LABSCO SUMMARY

One job, and a readable Java reference implementation alongside it.

As a tool it does exactly one thing — find photographs — which is enough when the alternative is leaving the editor. Its second use is as source material: the launch flags that suppress the web server and the console log pattern are the non-obvious part of running a Spring AI server over stdio, and they are all here.

What it is

A Java implementation of an Unsplash search server, built on Spring AI's MCP support and shipped as a runnable jar. The repository doubles as a worked example of writing an MCP server in Java.

What you get

Photo search against Unsplash, driven from the conversation
Results usable in place — ask for two house photographs and write them into the document you are drafting
A complete Spring AI stdio server to read if you are building one of your own in Java

Requirements

A JDK and Maven to build (mvn clean package), then launch with java -jar against target/unsplash-mcp-server-1.0.jar, passing -Dspring.ai.mcp.server.stdio=true and -Dspring.main.web-application-type=none. An Unsplash access key from an application you create in the Unsplash developer portal goes in UNSPLASH_ACCESS_KEY.

Setup effort

Build from source — clone the repository, then point your client at the binary

See installation options

USE CASES

01

Illustrating something you are writing

Search for the shot you need and place the result in the document without switching to a browser.

02

Building a Java MCP server

Read a complete Spring AI stdio server, including the launch flags that keep it quiet enough to speak the protocol.

BEFORE YOU INSTALL

What to know first

Requires

java on PATH
UNSPLASH_ACCESS_KEY in your environment

INSTALLATION

Connect your client

You clone and build this one yourself.

Server setup

Configuration file

JSON

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "unsplash": {
      "command": "java",
      "args": [
        "-Dspring.ai.mcp.server.stdio=true",
        "-Dspring.main.web-application-type=none",
        "-Dlogging.pattern.console=",
        "-jar",
        "<YOUR_ABSOLUTE_PATH>/target/unsplash-mcp-server-1.0.jar"
      ],
      "env": {
        "UNSPLASH_ACCESS_KEY": "<YOUR_UNSPLASH_ACCESS_KEY>"
      }
    }
  }
}

The command line the project publishes

TERMINAL

java -Dspring.ai.mcp.server.stdio=true -Dspring.main.web-application-type=none -Dlogging.pattern.console= -jar <YOUR_ABSOLUTE_PATH>/target/unsplash-mcp-server-1.0.jar

Unsplash