Unsplash

Search Unsplash photos, collections, illustrations and photographers.

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What the Unsplash connector does

The Unsplash MCP server connects Unsplash's stock photography library to Claude, ChatGPT and any MCP-compatible agent. Anthropic's directory lists four read-only tools that search photos, collections, illustrations and photographers. Sign-in is OAuth, and the grant carries only read scopes. Attribution and download tracking remain your obligation under Unsplash's API guidelines.

Verified connector

Listed by Anthropic as a partner connector in its Connectors Directory.

Connection checked by Agentman on .

Anthropic states this reflects the level of review a connector received, not a security audit.

Unsplash tools (4)

  • SearchCollections
  • SearchIllustrations
  • SearchPhotos
  • SearchUsers

Tool names from Anthropic's directory listing. This server requires sign-in, so we could not read tool descriptions or parameter schemas.

Limits

  • Unsplash publishes no MCP documentation. Zero mentions of MCP or Model Context Protocol across unsplash.com/documentation, unsplash.com/developers and the 862 URLs in the help centre sitemap on 2026-08-22. The four tool names come from Anthropic's directory, and there is no vendor enumeration to diff them against.
  • The connector does not fire the download event Unsplash's guidelines require. No search tool can. Whatever inserts the photo into your document must call the photo's download_location endpoint, or your use is out of compliance with the API guidelines.
  • Attribution is on you. The connector returns the photographer's profile URL; nothing makes the agent use it. An agent that pastes an image without a credit line has broken the guideline even though the Unsplash License alone would not have required one.
  • Illustrations are paid content. They sit under the Unsplash+ subscription and the Unsplash+ licence. Whether an unsubscribed account can retrieve them through SearchIllustrations is something we could not test without authenticating.
  • No parameter schemas or safety annotations could be read. The endpoint returned 401 to an anonymous request on 2026-08-22, so filters such as content_filter, order_by and per_page are described here from Unsplash's REST documentation, not from the MCP server's own schemas. The MCP tools may accept a different set.
  • The rate limit for the MCP server is unpublished. Unsplash documents 50 requests per hour in demo mode and 1000 after production approval for REST API applications, and does not say how those apply to its own connector. Treat the figures as context, not as your ceiling.
  • SearchIllustrations has no documented endpoint. Unsplash's changelog confirms illustrations reach API partners through photo endpoints, but no /search/illustrations path exists in its OpenAPI specification. Its parameters and filters are undocumented in every sense.
  • No dynamic client registration. POST https://mcp.unsplash.com/oauth/register returned 404 on 2026-08-22. The server advertises client_id_metadata_document_supported instead, so a client that only implements classic DCR will not complete the flow.
  • Unsplash's own site blocks automated access to its licence and terms pages. unsplash.com/license and unsplash.com/terms returned an Anubis proof-of-work challenge on 2026-08-22. The licence facts on this page come from Unsplash's help centre articles, which are served normally.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to credit the photographer when an agent inserts an Unsplash photo?

Yes, if you reached the photo through the API. Unsplash's API Guidelines state that an application displaying a photo must attribute Unsplash and the photographer and link back to their profile with utm parameters. The Unsplash License itself waives attribution, and Unsplash's own help centre says so, but the guidelines bind API applications more tightly than the licence binds a human visitor.

Does the Unsplash MCP server trigger a download event?

No tool among the four does, and that is a compliance gap you inherit. Unsplash's API Guidelines require an application to call the endpoint at a photo's download_location property whenever a user inserts or sets an image. The four listed tools are all searches, so nothing on this connector fires that event. Whatever pastes the photo into your document must fire it.

Can the Unsplash connector create or delete a collection?

No, and the OAuth grant enforces that rather than merely omitting it. Unsplash publishes seven permission scopes, three of them writes. The MCP server's RFC 9728 descriptor advertises only public, read_user, read_photos and read_collections. Every write scope is absent, so a token issued to this connector cannot reach the collection-write endpoints at all.

Can I use an Unsplash photo from the connector in a commercial project?

Yes for free Unsplash content, with two named exceptions. Unsplash's help centre states images are free for most commercial, personal and editorial use without permission. You may not sell unaltered photos as prints or printed products, and you may not compile Unsplash images into a service that competes with Unsplash. Unsplash+ content sits under a separate subscription licence.

Are Unsplash illustrations free like the photos?

No. Unsplash's help centre places illustrations inside the Unsplash+ subscription and licenses them under the Unsplash+ licence, not the free Unsplash License. Unsplash+ content carries a royalty-free, perpetual, worldwide grant to subscribers with model and property releases attached. So a SearchIllustrations result is paid content whose licence differs from the photo results beside it.

Why does the Unsplash connector return an image URL instead of an image file?

Because Unsplash requires the URLs to be embedded directly. Unsplash calls this hotlinking and states that API uses must embed the URLs returned under a photo's urls properties, for every use and not just search results. Serving from Unsplash's CDN is how photo views are counted and reported back to the photographer, which is the point of the rule.

What rate limit applies to the Unsplash MCP server?

Unsplash publishes 50 requests per hour in demo mode and 1000 per hour after production approval, but does not say which applies to its own MCP server. Those figures come from the REST API documentation, measured per application rather than per user. Image file requests to the CDN are excluded from the count; only calls to the JSON API are metered.

Does Unsplash publish documentation for its MCP server?

No. We searched Unsplash's API documentation, its developer landing page and all 862 URLs in its help centre sitemap on 2026-08-22 and found no mention of MCP or Model Context Protocol anywhere. The tool names on this page therefore come from Anthropic's directory, and the behaviour behind them is inferred from Unsplash's REST API documentation.

Sources

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