its rank, rarest aircraft heard.
network_stats Skydex network right now
How many aircraft and ships the Skydex network hears right now, how many ADS-B and AIS receivers are online and in how many countries.
locate_me Ask for my location
Makes a one-time link for "what is flying above me" when you do not know where the user is (they are away from home, or have no Skydex token). Give the user the link: they open it on the device they have with them and share their location, then you call above_here with the returned code. Their coordinates never reach you; above_here gives the aircraft around them with distance and direction. Prefer aircraft_near when the user has simply named a place.
above_here What is flying above the shared location
Aircraft the Skydex network hears right now around the location the user shared through a locate_me link: nearest first, with distance (km) and direction from the user, altitude, speed, climb or descent. Returns status "waiting" while the user has not opened the link yet. The location itself is never returned.
my_stations My stations (needs your personal token)
The signed-in feeder's own receiver stations: whether each is sending right now, live message and position rates (ADS-B), today's and the last 30 days' figures, range, uptime, Signal and place on the leaderboard, MLAT state. Needs the user's personal Skydex token. Use diagnose_station when one looks wrong.
diagnose_station Diagnose my station (needs your personal token)
Why one of the signed-in feeder's stations is not doing what it should: never connected, stopped sending, connected but silent, messages without positions, gaps in uptime, no location, MLAT state. Returns the facts and a list of findings with what to do. Pass the station's name or slug; it can be left out when the account has one station. Needs the user's personal Skydex token.
above_me What is flying above me (needs your personal token)
Aircraft the Skydex network hears right now over the signed-in user's home city (set in their Skydex profile), or over one of their own receiver stations when asked "above my antenna": nearest first, with distance and direction from that point, altitude, speed, climb or descent. Needs the user's personal Skydex token; no coordinates needed or returned. The home city is a city, not an exact address: say "over Hamburg", not "over you". Do NOT use this when the user is away from home: if they said where they are, or your app knows their current location, use aircraft_near with that place instead; if you do not know where they are, use locate_me. Without a home city or a located station, ask the user for a place and use aircraft_near.

Your own stations: personal token

If you feed Skydex, three more tools work with your own account: my_stations (status, live rates, today and the last 30 days, Signal), diagnose_station (what is wrong and what to try) and above_me (what is flying over your home city or your antenna right now). They need a personal token, which reads your stations and the home city from your profile, nothing else on your account. You can revoke it here at any time, and the bell tells you whenever one is created.

Sign in on this page to create a token. Clients that take only an address (claude.ai, ChatGPT) use https://skydex.online/api/mcp?key=<token>; clients that can send headers (Claude Code, Cursor) use the header Authorization: Bearer <token>.

What it shows and what it does not

The same data as the public pages of skydex.online. Privately flown aircraft and pleasure boats appear only as counts, never by name or tail. Receivers are shown at region level, never at their exact location. Every answer links the Skydex page it came from.

What we record

Your question stays with your assistant: Skydex only receives the tool call. We record the tool name, its arguments, the time, how long it took, the app that called and a keyed hash of the address, so we can count use and keep the server healthy. Raw rows are deleted after 90 days.

Limits

Up to 30 tool calls a minute and 600 an hour per address. That is plenty for a conversation; an assistant that hits the limit gets a message saying to wait a minute.

Questions

What is MCP?

The Model Context Protocol is the way an AI assistant reaches an application. The application runs an MCP server with tools, and the assistant calls them when a question needs their data. Skydex is the application here; your assistant decides when to ask it.

Is it free? Do I need an account?

Free. The public tools need no account and no API key. Only the two tools for your own receiver stations need a personal token, which you create on this page when signed in.

Which assistants work?

Any MCP client that connects over Streamable HTTP: Claude on the web and desktop, Claude Code, ChatGPT where custom connectors are enabled, Cursor, VS Code and others. If yours asks for a transport, choose Streamable HTTP (sometimes just called HTTP).

What can the assistant see?

Aircraft and ships the network hears right now near a point you give, aircraft types and individual airframes players caught, airports, vessels, receiver stations and network totals. It cannot see accounts, messages or anything that is not already public on skydex.online.

Can my assistant check my own receiver?

Yes, with a personal token from this page. Your assistant can then list your stations and diagnose one: whether it is sending, since when it stopped, whether messages arrive without positions, gaps in uptime, MLAT. With the same token it can also tell you what is flying over your home city or your antenna. The token reads your stations and your home city, never your messages or other account data, and the station key (uuid) is not given out.

Does Skydex see my conversation?

No. Your assistant decides to call a tool and sends only that call: the tool name and its arguments, such as a type code or a pair of coordinates. The rest of the conversation never reaches us.

Why is an answer sometimes empty?

Live coverage depends on where volunteers run receivers, so an empty sky can mean there is no receiver nearby. Pages for single airframes and vessels exist only for those a player has caught; for anything else the assistant can still use the live tools and the directory search.

How do I disconnect it?

Remove the connector or MCP server in your assistant's settings. There is no account on our side, so there is nothing else to delete.

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