Open Waters AIS

Name: Open Waters AIS
Author: openwatersio

by openwatersioversion 0.18.2i★ 9iRuns in the cloud

Registry nameio.openwaters/ais

How to install

What it does

Live AIS vessel positions by MMSI, name, area, or radius, plus coverage. No sign-in, no key.

Connects Runs in the cloud
Account or key No key needed
Category Other

Install

Pick the AI app you use, then copy the settings.

Passed 4/4 checks · What you ask goes through the maker’s server (ais.openwaters.io) · ✓ Commands checked Nov 13, 2026

First: which AI do you use?

ClaudeWeb · app · phoneChatGPTWebClaude CodeTerminalCursorCode editorVS CodeCode editorOtherOther apps

Pick your app and the steps appear below.

Works with Claude · about 2 min

No key, nothing to install · Set it up once on claude.ai or the desktop app, then use it in chat · free accounts can add 1 · on Team/Enterprise an Owner adds it

Open Claude’s Connectors page
CustomizeConnectors
Done
Click “Add” → “Custom” → “Web” and fill in these 2 fields
Copy each value into the field with the same name in Claude, then click Continue
Name · NameOpen Waters AIS
Remote MCP server URL · Addresshttps://ais.openwaters.io/mcp
Click Continue past the sign-in settings Claude detected · under Authentication choose what the maker says (Sign in now, Sign in when needed or No sign in), then click Add
Done
Turn it on in a chat
+ConnectorsOpen Waters AIS
Done
Try it
Use Open Waters AIS and tell me what you can do for me, then show me one thing
✓ If Claude says it is using Open Waters AIS or shows a Open Waters AIS tool in the answer, you are connected

Menu names checked against Anthropic’s help page on Nov 11, 2026 · your screen may differ slightly by app version

Works with ChatGPT, depending on your plan

Full MCP: ChatGPT Business, Enterprise or Edu on the web · Pro: connects with read/fetch permissions, so tools that change data may not work · Plus: not confirmed in OpenAI’s docs; if you see an add-custom-MCP option on the Plugins page you can try these steps · web only

Open ChatGPT’s add-MCP page on the web
Plugins+Add custom MCP server
Done
Fill in the name and address
Enter a name, paste the address under Connection, tick the risk warning and click Create as a plugin
Name · NameOpen Waters AIS
Connection · Addresshttps://ais.openwaters.io/mcp
Done
Pick Open Waters AIS in a chat
Start a new chat and pick Open Waters AIS from your plugins before typing
Done
Try it
Use Open Waters AIS and tell me what you can do for me, then show me one thing
✓ If ChatGPT says it is using Open Waters AIS or shows a Open Waters AIS tool in the answer, you are connected

Menu names checked against OpenAI’s help page on Nov 11, 2026 · your screen may differ slightly by app version

Works with Claude Code · about 2 min

No key, nothing to install

Open Terminal
Mac: press Command+Space and type Terminal · Windows: open PowerShell
Done

Paste this command and press Enter

claude mcp add --transport http --scope user ais https://ais.openwaters.io/mcp

Done

Type /mcp in Claude Code
You should see Open Waters AIS listed as connected
Done
Try it
Use Open Waters AIS and tell me what you can do for me, then show me one thing
✓ If Claude Code says it is using Open Waters AIS or shows a Open Waters AIS tool in the answer, you are connected

Menu names checked against Anthropic’s help page on Nov 11, 2026 · your screen may differ slightly by app version

Works with Cursor · about 2 min

No key, nothing to install

Click this button to open Cursor
Open in Cursor
Cursor asks you to confirm; click Install
Done
Open the AI chat in Cursor in Agent mode
Done
Try it
Use Open Waters AIS and tell me what you can do for me, then show me one thing
✓ If Cursor says it is using Open Waters AIS or shows a Open Waters AIS tool in the answer, you are connected

Menu names checked against Cursor’s help page on Nov 11, 2026 · your screen may differ slightly by app version

Works with VS Code · about 2 min

No key, nothing to install

Click this button to open VS Code
Open in VS Code
VS Code asks you to confirm; click Install
Done
Open the AI chat in VS Code in Agent mode
Done
Try it
Use Open Waters AIS and tell me what you can do for me, then show me one thing
✓ If VS Code says it is using Open Waters AIS or shows a Open Waters AIS tool in the answer, you are connected

Menu names checked against VS Code’s help page on Nov 11, 2026 · your screen may differ slightly by app version

Other apps that use MCP, such as Windsurf, Zed or Gemini CLI, each add servers differently. See how in the app list.

