About flightaware-mcp
flightaware-mcp connects Claude and other MCP clients to FlightAware AeroAPI v4 for live flight and aviation data. It includes flight and airport lookups, schedules, alerts, and confirmation steps for alert changes.
Key features
- 01Flight searches and live positions
- 02Flight tracks, routes, history, and maps
- 03Airport information, boards, delays, and weather
- 04Operator, aircraft, and schedule lookups
- 05Create and manage flight alerts
- 06Confirmation before alert changes
Use cases
- 01Check a flight's current position and route
- 02Review arrivals or departures at an airport
- 03Find airport delays and weather
- 04Set or update flight alerts with confirmation
MCP support
Exposes FlightAware AeroAPI v4 flight and aviation operations as tools over stdio for MCP clients. Alert mutations require confirmation before making changes.
Configuration
Local server config is the same for every client. Copy it into your client’s MCP config file.
npx -y @chrischall/flightaware-mcpAEROAPI_API_KEYSecretYour FlightAware AeroAPI key (flightaware.com/aeroapi/portal)AEROAPI_OUTPUT_DIRDefault directory for flight-map PNGs (default: current working directory)AEROAPI_CACHE_TTLSeconds to cache identical live-data GET responses (default 15; 0 disables)AEROAPI_STATIC_CACHE_TTLSeconds to cache reference data — airports, operators, routes, ownership (default 3600; 0 disables)Local servers need a runtime on your machine (e.g. Node.js 18+). Config file locations differ by client; see your client’s docs.
Tools
34Saved tool list · updated 2w ago
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| end | string | No | ISO-8601 end of the time window |
| view | enum | No | Response shape: "compact" (default) drops fields the response already carries elsewhere; "full" returns every field this server understands. compact strips image/avatar URLs from the response; "full" returns FlightAware's payload untouched. No field projection: this server has no verified record of which FlightAware fields matter, and inventing one would risk dropping a field a caller needs.compact | full |
| ident | string | Yes | Flight designator, registration, or fa_flight_id |
| start | string | No | ISO-8601 start of the time window |
| cursor | string | No | Paging cursor: the cursor query parameter of a previous response's links.next (passing the whole links.next value also works) |
| max_pages | integer | No | Max pages to fetch, 1-20 (AeroAPI default: 1). Capped at 20 since AeroAPI bills per page. |
| ident_type | enum | No | Disambiguate how `ident` is interpreteddesignator | registration | fa_flight_id |
Details
From the project READMEflightaware-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
{
"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). |
Development
npm install
npm run build
npm test
Every request rides your own AeroAPI key and counts against your subscription quota. See docs/FLIGHTAWARE-API.md for the pinned endpoint surface.
License
MIT
Comments
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