Summary
The count tool is the one that keeps a query from failing.
USGS caps a single query at 20,000 events, and a broad search — a whole region across twenty years — will run into it. Counting first turns that from a failed call into a decision about how to narrow the window.
What it is
A three-tool client for the USGS FDSN event web service. Search the catalog with the full parameter set, count matches before running a query, and pull the detailed record for one event including its origin quality metrics.
What you get
- find-earthquakes searches by time window, bounding box or radius, magnitude and depth, and returns a summary of each matching event
- count-earthquakes returns the number of matches without the events themselves, so a broad query can be sized before it is run
- find-earthquake-details returns the full record for one USGS event id, including origin quality metrics
- Ordinary questions map onto the parameters — a state's bounding box, a twenty-year window, a magnitude floor
Requirements
The npm package usgs-quakes-mcp over stdio, run with npx -y usgs-quakes-mcp or installed globally. Node.js 20 or newer. No API key: the USGS service is free and public. The upstream service caps any single query at 20,000 events, which is what count-earthquakes exists for.
Setup effort
One command — npx -y usgs-quakes-mcp