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Stock Images MCP server

Let your AI search free stock photos on Pexels, Unsplash and Pixabay and save the one you pick to your computer.

Research For creatives For marketing Search & Data Extraction

This is a small helper that lets your AI search for free stock photos and save the one you like into a folder on your computer. It works with three well known photo sites: Pexels, Unsplash and Pixabay. It is handy if you often need a picture for a slide, a newsletter or a blog post and you would rather not open three websites 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 stock photo sites, so it can look up pictures there and download one for you when you ask. You set it up once, and after that you just talk to your AI like usual.

What this MCP server does

You ask your AI for a kind of picture, for example a photo of a mountain at sunrise. The AI sends that request to this helper, and the helper asks Pexels, Unsplash or Pixabay for matching photos. It brings back a short list for each site, with a description, the photographer's name, the size and a link. When you pick one, the AI asks the helper to download it, and the file lands in a folder on your computer. If one of the three sites is having a bad day, the helper still shows you results from the others and tells you which one failed.

What you can do with it

Search for photos on one site or all three at once
Ask for landscape, portrait or square pictures
See who took each photo so you can credit them
Download the photo you like into a folder on your computer
Put downloads into subfolders to keep them tidy
Choose your own file name for the saved image

Try asking your AI

“Find me 5 landscape photos of a quiet beach at sunset”
“Search all three sites for pictures of a team meeting in an office”
“Download the second Unsplash result and save it as team-photo”
“Look for square photos of fresh vegetables for a recipe card”

What it gives back to you

For a search, you get a short list of photos with a description, the photographer's name, the size and a link, grouped by site. If one site fails, you also see a small note about which one and why. For a download, you get a short confirmation with the file name and where it was saved. The pictures themselves are files on your computer, not in the chat.

Before you start

What you need

A free API key from at least one of Pexels, Unsplash or Pixabay (an API key is a kind of password for apps; each site gives you one for free when you sign up)
Node.js 22 or newer if you use the npx setup, or Docker if you prefer that route
The Claude desktop app, Claude Code, or Cursor, where you add the helper

Good to know

It can write files to your download folder, so check the file name and folder before you confirm, and remember that each photo still belongs to its photographer and site, so credit them and check the license before you use it.

Install it with your AI

Add Stock Images 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 Stock Images 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 4,609 MCP servers here for you.