Start working with Explore Art

Quick start

Choose how you want to work

Explore Art MCP is one rights-aware capability layer with two transports. Standard MCP is the dependable remote connection; WebMCP is the experimental, page-aware transport for working inside a compatible browser. Their current rollout state is shown below.

Recommended starting point

Standard MCP

Available now. Connect from an MCP-capable client; no Explore Art tab needs to stay open.

Connection details →

Experimental

WebMCP

Enabled here. A supporting browser can share the current gallery, selections, colors, and crop.

Browser behavior →

Step 1

Connect the endpoint

Add Explore Art as a remote MCP server using Streamable HTTP. Public v2 is anonymous, so there is no Explore Art API key to create. Client configuration formats vary; this is the common shape.

Representative MCP client configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "explore-art": {
      "url": "https://explore-art.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Step 2

Start with the brief

Try asking your agent:

Find playful, lively works tagged Animals with prominent blue. Keep only public-domain or CC0 results, and explain the matched color evidence.

A capable agent can translate that brief into a direct search_artworks call like this:

search_artworks arguments

{
  "contract": "explore_art_mcp.v2",
  "filters": {
    "genome": [
      "animals"
    ],
    "geometry": {
      "orientation": [
        "landscape"
      ],
      "minimum_resolution": {
        "width": 2400,
        "height": 1200
      }
    },
    "color": {
      "all_of": [
        {
          "kind": "family",
          "value": "blue",
          "coverage": "prominent"
        }
      ]
    }
  },
  "preferences": {
    "semantic": {
      "text": "playful, lively, asymmetrical",
      "mode": "looks"
    },
    "target_surface": {
      "width": 1600,
      "height": 900,
      "fit": "cover",
      "allow_upscale": false,
      "max_crop_fraction": 0.18
    }
  },
  "selection": {
    "limit": 12,
    "max_per_artist": 2,
    "visual_diversity": "moderate"
  },
  "rights": "public_domain_or_cc0"
}

filters

Non-negotiable eligibility: catalog facts, geometry, exact color, and rights.

preferences

Semantic direction, palette relationships, and target-surface fit that influence rank.

selection

Final count, source caps, and visual diversity within the first 100 engine-ranked candidates.

Step 3

Inspect, refine, retrieve

1
Discover
Use list_filter_options and list_color_options instead of guessing exact catalog values.
2
Search
Separate hard filters from ranking preferences and final-set selection.
3
Inspect and refine
Review evidence and provenance, then search from works or a selected detail. A new rectangle may create and enqueue a derived crop.
4
Retrieve
Request an ordered, representation-guarded batch for up to 20 works and preserve each credit and provenance bundle.

The response

One versioned envelope

Explore Art MCP uses the versioned explore_art_mcp.v2 response schema. Standard MCP returns the envelope in structuredContent and repeats it as a compact JSON text block for older clients.

schema_version request_id tool ok normalized_request canonical_hard_filters result_count results matched_evidence rights non_applied_alternatives meta error

error is present only on a typed failure.