show_ordinalsLABSCO SUMMARY
One transaction id in, the inscribed content out.
The surface is a single call, and the interesting work is in what comes back: inscriptions are not one format, so the server decodes text, JSON, HTML and images rather than handing over raw witness bytes. Running it in SSE mode is worth knowing about if several clients should share one instance — the same build serves both modes, selected by an environment variable.
What it is
An MCP server that lets a model read Bitcoin Ordinals inscriptions. It parses the witness data of a transaction and returns whatever was inscribed there, handling text, images, JSON, HTML and other formats.
What you get
- Inscription decoding from a transaction id, returning the content itself rather than a pointer to it —
show_ordinals - Format handling across text, JSON, HTML and images, with image conversion utilities in the server
- Two transports in one binary: stdio for a local extension, or SSE mode for running it as a standalone service
Requirements
No account and no key. Clone, npm install, npm run build, then run node build/cli.js — the client needs the absolute path. For the remote path, SERVER_MODE=sse node build/cli.js starts it on http://localhost:3000, and PORT moves it. The package is mcp-inscription (0.1.0 in package.json).
Setup effort
Build from source
USE CASES
01
Reading what an inscription actually contains
Pass the transaction id and get the decoded content back, whether it is text, JSON or an image.
02
Checking an inscription someone sent you
Decode it from the txid before trusting a marketplace's rendering of it.
03
Sharing one decoder across clients
Run the server in SSE mode on a chosen port and connect several MCP clients to it instead of each launching its own copy.
1 tool
Listed in project docs. Your client may show a different list.
BEFORE YOU INSTALL
What to know first
Tools you get
1 tool named in the project's documentation.
Requires
node on PATH
INSTALLATION
Connect your client
MCP Clients
Claude Desktop
CLAUDE DESKTOP · JSON
{
"mcpServers": {
"mcp-inscription": {
"command": "node",
"args": [
"<YOUR_PATH_TO_MCP_INSCRIPTION>/build/cli.js"
]
}
}
}Goose — stdio
GOOSE — STDIO · TERMINAL
node <YOUR_PATH_TO_MCP_INSCRIPTION>/build/cli.jsGoose — SSE
GOOSE — SSE · TERMINAL
SERVER_MODE=sse node build/cli.js
