pollinations-mcp-server

🎨 Pollinations MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that connects AI agents to Pollinations.ai for seamless image and text generation. Designed specifically for n8n workflows with Server-Sent Events (SSE) support.

✨ Features

• 🖼️ Image Generation - Create stunning images from text prompts using Pollinations AI
• 📝 Text Generation - Generate content with multiple AI models (OpenAI, Claude, Mistral, etc.)
• 🔍 Model Discovery - List and explore available AI models
• 🌐 SSE Support - Compatible with n8n's native MCP Client Tool
• 🐳 Docker Ready - Easy deployment with Docker containers
• 🚀 Production Ready - Includes logging, health checks, and error handling
• 🔒 Secure - Optional authentication and CORS protection
• ⚡ Fast - Efficient connection management and response streaming

🎯 Perfect For

• n8n Automation Workflows - Enhance AI agents with creative capabilities
• Content Creation Pipelines - Automated blog posts with matching visuals
• Social Media Automation - Generate posts with custom images
• E-commerce Solutions - Product descriptions with generated visuals
• Marketing Campaigns - Custom content and imagery at scale
• Documentation Tools - Technical docs with AI-generated diagrams

🚀 Quick Start

🐳 Docker (Recommended)

This is the easiest way to get the server running.

Option 1: Run a pre-built image (if available) If a pre-built image is provided by the maintainers (e.g., on GitHub Container Registry):

# Replace with the actual image path if provided
docker run -p 3000:3000 --name pollinations-mcp-server-container ghcr.io/jpbester/pollinations-mcp-server

Option 2: Build and run locally

# 1. Clone the repository (if you haven't already)
git clone https://github.com/jpbester/pollinations-mcp-server.git
cd pollinations-mcp-server

# 2. Build the Docker image
# This creates an image named 'pollinations-mcp-server'
docker build -t pollinations-mcp-server .

# 3. Run the Docker container
# This starts the server and maps port 3000 on your machine to port 3000 in the container.
docker run -p 3000:3000 --name pollinations-mcp-server-container pollinations-mcp-server

Accessing the server: Once running, the server will be available at http://localhost:3000.

• Test page: http://localhost:3000/test-sse
• SSE endpoint: http://localhost:3000/sse

Useful Docker commands:

• To run in detached (background) mode, add the -d flag to docker run:

  docker run -d -p 3000:3000 --name pollinations-mcp-server-container pollinations-mcp-server
  

• To view logs (especially if running detached):

  docker logs pollinations-mcp-server-container
  

• To stop the container:

  docker stop pollinations-mcp-server-container
  

• To remove the container (after stopping):

  docker rm pollinations-mcp-server-container
  

📦 Local Development

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/jpbester/pollinations-mcp-server.git
cd pollinations-mcp-server

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Start the server
npm start

# For development with auto-reload
npm run dev

☁️ Deploy to Cloud

Railway:

npm install -g @railway/cli
railway login
railway init
railway up

Render/Heroku/EasyPanel:

• Connect your GitHub repository
• Set build command: npm install
• Set start command: npm start
• Deploy! ✨

🔧 n8n Integration

Step 1: Add Nodes to Your Workflow

1. AI Agent node (OpenAI Agent, Anthropic Agent, etc.)
2. MCP Client Tool node

Step 2: Configure MCP Client Tool

• SSE Endpoint: https://your-domain.com/sse
• Authentication: None (or Bearer if you set API_KEY)
• Tools to Include: All

Step 3: Configure AI Agent

Add this system prompt to your AI Agent:

You are an AI assistant with access to powerful content generation tools:

- Use generate_image when users ask for images, artwork, or visual content
- Use generate_text when users need written content, stories, or text generation
- Use list_models to show available AI models

Always provide helpful context about what you're generating and how to use the results.

Step 4: Test Your Setup

Ask your AI agent things like:

• "Generate an image of a futuristic city at sunset"
• "Create a short story about space exploration"
• "What image generation models are available?"

🛠️ Available Tools

🖼️ generate_image

Create images from text prompts with customizable parameters.

Parameters:

• prompt (required) - Text description of the image
• width (optional) - Image width in pixels (default: 1024)
• height (optional) - Image height in pixels (default: 1024)
• model (optional) - Generation model: flux, turbo, flux-realism, flux-cablyai, any-dark
• seed (optional) - Random seed for reproducible results

Example Result:

{
  "tool": "generate_image",
  "result": {
    "success": true,
    "base64": "iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAA...",
    "url": "https://image.pollinations.ai/prompt/...",
    "contentType": "image/png"
  },
  "metadata": {
    "prompt": "A futuristic city at sunset",
    "timestamp": "2024-01-01T12:00:00.000Z"
  }
}

📝 generate_text

Generate text content using various AI language models.

Parameters:

• prompt (required) - Text prompt for content generation
• model (optional) - Language model: openai, mistral, claude, llama, gemini

Example Result:

{
  "tool": "generate_text",
  "result": {
    "success": true,
    "content": "Generated text content..."
  },
  "metadata": {
    "prompt": "Write a story about AI",
    "model": "openai",
    "timestamp": "2024-01-01T12:00:00.000Z"
  }
}

🔍 list_models

Discover all available models for image and text generation.

