Search GBIF species taxonomy, occurrence records, datasets, and publishers.
If you already use Gbif, the gbif mcp server is the piece that lets your assistant work with it directly. Search GBIF species taxonomy, occurrence records, datasets, and publishers.
The toolset is worth reading before you wire it up, because it tells you what the integration is really for:
gbif_match_species — Match a species name against the GBIF backbone taxonomy — returns taxonKey, confidence score, and full classificationgbif_bulk_match_species — Match up to 50 scientific names to backbone taxon keys in one call — results in input order, per-name NONE/ERROR isolationgbif_get_species — Fetch a single backbone taxon by key — full classification, authorship, synonymy, vernacular name, descendant countgbif_search_species — Search or browse the GBIF backbone taxonomy by name fragment, rank, kingdom, family, or genusgbif_get_species_classification — Return the root-to-parent classification chain for a taxon — root-first ordered array from kingdom to the queried taxon's immediate parent (the taxongbif_get_species_children — List direct children of a backbone taxon — genera within a family, species within a genusgbif_search_occurrences — Search 2.4B+ GBIF occurrence records with Darwin Core filters — country, bounding box, WKT geometry, year, month, basis of recordgbif_count_occurrences — Count occurrences matching a filter without fetching records — fast single-number responsegbif_get_occurrence — Fetch a single occurrence record by key — full Darwin Core record with GADM geography, media, and quality flagsgbif_occurrence_facets — Aggregate occurrence counts by a dimension — country, year, basis of record, dataset, kingdom, and moregbif_search_datasets — Search GBIF datasets by keyword, type, country, or publishing organizationgbif_get_dataset — Fetch full dataset metadata by UUID — title, description, citation, contacts, license, DOI, coverageBecause this one is hosted, setup is mostly authentication — you point your client at the endpoint and approve access. Nothing runs on your machine, so there is no runtime to keep patched.
Configuration is passed through the environment: MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE, MCP_LOG_LEVEL, DATASET_KEY, KINGDOM_KEY, PHYLUM_KEY, CLASS_KEY, ORDER_KEY, FAMILY_KEY. Treat anything key-shaped as a real credential — scope it to the minimum the server needs, and rotate it if it ever lands in a shared config.
Plenty of cloud and infrastructure servers cover similar ground. The differences that matter in practice are scope of access and how much setup stands between you and a working tool call. Gbif's toolset — gbif_match_species, gbif_bulk_match_species, gbif_get_species and 11 more — is a fair guide to whether it matches your workflow. It is maintained by cyanheads; worth a glance at recent repository activity before you build anything load-bearing on it.
We check each listing at SyncDev against the project's documentation before it goes live — if something here drifts out of date, it is a bug worth reporting.
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| gbif_match_species | Match a species name against the GBIF backbone taxonomy — returns taxonKey, confidence score, and full classification |
| gbif_bulk_match_species | Match up to 50 scientific names to backbone taxon keys in one call — results in input order, per-name NONE/ERROR isolation |
| gbif_get_species | Fetch a single backbone taxon by key — full classification, authorship, synonymy, vernacular name, descendant count |
| gbif_search_species | Search or browse the GBIF backbone taxonomy by name fragment, rank, kingdom, family, or genus |
| gbif_get_species_classification | Return the root-to-parent classification chain for a taxon — root-first ordered array from kingdom to the queried taxon's immediate parent (the taxon itself is not included) |
| gbif_get_species_children | List direct children of a backbone taxon — genera within a family, species within a genus |
| gbif_search_occurrences | Search 2.4B+ GBIF occurrence records with Darwin Core filters — country, bounding box, WKT geometry, year, month, basis of record |
| gbif_count_occurrences | Count occurrences matching a filter without fetching records — fast single-number response |
| gbif_get_occurrence | Fetch a single occurrence record by key — full Darwin Core record with GADM geography, media, and quality flags |
| gbif_occurrence_facets | Aggregate occurrence counts by a dimension — country, year, basis of record, dataset, kingdom, and more |
| gbif_search_datasets | Search GBIF datasets by keyword, type, country, or publishing organization |
| gbif_get_dataset | Fetch full dataset metadata by UUID — title, description, citation, contacts, license, DOI, coverage |
| gbif_search_publishers | Search GBIF-registered publishing organizations by name fragment or country |
| Prerequisites | The Prerequisites tool exposed by this server. |
{
"mcpServers": {
"gbif-biodiversity-mcp-server": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "bunx",
"args": ["@cyanheads/gbif-biodiversity-mcp-server@latest"],
"env": {
"MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE": "stdio",
"MCP_LOG_LEVEL": "info"
}
}
}
}Configuration as documented by the project. Restart the client after saving.
| Variable | Description | Required |
|---|---|---|
| MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE | Configuration value read at startup. | Optional |
| MCP_LOG_LEVEL | Configuration value read at startup. | Optional |
| DATASET_KEY | Credential the server authenticates with. | Yes |
| KINGDOM_KEY | Credential the server authenticates with. | Yes |
| PHYLUM_KEY | Credential the server authenticates with. | Yes |
| CLASS_KEY | Credential the server authenticates with. | Yes |
| ORDER_KEY | Credential the server authenticates with. | Yes |
| FAMILY_KEY | Credential the server authenticates with. | Yes |
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