@cyanheads/aviation-weather-mcp-server
Fetch METARs, TAFs, PIREPs, and SIGMETs/AIRMETs from the NWS Aviation Weather Center via MCP. STDIO or Streamable HTTP.
Public Hosted Server: https://aviation-weather.caseyjhand.com/mcp
Tools
Five tools covering aviation weather — station lookup, current observations, terminal forecasts, pilot reports, and active advisories:
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
aviation_find_stations | Resolve airports and weather stations by ICAO ID, bounding box, or US state. Returns ICAO/IATA/FAA IDs, coordinates, elevation, and available data types. |
aviation_get_metar | Get current weather observations (METARs) for one or more airports. Returns decoded wind, visibility, ceiling, temp/dewpoint, altimeter, cloud layers, flight category (VFR/MVFR/IFR/LIFR), and the raw METAR string. |
aviation_get_taf | Get Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts for one or more airports. Returns each forecast period with valid times, wind, visibility, weather codes, and cloud layers, plus the raw TAF string. |
aviation_get_pireps | Get recent Pilot Reports near an airport or within a bounding box. Returns decoded turbulence, icing, and cloud reports with altitude, aircraft type, intensity, and the raw PIREP string. |
aviation_get_advisories | Get active SIGMETs and AIRMETs for a region. Returns hazard type (CONVECTIVE, TURBULENCE, ICING, IFR, MTN OBSCN), severity, altitude range, valid period, polygon coordinates, and raw text. |
aviation_find_stations
Resolve and discover weather stations by multiple search modes.
- Look up one or more stations by ICAO, IATA, or FAA ID (up to 20 IDs per call)
- Discover all stations within a geographic bounding box
- List stations for a US state via two-letter abbreviation (uses bbox + client-side state filter)
- Returns
data_types(METAR, TAF, etc.) so agents can confirm what's available before querying
aviation_get_metar
Fetch current or recent METAR observations (1–10 stations per call).
hoursparameter (1–12) returns observation history per station; default 1 returns only the most recent- Flight category (VFR/MVFR/IFR/LIFR) is returned directly from the AWC API — no client-side computation needed
- Decodes cloud layers, wind with gusts, and visibility in addition to the raw METAR string
- METAR type field distinguishes
METAR(routine) fromSPECI(special observation triggered by significant weather change)
aviation_get_taf
Fetch Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts for 1–4 airports.
- Returns structured forecast periods with change types (
FM,TEMPO,BECMG) and probabilities - Common weather codes (e.g.,
-SHRA,TSRA) decoded to plain English alongside the raw string valid_from/valid_toin ISO 8601 for straightforward time comparisons
aviation_get_pireps
Search for recent Pilot Reports by station+radius or bounding box.
station_id+distance_nm(10–500 nm, default 100) for radial search around an airportbboxfor geographic area search — useful for en-route corridor checksaltitude_min_ft/altitude_max_ftfilters to isolate reports at cruise altitude- Turbulence and icing arrays include up to two layers per report (as reported by the API)
- Note: absence of PIREPs does not mean smooth conditions — they are sparse by nature
aviation_get_advisories
List currently active SIGMETs and AIRMETs.
advisory_typefilter:sigmet,airmet, orall(default)hazardfilter:CONVECTIVE,TURBULENCE,ICING,IFR,MTN OBSCN,SURFACE WIND,LLWSbboxfilter applied client-side (AWC API returns all active advisories; the tool filters by polygon overlap)- During fair-weather periods, no AIRMETs may be active — an empty result is a valid state, not an error
Prompts
| Type | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Prompt | aviation_preflight_brief | Structure a preflight weather briefing for one or more airports. Guides the LLM to call aviation_get_metar, aviation_get_taf, and aviation_get_advisories in sequence and synthesize a go/no-go picture with flight categories and active hazards. |
All resource data is reachable via tools. This server has no resources — all aviation weather data is time-sensitive (METARs valid ~1 hour, advisories minutes to hours) and unsuitable for stable-URI resources.
Features
Built on @cyanheads/mcp-ts-core:
- Declarative tool and prompt definitions — single file per primitive, framework handles registration and validation
- Unified error handling — handlers throw, framework catches, classifies, and formats
- Pluggable auth:
none,jwt,oauth - Structured logging with optional OpenTelemetry tracing
- STDIO and Streamable HTTP transports
Aviation-weather-specific:
- Keyless — no API key or authentication required; all data is from the public AWC Data API
- Single service (
aviation-weather-service) with retry + exponential backoff for the keyless public endpoint - Raw coded strings (
rawOb,rawTAF,rawAirSigmet) surfaced alongside decoded fields so agents have both layers - State→bbox table enables US-state station queries that the AWC API doesn't natively support
- Server-level
instructionsfield surfaces the "not an official briefing" safety disclaimer to all clients oninitialize
Agent-friendly output:
- Flight category (
VFR/MVFR/IFR/LIFR) as a discriminated string field — agents can branch on it without parsing ceiling + visibility - Structured error contracts with typed
reasonfields andrecoveryhints (e.g., "Verify ICAO IDs withaviation_find_stations") aviation_preflight_briefprompt encodes the correct METAR → TAF → PIREPs → advisories briefing sequence that agents frequently get wrong by omitting steps
Getting started
Public Hosted Instance
A public hosted instance is available at https://aviation-weather.caseyjhand.com/mcp. Add it to your MCP client configuration:
{
"mcpServers": {
"aviation-weather": {
"type": "streamable-http",
"url": "https://aviation-weather.caseyjhand.com/mcp"
}
}
}
Self-hosted / local
Add the following to your MCP client configuration file.
