VIN MCP

Free VIN decoder for humans and AI. No API keys. No accounts. No limits.

mcp.vin -- Try it now

What It Does

Enter a 17-character VIN and get a comprehensive vehicle report by aggregating six free data sources into a single response:

| Source | Data Provided | |--------|--------------| | NHTSA vPIC | Make, model, year, trim, body class, engine specs, transmission, drive type, weight, plant info, 140+ decoded fields | | NHTSA Recalls | Open recalls with campaign number, component, summary, consequence, and remedy | | NHTSA Complaints | Consumer complaints with crash, fire, injury, and death statistics | | NHTSA Safety Ratings | NCAP star ratings for overall, frontal, side, and rollover crash tests | | EPA Fuel Economy | City/highway/combined MPG, annual fuel cost, CO2 emissions, EV range and charge time | | IMAGIN.studio | Stock vehicle photos from multiple angles |

Additionally, VIN validation (checksum, WMI country/manufacturer decode, model year) is computed locally with zero API calls.

Quick Start -- Connect via MCP

Smithery (one command)

npx -y @smithery/cli install @keptlive/vin-mcp --client claude

Claude Code (stdio)

Add to your .mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vin": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "vin-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Or if you have the repo cloned locally:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vin": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/vin-mcp/server.mjs"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop / claude.ai (HTTP)

Use the hosted MCP endpoint:

https://mcp.vin/mcp

Add to your Claude Desktop config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vin": {
      "url": "https://mcp.vin/mcp"
    }
  }
}

MCP Tools

| Tool | Description | Input | |------|-------------|-------| | decode_vin | Full VIN decode with specs, recalls, complaints, safety ratings, fuel economy, and photos | { vin: string } | | validate_vin | Quick local validation -- checksum, WMI country/manufacturer, model year. No external API calls | { vin: string } | | lookup_recalls | Look up recalls by VIN or by make/model/year | { vin?: string, make?: string, model?: string, year?: number } | | batch_decode | Decode up to 50 VINs in a single request via NHTSA batch API | { vins: string[] } |

REST API

All endpoints are available at https://mcp.vin or on your self-hosted instance.

| Method | Endpoint | Description | |--------|----------|-------------| | GET | /api/vin/:vin | Full decode -- all 6 sources aggregated | | GET | /api/vin/:vin/validate | Quick checksum and format validation | | GET | /api/vin/:vin/recalls | Recall data only | | GET | /api/vin/:vin/complaints | Consumer complaints only | | GET | /api/vin/:vin/safety | NCAP safety ratings only | | GET | /api/vin/:vin/fuel | EPA fuel economy only | | GET | /api/vin/:vin/photo | Redirects to vehicle photo URL | | POST | /api/batch | Batch decode (body: { "vins": ["VIN1", "VIN2", ...] }, max 50) |

Rate limits: 30 requests/minute per IP for most endpoints, 60/minute for validation and photos, 5/minute for batch.

Example:

curl https://mcp.vin/api/vin/1HGCM82633A004352

Direct VIN URLs also work -- visit https://mcp.vin/1HGCM82633A004352 to see the web report.

Self-Hosting

git clone https://github.com/keptlive/vin-mcp.git
cd vin-mcp
npm install
node server.mjs --http --port 3200

The server starts in HTTP mode with:

• Web frontend at http://localhost:3200
• REST API at http://localhost:3200/api/vin/{vin}
• MCP endpoint at http://localhost:3200/mcp

For stdio mode (Claude Code integration without a web server):

node server.mjs

How VINs Work

A VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) is a 17-character code assigned to every vehicle manufactured since 1981. Each position encodes specific information:

1 H G C M 8 2 6 3 3 A 0 0 4 3 5 2
|_____| |___| | | | |_| |_________|
  WMI    VDS  | | | |yr  Sequential
              | | | plant
              | | check digit
              | vehicle attributes
              manufacturer ID

• Positions 1-3 (WMI): World Manufacturer Identifier -- country and manufacturer
• Positions 4-8 (VDS): Vehicle Descriptor Section -- model, body, engine, transmission
• Position 9: Check digit -- validates the VIN using a weighted algorithm
• Position 10: Model year code (A-Y, 1-9 on a 30-year cycle)
• Position 11: Assembly plant
• Positions 12-17: Sequential production number

The letters I, O, and Q are never used in VINs to avoid confusion with 1, 0, and 9.

Tech Stack

• Runtime: Node.js 18+
• Server: Express 5
• MCP SDK: @modelcontextprotocol/sdk with stdio and Streamable HTTP transports
• Frontend: Vanilla HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
• Caching: In-memory LRU with TTL (1h for decodes, 6h for recalls, 24h for ratings and fuel data)
• External dependencies: Zero API keys required -- all data sources are free public APIs

License

MIT

Built for mcp.vin