mcpbeat

Close API MCP Server

city.close/close-api
answering

Close API is answering right now. Last checked 9 min ago. It exposes 10 tools.

Walk, bike, and transit travel times from every US census block to nearby amenities.

The linked repository no longer exists on GitHub — it was deleted or made private.

Uptime history 40 hours of history
40 hours agonow
100.0%
Uptime 24h
91 of 91 checks
10
Tools
read from the server
82 ms
Response time
average over 24h
open, no key
Access
streamable-http

Connect this server

Endpoint below is the one we actually reach during checks — not the one copied from a README. Last verified 9 min ago.

run in your terminal
claude mcp add close-api --transport http https://mcp.close.city/mcp
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "close-api": {
      "url": "https://mcp.close.city/mcp"
    }
  }
}
~/.codex/config.toml
[mcp_servers.close-api]
url = "https://mcp.close.city/mcp"
.cursor/mcp.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "close-api": {
      "url": "https://mcp.close.city/mcp"
    }
  }
}
.vscode/mcp.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "close-api": {
      "url": "https://mcp.close.city/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Available tools 10

Read directly from the server with tools/list, grouped by what they act on. If a tool disappears, we record the date.

blocks
blocks_in_area
Per-block travel times for every census block in an area (metered: 1 token per returned row). Give place_geoid (from find_place) for a whole city, or center {lat, lon} + radius_m. Rows carry a numeric mode_id.
catalog
get_catalog
List the travel modes and the destination-type taxonomy (free, no key). Use it to resolve type names to the numeric ids the other tools take. Modes are walk, bike, transit — there is no drive mode.
isochrone
isochrone
The area reachable from a location within a time budget, as GeoJSON contours (metered: 10 tokens per contour). Give block_geoid or lat+lon. Defaults to a single 30-minute contour; ask for more only when needed (bodies can be large).
join
join_close_plus
Get a Stripe Checkout URL for the Close+ membership ($10/month: 5,000 API tokens granted monthly plus member features on the close.city map). The user pays in their own browser: give them the returned URL and stop. Needs a fresh six-digit code from request_sign_in, read by the user from their own inbox.
nearby
nearby_pois
Nearby points of interest and the travel time to each, from a location (metered: 1 token per returned row). One origin: block_geoid or lat+lon; keep limit small to control spend and context size. Many origins (up to 250): block_geoids or points — one batch call and one rate-limit request, rows tagged by origin, no limit/pagination, so filter with type/mode/max_minutes. Batching saves requests and context, not tokens: it still charges per row. A non-empty truncated (+ truncated_reason) means the balance or row budget cut the batch short.
place
find_place
Look up a US city or town by name (free, no key). Returns matches with their census place GEOID and centre point (lon/lat). The entry point: feed a GEOID to blocks_in_area, or a centre to walkability_summary.
redeem
redeem_code
Complete sign-up with the six-digit code the user received, and return a new API key (shown once). Call request_sign_in first. The key grants 5,000 free tokens; store it and pass it as the Authorization bearer on future calls.
request
request_sign_in
Start free sign-up for the user: email them a six-digit code. The user must read the code from their own inbox and give it to you, then call redeem_code. This is how an agent gets the user an API key (5,000 free tokens, no card).
token
get_token_balance
Check the token balance of the API key in use, without spending any tokens. Works even at a zero balance. Requires the Authorization bearer key.
walkability
walkability_summary
Fastest travel time from a location to each destination category, by mode (metered: 1 token per returned row). One origin: block_geoid or lat+lon. Many origins (up to 250): block_geoids or points — one batch call and one rate-limit request, with rows tagged by origin. Batching saves requests and context, not tokens: it still charges per row. A non-empty truncated (+ truncated_reason) means the balance or row budget cut the batch short. A missing category means it is not reachable within 30 minutes.

Endpoints

URLTransportStateLatencyChecked
https://mcp.close.city/mcp streamable-http answering 79 ms 9 min ago

Close API — questions

Answers built from our own checks of this server.

What can Close API do?
It exposes 10 tools, read directly from the server on our last check. Among them: blocks_in_area, find_place, get_catalog, get_token_balance, isochrone, join_close_plus and 4 more. The full list with descriptions is on this page — we take it from the server itself via tools/list, not from a README. How MCP servers expose tools in the first place →
Is Close API working right now?
We send a real MCP handshake every 15 minutes. Over the last 24 hours 91 of 91 checks got a reply (100.0%), average response time 82 ms. The bar chart above shows every period we have measured.
Is Close API still maintained?
The linked repository no longer exists on GitHub — it was deleted or made private. We show this because it changes what you can expect: an unmaintained server may keep answering for months and then stop without warning.
How do I connect Close API?
Copy the ready config from this page — we generate it for Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex, Cursor and VS Code, each with the file path that client actually reads. It is a remote server, so there is nothing to install — the client connects to the address.
Does Close API need an API key?
No. Close API completed a full MCP handshake with us as an anonymous client and listed its tools without asking for anything. All 10 of them are readable on this page. This is what we observed, not what the docs claim.
How fast is Close API?
It answers our handshake in 82 ms on average, which is faster than 90% of all working MCP servers we measure. That puts it in the quick quarter of the ecosystem. The comparison comes from our own checks across the whole registry, every 15 minutes.