See every app that uses MCP →

Address for apps that connect over the web

Addresshttps://ais.openwaters.io/mcp

JSON settings are under “For developers” below

Stuck? Ask people who use Open Waters AIS💬 Discussion →

For developers: Terminal commands and JSON settings

Over the web

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http --scope user ais https://ais.openwaters.io/mcp

Cursor (~/.cursor/mcp.json)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ais": {
      "url": "https://ais.openwaters.io/mcp"
    }
  }
}

VS Code (mcp.json)

{
  "servers": {
    "ais": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://ais.openwaters.io/mcp"
    }
  }
}

These settings are generated from the maker’s registry entry. If the README says otherwise, follow the README.

At a glance

GitHub stars i: 9
Downloads per weeki: Not on npm/PyPI
Verified domain: ✓ openwaters.io
Licence i: AGPL-3.0
Connection: Runs in the cloud
Transport: streamable-http
Latest versioni: 0.18.2
Categoryi: Other
Published to registryi: Nov 8, 2026
Code last changedi: Nov 12, 2026
Maker: openwatersio
Repo: openwatersio/aiscast
Website: openwaters.io
Registry status: Active

Which apps can use it

Based on how this server connects and on each app’s own docs, checked Nov 10, 2026.

Connect over the internet in

Claude ChatGPT Goose LM Studio Msty Studio Cherry Studio Cursor VS Code + GitHub Copilot Visual Studio Windsurf (Devin Desktop)Zed Kiro Cline Continue JetBrains AI Assistant Claude Code Codex CLI Gemini CLI OpenCode nodecode Warp LibreChat Open WebUI Raycast

All apps, with pros and cons →

What it can do

Tool names and descriptions exactly as the server reported them on Nov 13, 2026. The maker wrote them, not us; we show them as plain text.

find_vessels_in_area
Vessels currently inside a latitude/longitude bounding box, newest report first, with optional kind and ship-type filters. Anonymous calls may cover 100 square degrees per call.
find_vessels_near
Vessels within a radius (default 10 NM, maximum 50) of a point or of another vessel's last known position, nearest first, each with distance and bearing from the centre.
get_coverage
Where Open Waters AIS is hearing AIS right now: sources with their current delay, stations, freshness, and vessel counts. A bounding box adds the stations whose coverage overlaps that area and a count of vessels in it. A station ID adds statistics for that station. Vessel counts
get_vessel_track
The positions heard from one vessel over a time range, oldest first, with speed, course, and navigational status. Positions implying an impossible speed for the vessel are left out. A vessel can be identified by MMSI, or by IMO with a feeder or partner token. A call covers up to
get_vessels
Last known position and particulars of specific vessels by MMSI (Maritime Mobile Service Identity), or by IMO number with a feeder or partner token: the last report heard for each, however long ago, with destination, ETA, draught, and dimensions once its static data has been hear
search_vessels_by_name
Vessels whose name contains the text, case-insensitive, among every vessel the network has heard, each with its MMSI and last known position when available. An optional bounding box narrows the search. With a feeder or partner token, text of the form IMO 9241061 finds the vessels

Basic checksi

We check information anyone can see; we have not read the code. Checks that do not apply are left out of the count. · Checked Nov 13, 2026

✓ Pass
Maker matches the repo
The registry name was verified against the domain openwaters.io (the registry checks domain ownership)
✓ Pass
Still maintained
Code last changed yesterday
– Not applicable
Has a licence
Not applicable: a cloud server run by the owner of openwaters.io; you don't run code from the repo
✓ Pass
Endpoint responds
Responded in 199 ms (HTTP 200)
– Not applicable
Sign-in with OAuth
No sign-in needed
✓ Pass
No hidden instructions in tool descriptions
Read 6 tool descriptions and found no hidden instructions to the AI

Discussion

Ask, share a tip or report that it does not work. Sorted by what people marked helpful.

No posts yet. Be the first to ask or share.

Posts here are written by users, not the PopNx team.

User reviews

No reviews yet

Compared with others in Otheri

More stars than 96% of the other 19671 servers in this category
Published to the registry more recently than 87% of the other 19671 servers in this category
Basic checks equal to or better than 100% of the other 19671 servers in this category

Compared with every active server in this category in the registry. Stars count only when the publisher owns the repo.

Common questions

Is Open Waters AIS safe?

It passed 4 of 4 applicable basic checks. We have not read the code. Before adding a key or token, see what access the server asks for and use a key with only the permissions you need.

What keys or codes does it need?

The registry does not list a required key, though some servers ask you to sign in on first use.

Does it run on my computer or in the cloud?

It runs in the maker’s cloud. Connect over the internet with nothing to install, but what you send passes through the maker’s servers.

Is it still maintained?

The GitHub repo last changed yesterday, and the latest version (0.18.2) reached the registry 5 days ago.

Which apps can use it?

Apps that support MCP, such as Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor and VS Code. It connects by URL, so apps that accept remote MCP servers work too, such as ChatGPT on the web (full MCP on Business and above; Pro read-only).

