About Genius
Genius is an MCP server for searching Genius and retrieving song, artist and album metadata. It returns descriptions and page information rather than lyric text, which the API does not provide.
Key features
- 01Search song metadata
- 02Retrieve song and artist details
- 03List an artist’s popular songs
- 04Return Genius page and description data
Use cases
- 01Find songs and artists by keyword
- 02Review artist details and popular tracks
- 03Retrieve song metadata without lyric text
MCP support
Exposes Genius search and metadata retrieval as MCP tools. It can run locally over stdio or be accessed through the Pipeworx gateway.
Configuration
Remote servers need no local install. Pick your client, then copy the config or install in one click.
https://gateway.pipeworx.io/genius/mcpclaude mcp add --transport http pipeworx-io-genius https://gateway.pipeworx.io/genius/mcp{"mcpServers":{"pipeworx-io-genius":{"type":"http","url":"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/genius/mcp"}}}Open in Cursor{"servers":{"pipeworx-io-genius":{"type":"http","url":"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/genius/mcp"}}}Open in VS Code{"mcpServers":{"pipeworx-io-genius":{"type":"http","url":"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/genius/mcp"}}}{"mcpServers":{"pipeworx-io-genius":{"serverUrl":"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/genius/mcp"}}}Run commands in a terminal; paste JSON into the client’s MCP config and restart. Servers that need sign-in will prompt on first connect.
Tools
Details
From the project README@pipeworx/genius
Genius MCP — song / artist / album metadata, search, and Genius annotation descriptions. Lyric text is not returned by the Genius API (licensing) — this pack returns titles, IDs, stats, Genius page URLs, and "about" descriptions.
Part of Pipeworx — an MCP gateway connecting AI agents to 1879+ live data sources. This is an independent, unofficial integration — not affiliated with, endorsed by, or published by the upstream provider.
Tools
search(query, limit?)— keyword search; returns song metadata hitsget_song(id)— song metadata (title, artist, album, release, pageviews, about)get_artist(id)— artist metadata (name, followers, alternate names, about)artist_songs(artist_id, limit?)— songs by an artist, ranked by popularity
_apiKey is optional on every tool — omit it to use the platform key.
Auth
- Platform key: injected by the gateway when
_apiKeyis omitted. - BYO: pass
_apiKey=<token>after registering a free Client Access Token at https://genius.com/api-clients.
Sent as Authorization: Bearer <token> on every request.
Data source
https://api.genius.com — Bearer access token.
Quick Start
Add to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.):
{
"mcpServers": {
"genius": {
"url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/genius/mcp"
}
}
}
What this endpoint actually serves
tools/list at https://gateway.pipeworx.io/genius/mcp returns the tools in the table
above plus the shared Pipeworx meta-tools — ask_pipeworx,
discover_tools, search_within, remember/recall and the rest of the
gateway-wide set. So the tool count you see is larger than this table: a
single-pack endpoint currently lists roughly 30 shared tools alongside the
pack's own. The connection's initialize response states its exact scope, and
is the authoritative answer for a given day.
This is deliberate, not multiplexing by accident. The meta-tools are what let a
scoped connection answer a question this pack does not cover — via
ask_pipeworx, which routes across the whole catalog — without you adding a
second MCP server. There is currently no way to mount a pack endpoint without
them; if the extra schemas cost you more context than the routing is worth,
connect to the full gateway once rather than to several pack endpoints.
Or connect to the full Pipeworx gateway to get every pack's tools listed directly, instead of just this one's:
{
"mcpServers": {
"pipeworx": {
"url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/mcp"
}
}
}
Both URLs reach the same gateway and the same 1879+ data sources. The
only difference is which pack's tools are listed directly; ask_pipeworx
reaches all of them from either one.
No MCP client? Call it over HTTP
curl -X POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/genius_search \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{"query":"humble kendrick lamar","limit":10}'
No account needed for the first calls. Inspect any tool: GET https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/genius_search. Find one: POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/search_packs with {"query":"..."}.
Standalone (no gateway account)
This package also runs as a local stdio MCP server — no Pipeworx account, no gateway round-trip:
{
"mcpServers": {
"genius": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@pipeworx/mcp-genius"]
}
}
}
Or run it directly to confirm it starts:
npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-genius
It speaks MCP over stdin/stdout and answers initialize/tools/list/tools/call
for only this pack's tools — none of the shared meta-tools the gateway
connection above adds. Same source, same tools, no ask_pipeworx routing.
Using with ask_pipeworx
Instead of calling tools directly, you can ask questions in plain English — this works on the pack endpoint above as well as on the full gateway:
ask_pipeworx({ question: "your question about Genius data" })
The gateway picks the right tool and fills the arguments automatically.
More
License
MIT
Comments
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