flightaware-mcp

MCP server for FlightAware AeroAPI (v4) — live flight tracking and aviation data for Claude. Track flights, read airport boards, look up operators and aircraft, fetch scheduled flights, and manage flight alerts, all over stdio.

Developed and maintained by AI (Claude Code). Use at your own discretion.

Quick start

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "flightaware": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@chrischall/flightaware-mcp"],
      "env": { "AEROAPI_API_KEY": "your-aeroapi-key-here" }
    }
  }
}

Get a key at flightaware.com/aeroapi/portal. The free Personal tier (500 calls/month) is enough to start; AeroAPI bills per query.

Tools

Area	Tools
Flights	`fa_get_flights`, `fa_search_flights`, `fa_search_flights_advanced`, `fa_search_flight_positions`, `fa_count_flights`, `fa_get_flight_track`, `fa_get_flight_position`, `fa_get_flight_route`, `fa_get_flight_map`, `fa_get_flight_history`, `fa_resolve_flight`
Airports	`fa_get_airport`, `fa_get_airport_flights`, `fa_get_airport_flight_counts`, `fa_get_airport_routes`, `fa_list_airports`, `fa_get_nearby_airports`, `fa_get_airport_delays`, `fa_get_airport_weather`, `fa_resolve_airport`
Operators / aircraft	`fa_get_operator`, `fa_get_operator_flights`, `fa_list_operators`, `fa_get_aircraft_owner`
Schedules / predictive	`fa_get_scheduled_flights`, `fa_foresight_search` (premium tier)
Alerts	`fa_list_alerts`, `fa_get_alert`, `fa_create_alert`, `fa_update_alert`, `fa_delete_alert`, `fa_get_alerts_endpoint`, `fa_set_alerts_endpoint`
Health	`fa_healthcheck` — is this connector working? Reports whether AEROAPI_API_KEY resolved, whether AeroAPI accepted it, and what to fix. Uses a static-cached lookup, so repeat checks are not re-billed.

Alert mutations (fa_create_alert, fa_update_alert, fa_delete_alert, fa_set_alerts_endpoint) ask you to confirm before they write — see Confirmations.

Confirmations

Every alert mutation asks for your confirmation before it touches your AeroAPI account. A client that can show a confirmation prompt (Claude Code) shows one. On a client that cannot (claude.ai, Claude Desktop), the first call makes no network call and returns a preview of the exact request (method, path, body) plus a confirmToken; only a repeat call with that token sends it. A token acts once, expires, and is refused if the request changed since the preview.

variable	default
`MCP_CONFIRM_MODE`	`ask-user`	What a write does on a client that cannot show a confirmation prompt (claude.ai, Claude Desktop). `ask-user`: two steps — the first call does nothing and returns a preview plus a token, and the model must get your approval in chat before calling again with it. `auto`: the same two steps, but the model may use the token after reviewing the preview itself. `refuse`: writes are refused on such clients. A client that can show prompts (Claude Code) always gets the real prompt, unless `MCP_CONFIRM_ELICITATION=off`. An unrecognised value is treated as `refuse`.
`MCP_CONFIRM_ELICITATION`	`on`	`off` never sends a confirmation prompt, so every client gets the `MCP_CONFIRM_MODE` path. Set it for a client that declares it can show prompts but never does (the gated call hangs — opencode 2.0.x). Any other value stays `on`, with a stderr warning.
`MCP_CONFIRM_TTL_SECONDS`	`600`	How long a token stays valid.
`MCP_CONFIRM_SECRET`	random per process	Signing key; set it only if tokens must survive a server restart.

Configuration

Var	Required	Purpose
`AEROAPI_API_KEY`	yes	Your AeroAPI key (sent as the `x-apikey` header).
`AEROAPI_OUTPUT_DIR`	no	Default directory for flight-map PNGs (default: `~/Downloads/flightaware-mcp`). A per-call `output_dir` must be inside this directory (or inside `~/Downloads/flightaware-mcp` when it is unset).
`AEROAPI_CACHE_TTL`	no	Seconds to cache identical live-data GET responses (default: 15; `0` disables). Cuts AeroAPI per-query billing.
`AEROAPI_STATIC_CACHE_TTL`	no	Longer TTL for reference data — airport/operator info, routes, ownership, canonical lookups (default: 3600; `0` disables).

Upgrading

next release

fa_get_flight_map on a hosted server (mcp-host, i.e. MCP_DATA_DIR or MCP_BLOB_BASE_URL set) no longer writes the PNG to the server's disk, where the caller could never open it. It returns the map as an inline image when it fits (10 MiB), otherwise a signed, expiring download link: { "via": "link", "url": "…", "expiresAt": "…", "note"?: "…" } in place of { "map": "<path>" }. inline:false or an output_dir there also yields a link (with a note). A hosted server with no blob store refuses an over-cap map with a too_large error.
Local installs: the default is unchanged ({ "map": "<path>" }). inline:true is now capped at 10 MiB; a bigger map is saved to disk and returned as { "map": "<path>", "note": "…" } instead of an oversized inline image.