What can I use instead?

In the same category: World Monitor, Claude Flow, Windmill

Others in the same category

Servers in the same category from other makers, sorted by stars.

Reading a card:↓ Downloads per weeki★ GitHub starsiThree pillars: reviews · checks · usageiUpdated = latest version published to the registryi

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Windmill

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How to connect

README from the maker

Open the README

Copied from the maker’s repo as written. PopNx MCP has not reviewed or endorsed it. HTML, images and scripts are removed. Links lead off this site.

aiscast

Live AIS vessel traffic, streamed by bounding box, from community networks, open government feeds, and volunteer receivers. Part of Open Waters. The public instance is ais.openwaters.io. A live map is at openwaters.io/ais/vessels.

This is a beta. There is no SLA. Coverage is uneven. The terms for re-serving some sources are still unsettled (see Coverage). Live status and uptime history are at status.openwaters.io.

Usage

aisstream.io clients. aiscast speaks aisstream.io's protocol on wss://ais.openwaters.io/v0/stream: the same subscribe message, the same MessageType / MetaData / Message frames. Change the hostname and use your aiscast token as the APIKey. Existing code keeps working: aisstream-ts, the official Go/Python/JS examples, and signalk-aisstream.

Native API (full reference).

wss://ais.openwaters.io/v1/stream: send {"type":"subscribe","bbox":[[minLat,minLon,maxLat,maxLon]]} or {"type":"subscribe","mmsi":[368168720]} (or both). Feeder and partner tokens can also follow vessels by IMO number with "imo":[9241061]. You receive one JSON event per decoded AIS message. Each event carries its source, station, receive time, raw sentence, and the decoded fields. Add "snapshot":true to get the last known messages for every vessel already tracked in the subscription first, then live traffic. Subscribing needs no token.
GET https://ais.openwaters.io/v1/vessels?bbox=minLat,minLon,maxLat,maxLon (or ?mmsi=a,b,c): GeoJSON of every vessel currently in view. Each vessel carries its last position, name, type, course, speed, heading, flag, and when and from where aiscast last heard it, plus IMO number, call sign, destination, ETA, draught, length, beam, and the AIS antenna's distances to bow, stern, port, and starboard once its static data has been heard. No token.
GET https://ais.openwaters.io/v1/stations: every source aiscast is hearing, with message counts and age.

AI assistants. https://ais.openwaters.io/mcp is an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server with five read-only tools: vessels by MMSI, vessels in an area, vessels near a point or another vessel, search by name, and coverage. No sign-in. Claude Code: claude mcp add --transport http open-waters-ais https://ais.openwaters.io/mcp. Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Cursor, and VS Code take the URL as a custom connector or mcp.json entry; setup for each is in the API reference. A token in an Authorization: Bearer header raises the anonymous limits.

Tokens. /v0/stream needs a token. A personal token is self-serve and never expires. Use the token page, or generate an Ed25519 keypair and POST https://ais.openwaters.io/v1/keys with {"pubkey":" "}, signed with that key as the API reference shows. The response is your token. It carries the personal tier: 2 streams, 50 messages/s, and a 20°×20° area. Feed data from the same token and it becomes a feeder token by itself.

Tiers and limits are in docs/limits.md. For more than the feeder tier, or for commercial use, write to hello@openwaters.io.

Events carry a source, so you can tell a live volunteer receiver from a government feed or an aggregate. synthesized: true marks messages that aiscast re-encoded from a non-NMEA source.

Contributing data

If you run an AIS receiver, send its data here. aiscast re-serves it to everyone, deduplicates it against the open feeds and every other station, and shares volunteer receptions with AISHub as part of our contribution to its community network. Only data received directly by volunteer stations goes to AISHub; public feeds and synthesized messages stay out. You are welcome to keep contributing to other networks too. The terms for contributing are the contributor agreement.

AIS-catcher (preferred: authenticated, realtime, works behind any NAT): get a token at openwaters.io/ais/token (one click, stays in your browser), then AIS-catcher ... -Q wssmqtt://x: @ais.openwaters.io:443/v1/stream MSGFORMAT NMEA. Each message is sent as it is decoded, over MQTT on the same WebSocket address the JSON stream uses. Your data appears as source: station: . Name your station on the token page; until you do, it is labeled by the town nearest the traffic it hears. AIS-catcher's HTTP output works too: -H https://ais.openwaters.io/v1/receive USERPWD x: GZIP on INTERVAL 5 posts a batch every five seconds under the same station.
UDP (no token): AIS-catcher -u udp.ais.openwaters.io 10110, docker-shipfeeder with host udp.ais.openwaters.io port 10110, or any NMEA forwarder sending plain !AIVDM / !AIVDO sentences (TAG blocks welcome). Your station appears as udp: , a keyed hash of your address, never the address itself. If a sender's !AIVDO sentences identify the vessel, aiscast keys the station by that MMSI instead.
Signal K: add a UDP target udp.ais.openwaters.io:10110 in ais-forwarder (forward AIVDM and AIVDO). Or install the signalk-aiscast plugin. It needs no token. It shares what your receiver hears, and your own position, taken from the transponder or built from Signal K when an AIS transponder is not available. It shows aiscast traffic when you have no receiver.