{
"mcpServers": {
"aviation-weather": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "bunx",
"args": ["@cyanheads/aviation-weather-mcp-server@latest"],
"env": {
"MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE": "stdio",
"MCP_LOG_LEVEL": "info"
}
}
}
}
Or with npx (no Bun required):
{
"mcpServers": {
"aviation-weather": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@cyanheads/aviation-weather-mcp-server@latest"],
"env": {
"MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE": "stdio",
"MCP_LOG_LEVEL": "info"
}
}
}
}
Or with Docker:
{
"mcpServers": {
"aviation-weather": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "docker",
"args": [
"run", "-i", "--rm",
"-e", "MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE=stdio",
"ghcr.io/cyanheads/aviation-weather-mcp-server:latest"
]
}
}
}
For Streamable HTTP, set the transport and start the server:
MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE=http MCP_HTTP_PORT=3010 bun run start:http
# Server listens at http://localhost:3010/mcp
Prerequisites
- Bun v1.3.0 or higher (or Node.js v24+).
- No API key required — the AWC Data API is fully public and keyless.
Installation
- Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/cyanheads/aviation-weather-mcp-server.git
- Navigate into the directory:
cd aviation-weather-mcp-server
- Install dependencies:
bun install
- Configure environment:
cp .env.example .env
# edit .env if you need to override AWC_BASE_URL or AWC_TIMEOUT_MS
Configuration
| Variable | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
AWC_BASE_URL | Base URL for the NWS AWC Data API. | https://aviationweather.gov/api/data |
AWC_TIMEOUT_MS | Per-request timeout in milliseconds (1000–60000). | 10000 |
MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE | Transport: stdio or http. | stdio |
MCP_HTTP_PORT | Port for HTTP server. | 3010 |
MCP_AUTH_MODE | Auth mode: none, jwt, or oauth. | none |
MCP_LOG_LEVEL | Log level (RFC 5424). | info |
OTEL_ENABLED | Enable OpenTelemetry instrumentation. | false |
See .env.example for the full list of optional overrides.
Running the server
Local development
-
Build and run:
bun run rebuild bun run start:stdio # or bun run start:http -
Run checks and tests:
bun run devcheck # Lint, format, typecheck, security bun run test # Vitest test suite bun run lint:mcp # Validate MCP definitions against spec
Docker
docker build -t aviation-weather-mcp-server .
docker run --rm -p 3010:3010 aviation-weather-mcp-server
The Dockerfile defaults to HTTP transport, stateless session mode, and logs to /var/log/aviation-weather-mcp-server. OpenTelemetry peer dependencies are installed by default — build with --build-arg OTEL_ENABLED=false to omit them.
Project structure
| Directory | Purpose |
|---|---|
src/index.ts | createApp() entry point — registers tools/prompts and inits services. |
src/config | Server-specific env var parsing (AWC_BASE_URL, AWC_TIMEOUT_MS). |
src/services/aviation-weather | AWC Data API client — HTTP fetch, retry with exponential backoff, response normalization. |
src/mcp-server/tools | Tool definitions (*.tool.ts). |
src/mcp-server/prompts | Prompt definitions (*.prompt.ts). |
tests/ | Unit and integration tests mirroring src/. |
Development guide
See CLAUDE.md for development guidelines and architectural rules. The short version:
- Handlers throw, framework catches — no
try/catchin tool logic - Use
ctx.logfor request-scoped logging,ctx.statefor tenant-scoped storage - Register new tools and prompts via the barrels in
src/mcp-server/*/definitions/index.ts - Wrap external API calls: validate raw → normalize to domain type → return output schema; never fabricate missing fields
Not an official preflight briefing. Data from the AWC is informational only. Real flight planning requires an authorized source (e.g., Leidos/1800wxbrief.com). The server surfaces this disclaimer via its
instructionsfield sent on everyinitialize.
Contributing
Issues and pull requests are welcome. Run checks and tests before submitting:
bun run devcheck
bun run test
License
Apache-2.0 — see LICENSE for details.