Example Result:

{
  "tool": "list_models",
  "result": {
    "image": ["flux", "turbo", "flux-realism", "flux-cablyai", "any-dark"],
    "text": ["openai", "mistral", "claude", "llama", "gemini"]
  }
}

📡 API Endpoints

Endpoint	Method	Description
/health	GET	Health check and server stats
/sse	GET	SSE endpoint for MCP protocol (n8n)
/message	POST	Send MCP messages
/mcp	GET/POST	Unified MCP endpoint
/api/test	GET	Simple test endpoint

⚙️ Configuration

Environment Variables

# Server Configuration
NODE_ENV=production          # Environment mode
PORT=3000                   # Server port
LOG_LEVEL=info             # Logging level (debug, info, warn, error)

# CORS Configuration  
ALLOWED_ORIGINS=*          # Allowed CORS origins (comma-separated)

# Optional Authentication
API_KEY=your-secret-key    # Enable API key authentication

# Rate Limiting (optional)
RATE_LIMIT_WINDOW_MS=900000    # Rate limit window (15 min)
RATE_LIMIT_MAX_REQUESTS=100    # Max requests per window

Docker Environment

docker run -p 3000:3000 \
  -e NODE_ENV=production \
  -e LOG_LEVEL=info \
  -e ALLOWED_ORIGINS=https://your-n8n-instance.com \
  pollinations-mcp

🔒 Security

Optional Authentication

Enable API key authentication by setting the API_KEY environment variable:

export API_KEY=your-secure-api-key

Then configure n8n MCP Client:

• Authentication: Bearer
• Token: your-secure-api-key

CORS Protection

Restrict origins by setting ALLOWED_ORIGINS:

export ALLOWED_ORIGINS=https://your-n8n-instance.com,https://your-domain.com

🧪 Testing

Health Check

curl https://your-domain.com/health

SSE Connection Test

curl -N -H "Accept: text/event-stream" https://your-domain.com/sse

Manual Tool Test

curl -X POST https://your-domain.com/message \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "id": 1,
    "method": "tools/call",
    "params": {
      "name": "generate_image",
      "arguments": {
        "prompt": "A beautiful sunset",
        "width": 512,
        "height": 512
      }
    }
  }'

🐛 Troubleshooting

Common Issues

n8n can't connect to localhost:

• Deploy to a public URL (Railway, Render, EasyPanel)
• Use ngrok for local testing: ngrok http 3000

Connection timeout:

• Check server health: curl https://your-domain.com/health
• Verify SSE endpoint: curl -N https://your-domain.com/sse

Tools not showing in n8n:

• Ensure MCP Client is connected to AI Agent
• Set "Tools to Include" to "All"
• Check server logs for connection issues

CORS errors:

• Set ALLOWED_ORIGINS environment variable
• Ensure your n8n domain is included

Debug Mode

LOG_LEVEL=debug npm start

📊 Monitoring

Health Endpoint Response

{
  "status": "healthy",
  "timestamp": "2024-01-01T12:00:00.000Z",
  "activeConnections": 2,
  "uptime": 3600,
  "version": "1.0.0"
}

Logs

The server provides structured logging for:

• SSE connections and disconnections
• MCP message exchanges
• Tool calls and responses
• Errors and warnings

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Here's how to get started:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature
3. Commit your changes: git commit -m 'Add amazing feature'
4. Push to the branch: git push origin feature/amazing-feature
5. Open a Pull Request

Development Setup

git clone https://github.com/jpbester/pollinations-mcp-server.git
cd pollinations-mcp-server
npm install
npm run dev

📋 Examples

n8n Workflow Examples

1. Blog Post Generator with Image

• Trigger: Webhook or Schedule
• AI Agent: "Create a blog post about [topic] with a hero image"
• Tools: generate_text → generate_image
• Output: Complete blog post with matching visual

2. Social Media Content Creator

• Trigger: New RSS item
• AI Agent: "Create a social post with image for this article"
• Tools: generate_text → generate_image
• Output: Post text + image ready for social platforms

3. Product Description Generator

• Trigger: New product in database
• AI Agent: "Create description and product image"
• Tools: generate_text → generate_image
• Output: Marketing-ready product content

🌟 Use Cases

• Content Marketing - Automated blog posts with custom imagery
• Social Media Management - Generated posts with matching visuals
• E-commerce - Product descriptions and lifestyle images
• Documentation - Technical guides with generated diagrams
• Creative Projects - Story generation with character illustrations
• Presentations - Slide content with custom graphics
• Email Campaigns - Personalized content with themed images

🔗 Related Projects

• Model Context Protocol - Official MCP specification
• Pollinations.ai - Free AI content generation
• n8n - Workflow automation platform
• n8n MCP Client Documentation

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Pollinations.ai for providing free AI generation APIs
• Anthropic for creating the Model Context Protocol
• n8n for building an amazing automation platform
• The open-source community for continuous inspiration

📞 Support

• Documentation: Check this README and inline code comments
• Issues: GitHub Issues
• Discussions: GitHub Discussions

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