transkribus-mcp-server

MCP server for the Transkribus REST API. Manage collections, documents, HTR/OCR recognition, models, and more through the Model Context Protocol.

300 tools across 22 resource domains, with 8 entry points so you can pick the right server for your MCP client's tool limit.

> API scope: This server covers the legacy Transkribus TrpServer REST API. The newer Processing API v2 (OIDC auth, `/processing/v2`, `account.readcoop.eu`) is intentionally out of scope.

Installation

npm install -g @lazyants/transkribus-mcp-server

Or run directly:

npx @lazyants/transkribus-mcp-server

Configuration

Transkribus uses session-based authentication. You can authenticate in two ways:

Option 1: Username + Password (auto-login)

export TRANSKRIBUS_USER=your-email@example.com
export TRANSKRIBUS_PASSWORD=your-password

The server will automatically log in and manage the session.

Option 2: Direct session ID

export TRANSKRIBUS_SESSION_ID=your-session-id

Use this if you already have a valid session from the Transkribus platform.

Entry Points

Use split servers to reduce context size — pick only the splits you need.

Claude Code

Add to `~/.claude/settings.json`:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "transkribus": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@lazyants/transkribus-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "TRANSKRIBUS_USER": "your-email@example.com",
        "TRANSKRIBUS_PASSWORD": "your-password"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or use split servers (pick the splits you need):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "transkribus-collections": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "-p", "@lazyants/transkribus-mcp-server", "transkribus-mcp-collections"],
      "env": {
        "TRANSKRIBUS_USER": "your-email@example.com",
        "TRANSKRIBUS_PASSWORD": "your-password"
      }
    },
    "transkribus-transcription": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "-p", "@lazyants/transkribus-mcp-server", "transkribus-mcp-transcription"],
      "env": {
        "TRANSKRIBUS_USER": "your-email@example.com",
        "TRANSKRIBUS_PASSWORD": "your-password"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop

Add to `claude_desktop_config.json`:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "transkribus": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@lazyants/transkribus-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "TRANSKRIBUS_USER": "your-email@example.com",
        "TRANSKRIBUS_PASSWORD": "your-password"
      }
    }
  }
}

Security

• Never commit your credentials to version control
• Use environment variables or a `.env` file (excluded via `.gitignore`)
• Session IDs expire — prefer username/password for long-running setups

Disclaimer

This is an unofficial MCP server for Transkribus. The authors are not affiliated with READ-COOP SCE. Use at your own risk.

Releasing

Releases ship via the GitHub Release event. Maintainer flow:

1. Bump the version in `package.json`, `package-lock.json`, and `server.json` (`npm version --no-git-tag-version` updates the first two together). `npm run check-versions` hard-fails unless `package.json#/version` and `server.json#/packages[0].version` agree. `server.json#/version` is checked loosely: it must be present, and it only fails when it *regresses* below `packages[0].version` — a value left behind at the previous release passes with a `WARN:` line and exit 0. The script does not look at `package-lock.json` or `CHANGELOG.md` at all, so read its output rather than trusting its exit code.

2. Update `CHANGELOG.md`.

3. Commit, and merge the version bump to `main` before creating the release. Then create the tag yourself, on a SHA you have checked, and only then create the release from it:

V=X.Y.Z && PR= &&
     SHA="$(gh pr view "$PR" --json mergeCommit -q .mergeCommit.oid)" && test -n "$SHA" &&
     git fetch origin main && git merge-base --is-ancestor "$SHA" origin/main &&
     PKG="$(git show "$SHA:package.json")" &&
     test "$(printf '%s' "$PKG" | node -pe 'JSON.parse(require("fs").readFileSync(0,"utf8")).version')" = "$V" &&
     CL="$(git show "$SHA:CHANGELOG.md")" &&
     printf '%s\n' "$CL" | awk -v v="$V" 'index($0,"## ["v"]")==1{f=1;next} /^## \[/{f=0} /^\[[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\]:/{f=0} f' > "/tmp/notes-v$V.md" &&
     grep -q '[^[:space:]]' "/tmp/notes-v$V.md" &&
     git tag -a "v$V" "$SHA" -m "v$V" &&
     git push origin "v$V" &&
     gh release create "v$V" --verify-tag --notes-file "/tmp/notes-v$V.md"

The failure this prevents: with no existing tag, `gh release create vX.Y.Z` places one on the tip of the default branch. Run it while the bump is still on a release branch and it tags the *previous* release's commit; the workflow then publishes whatever version it finds in that commit's `package.json`, producing a `vX.Y.Z` GitHub Release that silently republishes the old version. The publish workflow now refuses to continue when `GITHUB_REF_NAME` is not `v`, so that exact scenario fails before `npm publish` rather than silently republishing. The sequence above is still required, and guards a case the workflow cannot: the workflow guard only runs once a release already exists, and it passes for any commit carrying the right version — so it catches a *mis-tagged* release, not the *wrong commit* being tagged.

Each element is load-bearing:

If `gh release create` fails after the tag is already pushed, do not rerun the whole block; it will stop at `git tag`, which is correct. Rerun only the final command.

4. The `Publish to npm + MCP Registry` workflow runs automatically: it `npm publish`es with provenance, polls the registry until the tarball is available, then pushes the matching `server.json` to the MCP Registry via `mcp-publisher`.

The workflow skips `npm publish` cleanly if the version is already on npm (cutover guard for releases that were partially published manually).

npm authentication

Publishing uses npm Trusted Publishing: the workflow's GitHub OIDC token (`id-token: write`) is exchanged for a one-shot publish token at runtime. No `NPM_TOKEN` secret needs to live in the repo.

The binding is configured in the npm web UI (package → Trusted Publishers): provider `GitHub Actions`, organization `lazyants`, repository `transkribus-mcp-server`, workflow `publish-registry.yml`.

License

FSL-1.1-MIT — see LICENSE for the full terms. Versions `1.x` remain MIT-licensed.