Let an AI agent find and license images for your project
Updated · 2 min read
Short answer
Add the MCP server (claude mcp add --transport http images https://image.shep.bot/mcp) and ask for what you need: 'a hero image of a mountain lake and three feature icons for the landing page'. The agent calls search_images or build_image_set, which only return commercial-safe images by default, downloads the files and writes the credit lines into ATTRIBUTION.md.
What the agent sees
Every result carries its pixel size, orientation, kind (photo, painting, vector, icon…), a thumbnail URL, the licence with its verdict, an editorial flag and a ready-to-paste credit line. The server’s instructions tell the agent never to present a non-commercial, unverified or editorial image as cleared for advertising.
A whole page in one call
build_image_set takes a list of slots:
hero: misty forest at sunrise, landscape (1920px)
3 icons: upload, share, settings
background: paper texture
portrait of a potter at the wheelIt returns one pick per slot with alternatives, the file to use (the smallest at least as wide as the slot), suggested alt text, and exports: images.json, credits.html with <figure> captions, download.sh and ATTRIBUTION.md. Try it in the browser on the image set builder.
Without MCP
The same features are a REST API: GET /v1/search?q=…, GET /v1/images/{id}/download?width=1920 (a redirect to the file) and POST /v1/sets. See the API guide.
Step by step
Connect the server
Run claude mcp add --transport http images https://image.shep.bot/mcp, or add the same URL in Cursor, VS Code or any MCP client. For local file writes, run npx -y image-asset-server mcp instead.
Describe the images
Say what each image shows, its shape and its use: 'a wide hero image of a misty forest', 'a vertical poster of a Hokusai wave', 'SVG icons for upload, share and settings'.
Let it pick and check
The agent searches every source, keeps commercial-safe licences, and for a whole page calls build_image_set, which picks one image per slot with alternatives.
Review the credits
Check ATTRIBUTION.md or credits.html, and any image flagged editorial, before you publish.
Questions
- Will the agent use images I can't use commercially?
- Not by default: search_images and build_image_set return only 'yes' and 'yes-with-credit' verdicts unless the agent sets commercial_only=false because you said the project is non-commercial.
- Does the hosted server download files for the agent?
- No. It returns direct links to the files on the sources; the agent downloads them with curl. The local MCP server (npx) can save files itself with download_image.
- Which tools does the server offer?
- search_images, get_image, build_image_set and list_sources, plus download_image when it runs locally.
Try it
Live searches across every source, with a licence verdict on each result.
Sources
Practical information, not legal advice. AI agent? This guide is also available as Markdown.
