MCP server · Research
Unsplash MCP server
by hanoak
Lets your AI search Unsplash photos, collections and topics, with ready-made photo credits.
This is a small helper that connects your AI assistant to Unsplash, the free photo site. Once it is set up, you can ask your AI to find pictures, and it will bring back the image links plus the credit line you should show. It is handy for anyone who needs photos for slides, posts, or documents without hunting through the site by hand.
What is an MCP server? The 30-second version
On its own, your AI can only chat with you. An MCP server is a small helper program that gives your AI a new skill or a connection to an app or service. This one connects your AI to Unsplash, so it can search photos and look up details there when you ask. You do not need to understand how it works under the hood; you just add it once and then talk to your AI as usual.
What this MCP server does
You ask your AI something like find a photo of a foggy forest. Your AI passes that request to this helper program. The helper talks to Unsplash using your own Unsplash access key, searches for matching photos, and gets back the results. It then hands your AI a tidy list with image links, the photographer's name, and a ready-to-use credit line. Your AI shows you the answer in the chat, and if you use a photo, it can also tell Unsplash that the photo was downloaded.
Click to zoomWhat you can do with it
- Search Unsplash for photos by keyword, orientation, or color
- Get a random photo, for example for a placeholder or a header image
- Look up a photographer's profile and their photos
- Browse collections and topics on Unsplash
- Get the credit line and HTML attribution for any photo
- Check how many requests you have left before hitting the limit
- Sign in to manage your own Unsplash profile and collections
Try asking your AI
- “Find me a landscape photo of a foggy pine forest and give me the credit line”
- “Show me three photos of fresh vegetables on a white background”
- “Who took this photo and what is their Unsplash profile”
- “Get a random photo of a city skyline for a slide background”
What it gives back to you
You get back a short list of photos with their image links, sizes, and a description. Each photo comes with the photographer's name and a ready-to-paste credit line, both as plain text and as HTML. You also see how many requests you have left for the hour. If you asked for a profile, a collection, or a topic, you get that information instead.
Before you start
What you need
- A free Unsplash account
- An Unsplash access key from unsplash.com/developers (a kind of password for apps; the site gives you one for free)
- The Claude desktop app or another app that supports MCP servers
Good to know
If you sign in, the helper can change or delete things in your own Unsplash account, like collections and photo details, so be clear about what you ask it to do.
Install it with your AI
Add Unsplash MCP server to your AI, no technical skills needed
You don't install anything by hand. You copy one prompt, paste it into an AI that can work on your computer, and it checks, installs and connects the server for you, asking you when it needs something.
Sign in to get the install prompt
Members get a ready-made prompt that lets the Claude desktop app check Unsplash MCP server, install it and connect it for them, step by step. You don't need any technical skills: you copy, paste and answer a few questions. Your connected AI can also find and install any of the 4,066 MCP servers here for you.
Who it's for
Anyone who needs photos for slides, blog posts, or social media, like marketers, writers, teachers, and designers.
