# OpenHerbarium MCP

**Botanical Knowledge MCP Server** — a Model Context Protocol server that gives AI agents structured, sourced botanical data from free/open sources.

OpenHerbarium MCP is designed for a downstream agent such as **Hermes Agent Botaniste**. It is deliberately a knowledge-access layer only: it fetches, normalizes and cites botanical evidence, then lets the client agent reason, write, format and publish.

## What this MCP does

It exposes MCP tools for:

- plant lookup by common or scientific name;
- taxonomic information;
- species information such as distribution, habitat and botanical descriptions;
- horticultural care-source discovery;
- image-source discovery with licence and author metadata;
- targeted botanical source search through a local Firecrawl instance when configured.

Every returned data point is wrapped with provenance:

```json
{
  "value": "Marantaceae",
  "source": "GBIF Backbone Taxonomy",
  "url": "https://www.gbif.org/species/8184122",
  "retrieved_at": "2026-08-02T12:00:00+00:00",
  "confidence": "high"
}
```

## What this MCP does **not** do

OpenHerbarium MCP never:

- creates final Markdown plant sheets;
- writes to Outline;
- manages Outline collections;
- creates care calendars;
- decides final horticultural recommendations;
- replaces the reasoning/presentation layer of Hermes Agent.

## MCP tools

### `search_plant(name: str)`

Returns:

- accepted scientific name;
- canonical name;
- common/vernacular names when available;
- synonyms;
- family, genus, species and rank;
- external identifiers such as GBIF keys and GBIF species URL;
- best-effort Kew/POWO results when accessible.

### `get_taxonomy(name: str)`

Returns sourced taxonomy:

- kingdom;
- phylum/class/order when available;
- family;
- genus;
- species;
- scientific name;
- botanical authorship;
- taxonomic status;
- synonyms.

Priority sources:

- GBIF Backbone Taxonomy;
- Plants of the World Online, Kew, best-effort.

### `get_species_information(name: str)`

Returns raw evidence for:

- botanical descriptions;
- known distribution;
- natural habitat where available;
- additional source-search records when Firecrawl is configured.

### `get_care_sources(name: str)`

Returns raw source candidates for:

- light;
- temperature;
- humidity;
- watering;
- substrate;
- fertilisation;
- repotting.

It does **not** transform those sources into final care advice.

### `get_image_sources(name: str, limit: int = 10)`

Uses Wikimedia Commons to return:

- image URL;
- licence;
- author;
- source page.

### `search_botanical_sources(query: str, limit: int = 5)`

Uses a local Firecrawl instance if `FIRECRAWL_API_URL` is configured. If not configured, the tool returns source-constrained suggested queries rather than pretending to have scraped content.

## Sources

Implemented/targeted sources:

- [GBIF](https://www.gbif.org/)
- [Plants of the World Online, Kew](https://powo.science.kew.org/) best-effort connector
- [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/)
- [Royal Horticultural Society](https://www.rhs.org.uk/) source candidates / Firecrawl search
- [Tela Botanica](https://www.tela-botanica.org/) source candidates / Firecrawl search
- public university horticultural resources via targeted Firecrawl search

No paid API is required.

## Installation

### Requirements

- Python 3.11+
- `uv` recommended, or any Python package installer capable of creating a virtual environment

### Local install with `uv`

```bash
git clone <YOUR_GITEA_URL>/openherbarium-mcp.git
cd openherbarium-mcp
uv sync --extra dev
```

Run tests:

```bash
uv run pytest
```

Run the MCP server over stdio:

```bash
uv run openherbarium-mcp
```

## Hermes Agent configuration

Add the server to `~/.hermes/config.yaml`:

```yaml
mcp_servers:
  openherbarium:
    command: "uv"
    args:
      - "--directory"
      - "/absolute/path/to/openherbarium-mcp"
      - "run"
      - "openherbarium-mcp"
    timeout: 120
    connect_timeout: 60
```

Restart Hermes Agent. Tools will be exposed with names similar to:

- `mcp_openherbarium_search_plant`
- `mcp_openherbarium_get_taxonomy`
- `mcp_openherbarium_get_species_information`
- `mcp_openherbarium_get_care_sources`
- `mcp_openherbarium_get_image_sources`
- `mcp_openherbarium_search_botanical_sources`

## Firecrawl configuration

Copy `.env.example` to `.env` and set:

```bash
FIRECRAWL_API_URL=http://localhost:3002
FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=
```

If Firecrawl is not configured, source-search tools return explicit suggested queries and a `not_configured` status.

## Development

```bash
uv sync --extra dev
uv run pytest
```

Project layout:

```text
openherbarium-mcp/
├── src/
│   └── openherbarium_mcp/
│       ├── server.py
│       ├── gbif.py
│       ├── kew.py
│       ├── rhs.py
│       ├── tela_botanica.py
│       ├── wikimedia.py
│       └── firecrawl.py
├── tests/
├── README.md
├── pyproject.toml
├── LICENSE
└── .env.example
```

## Reliability model

The server distinguishes between:

- **high confidence**: exact/high-confidence API matches, mostly GBIF taxonomic matches;
- **medium confidence**: sourced API records that still require interpretation;
- **low confidence**: source candidates or search results that must be manually/agent verified.

OpenHerbarium MCP prefers returning `status: unavailable`, `status: not_configured` or empty records over inventing missing data.

## License

MIT