Open Waters AIS MCP Server

by openwaters Your server? Claim it

answering

Open Waters AIS is answering right now. Last checked 14 min ago. It exposes 5 tools. Last commit 21 Sep 2026.

Live AIS vessel positions by MMSI, name, area, or radius, plus coverage. No sign-in, no key.

Uptime history 4 days of history

4 days agonow

100.0%

Uptime 24h

90 of 90 checks

Tools

read from the server

59 ms

Response time

average over 24h

Stars

last commit 21 Sep 2026

What changed 6

Every tool that appeared, vanished or quietly changed what it asks for. Recorded since 21 September 2026. No other catalogue keeps this.

21 Sep 4 tools changed the parameters they ask for find_vessels_in_area, find_vessels_near, get_vessels and 1 more

21 Sep a tool description was rewritten get_vessels

21 Sep a tool changed version

What the code does

We read the source, 7 h ago · tools taken from the live server · rules 3dff92dd89df

Capabilities

What this server is able to do. For an MCP server this is often the job itself — a terminal server runs commands because that is what it is for. Listed so you know what you are plugging in, not as an accusation.

Builds a file path from a variable server/archive.go:159

    path := filepath.Join(a.dir, a.key(source, hour))

Is this your server and something here is wrong? Tell us — corrections are free and do not require a plan.

This code can reach further than it looks

We found places where it runs commands, builds paths or queries from values it is given. None of that is a flaw by itself — it becomes one when the code changes, and code changes quietly between releases. We re-read it on every one.

Connect this server

Endpoint below is the one we actually reach during checks — not the one copied from a README. Last verified 14 min ago.

Claude Code Claude Desktop Codex Cursor VS Code

run in your terminal

claude mcp add ais --transport http https://ais.openwaters.io/mcp

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ais": {
      "url": "https://ais.openwaters.io/mcp"
    }
  }
}

~/.codex/config.toml

[mcp_servers.ais]
url = "https://ais.openwaters.io/mcp"

.cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ais": {
      "url": "https://ais.openwaters.io/mcp"
    }
  }
}

.vscode/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ais": {
      "url": "https://ais.openwaters.io/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Available tools 5

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

vessels

find_vessels_in_area

Vessels currently inside a latitude/longitude bounding box, newest report first, with optional kind and ship-type filters. Use for what is in a port, a strait, or a stretch of coast. Anonymous calls may cover 100 square degrees per call.

find_vessels_near

Vessels within a radius (default 10 NM, maximum 50) of a point or of another vessel, nearest first, each with distance and bearing from the centre. Use for what is near this position or what is around vessel X.

get_vessels

Current position and particulars of specific vessels by MMSI (Maritime Mobile Service Identity) or IMO number: the last report heard for each, with destination, ETA, draught, and dimensions once its static data has been heard, and which identifiers matched nothing in the last 30 minutes. Use search_vessels_by_name first when you only have a name.

search_vessels_by_name

Vessels whose name contains the text, case-insensitive, among vessels heard in the last 30 minutes. Use to turn a name into an MMSI, then get_vessels or find_vessels_near for detail. An optional bounding box narrows the search.

coverage

get_coverage

Where Open Waters AIS is hearing AIS right now: sources, stations, freshness, and vessel counts. Pass a bounding box to learn which stations cover it and how many vessels are in it, or a station id for that station's numbers. Call this before saying a region has no traffic.

Endpoints

URL	Transport	State	Latency	Checked
https://ais.openwaters.io/mcp	streamable-http	answering	50 ms	14 min ago

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Open Waters AIS — questions

Answers built from our own checks of this server.

What can Open Waters AIS do?

It exposes 5 tools, read directly from the server on our last check. Among them: find_vessels_in_area, find_vessels_near, get_coverage, get_vessels, search_vessels_by_name. 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 Open Waters AIS working right now?

We send a real MCP handshake every 15 minutes. Over the last 24 hours 90 of 90 checks got a reply (100.0%), average response time 59 ms. The bar chart above shows every period we have measured.

How do I connect Open Waters AIS?

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 Open Waters AIS need an API key?

No. Open Waters AIS completed a full MCP handshake with us as an anonymous client and listed its tools without asking for anything. All 5 of them are readable on this page. This is what we observed, not what the docs claim.

How fast is Open Waters AIS?

It answers our handshake in 59 ms on average, which is faster than 88% 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.

Is Open Waters AIS open source?

Yes — it is published under the MIT licence, written in Go, 7 stars on GitHub and 11 open issues. The source link is on this page, so you can read exactly what it does with your data before you connect it.