Your station page is https://openwaters.io/ais/stations/ , and the station list links every station. It shows the station's uptime, its messages per hour over the last week, the vessels it heard in the last day by type and how many no other station heard, and the cells it heard over the last week on the map. GET /v1/stations/{id} and /v1/coverage/tiles.json?station= return the same figures. Feeders get the deduplicated raw stream back on wss://ais.openwaters.io/v1/nmea.

Coverage

Source	Where	Freshness
Kystverket	Norwegian coast, 40–60 nm out	live
BarentsWatch	Norwegian EEZ, Svalbard, Jan Mayen (satellite + offshore receivers)	live
Fintraffic Digitraffic	Finnish waters	live
Volunteer receivers	wherever they are (Buzzards Bay / Vineyard Sound as of the first station)	live
AISHub aggregate	worldwide terrestrial, ~50k vessels	about a minute behind
aisstream.io	worldwide, when it is up	live, but frequently down

AISHub and its contributors make much of our worldwide terrestrial coverage possible. We contribute volunteer receptions in return and credit AISHub on every event from its aggregate.

/v1/stats reports each source's current delay from broadcast to arrival (delay.p50 and delay.p99, in seconds).

Every event names the source it came from. docs/policy.md lists the sources this project leaves out on purpose, and why.

Licensing and attribution

Licensing is per source. aiscast does not relicense the aggregate. aiscast re-serves each event under the terms of the source it came from. That is why source is on every event, every vessel, and every archived hour, and why every /v1 event carries a license tag and an attribution credit line. Every attribution opens with "Open Waters AIS (https://openwaters.io/ais/)"; sources with their own terms add their credit after it. If you display or redistribute the data, display the attribution message included with each event. /v1/vessels carries the same credits as a top-level attribution member on the feature collection, one entry per source present. The table below is the same information as reference.

Source	License	What you must do
Kystverket	NLOD 2.0	Credit: "Contains data under the Norwegian licence for Open Government data (NLOD) distributed by the Norwegian Coastal Administration." NLOD is not sublicensable, so it binds you directly.
BarentsWatch	NLOD per the BarentsWatch API terms	Credit: "Data delivered by BarentsWatch." It is the same AIS Norge data as Kystverket, so the Kystverket credit applies too.
Fintraffic Digitraffic	CC BY 4.0	Credit: "Source: Fintraffic / digitraffic.fi, license CC 4.0 BY."
Volunteer receivers	The contributor agreement dedicates receptions to the public domain under CC0 and publishes the aggregate under ODbL	Credit "Open Waters AIS (https://openwaters.io/ais/)". Individual receptions are CC0. The aggregate carries ODbL.
AISHub aggregate	AISHub terms and any applicable written agreement	Credit AISHub contributors and keep `source: aishub`. Reuse and redistribution must follow the applicable terms.
aisstream.io	no published terms	Best effort, may disappear. `source: aisstream`.
Wikidata particulars	CC0 1.0	Nothing. The `wikidata` object on `/v1/vessels/{mmsi}` and in MCP `get_vessels` says so with `license: CC0-1.0`. The Commons photos its `image` and `commons_category` link to carry their own licenses.

| US Coast Guard PSIX | Public domain (U.S. government work) | Nothi

Only the beginning is shown; read the rest in the repo

Open Waters AIS

What it does

Install

Open Claude’s Connectors page

Click “Add” → “Custom” → “Web” and fill in these 2 fields

Turn it on in a chat

Try it

Open ChatGPT’s add-MCP page on the web

Fill in the name and address

Pick Open Waters AIS in a chat

Try it

Open Terminal

Paste this command and press Enter

Type /mcp in Claude Code

Try it

Click this button to open Cursor

Open the AI chat in Cursor in Agent mode

Try it

Click this button to open VS Code

Open the AI chat in VS Code in Agent mode

Try it

Over the web

At a glance

Which apps can use it

Related guides

What it can do

Basic checksi

Maker matches the repo

Still maintained

Has a licence

Endpoint responds

Sign-in with OAuth

No hidden instructions in tool descriptions

Discussion

User reviews

Compared with others in Otheri

Common questions

Others in the same category

World Monitor

Claude Flow

Windmill

README from the maker

aiscast

Usage

Contributing data

Coverage

Licensing and attribution