NASA APOD MCP server: the astronomy picture of the day

This template turns the NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day API into an MCP server, so your AI can show and explain the picture of any given day.

What this API does

NASA APOD returns, for a date, the title, the explanation written by an astronomer and the address of the picture or video of the day. It needs a free key from NASA, sent as the api_key query parameter.

Tools you get

These tools are suggested for this template. Voozeo lists them after the import, and you choose which ones to enable.

• get_apod: the picture of the day for a date, with its title, explanation and address.

Three requests to try

Once the server is connected to your AI, you can ask for example:

• "What was the astronomy picture of the day on my birthday last year?"
• "Explain today's astronomy picture in two sentences for a ten-year-old."
• "Give me the title and the address of the picture of the day for the first of January."

Authentication

A free key is required. Get one on the NASA open data site (api.nasa.gov). For a first test, the shared key DEMO_KEY works but is strongly rate limited. Voozeo opens the target API tab so you can paste the key as the api_key query parameter; it is stored encrypted and never shown again.

Create and connect the server

1. Select "Create this server" below. Voozeo asks you to sign up, or opens a server already filled in if you are signed in.
2. The name, the address of the OpenAPI file, the base URL of the API and the authentication type are filled in. Voozeo imports the file for you.
3. Open the "Tools" tab and enable the tools listed above, or the ones you need.
4. In the "Connection" tab, copy the address and the key into your AI. See Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or VS Code.

You can change everything afterwards: the template is only a starting point. To go further, read getting started and tools.