Rate-API.com MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol server that gives Claude and other AI assistants live access to the Rate-API.com exchange-rate API — real-time FX rates, currency conversion, historical data, time series, and cryptocurrency prices.

Once connected, you can just ask: "What's 250 EUR in Japanese yen?" or "How has USD/TRY moved over the last 30 days?" and the assistant calls the API for you.

Tools

| Tool | Description | Plan | |------|-------------|------| | get_latest_rates | Latest rates for a base currency (optionally filtered) | Free | | get_pair_rate | Single currency-pair rate with amount/precision | Free | | list_currencies | All supported currency codes and names | Free | | get_api_status | Service status + data freshness (no key needed) | — | | get_usage | Current-month usage vs. plan quota for this key | Free | | get_quota | Lean plan-quota / remaining-requests view | Free | | convert_currency | Convert an amount between two currencies | Pro+ | | get_historical_rates | Rates for a specific past date | Pro+ | | get_crypto_rates | Cryptocurrency prices in USD | Pro+ |

Setup

You need an API key — sign up free at https://rate-api.com/en/dashboard.

Claude Code

claude mcp add rate-api -e RATE_API_KEY=YOUR_KEY -- npx -y @rate-api/mcp

Claude Desktop / other MCP clients

Add to your MCP config (e.g. claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rate-api": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@rate-api/mcp"],
      "env": { "RATE_API_KEY": "YOUR_KEY" }
    }
  }
}

Run directly

RATE_API_KEY=YOUR_KEY npx -y @rate-api/mcp

Configuration

| Env var | Required | Default | Description | |---------|----------|---------|-------------| | RATE_API_KEY | for keyed tools | — | Your API key from the dashboard | | RATE_API_BASE_URL | no | https://rate-api.com | Override the API base URL | | RATE_API_TIMEOUT_MS | no | 15000 | Per-request timeout (ms) |

Resources & prompts

Besides the tools, the server exposes:

• Resource rate-api://currencies — the supported currency list (code, name, symbol, decimals).
• Prompts convert_amount and currency_movement — ready-made FX workflow templates.

Local development

cd sdk/mcp
npm install
RATE_API_KEY=YOUR_KEY npm start
# or inspect interactively:
RATE_API_KEY=YOUR_KEY npm run inspect

Transport is stdio; requires Node.js 18+. The only dependency is the official @modelcontextprotocol/sdk.

License

MIT — see the main repository.