Spec Driven Development
by formulahendry
MCP Server that facilitates spec-driven development workflows, not just Vibe Coding.
Runs on your computer★ 440MITUpdated 14 months ago
Install
German Archives (DDB; BW, NRW, Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse registers)
Overview
Description from the maker (original English)
German archive finding aids (DDB); civil and church registers of BW, NRW, RLP and Hesse.
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- User voiceiNo reviews yetReviews open together with accounts in a later step
- Our basic checksi1 of 1 passedChecked from public information; code not scanned yet
- UsageiNot measured yet★ –
What you can do with it
We have not written a plain-language summary for this one yet. Below are the facts we read from the registry.
- Connection: Runs on your computer
- Transport: stdio
- Category: Other
Install
Pick the AI app you use, then copy the settings.
Before you install
- Basic checks: 1 of 1 passed
- Runs on your computer with your user’s permissions (files, network, apps).
- You fill in yourself:
GERMAN_ARCHIVES_CACHE_DIR,GERMAN_ARCHIVES_TIMEOUT,GERMAN_ARCHIVES_MIN_INTERVAL,GERMAN_ARCHIVES_CONTACT,GERMAN_ARCHIVES_DOWNLOAD_DIR,GERMAN_ARCHIVES_PDF_CACHE_DAYS,GERMAN_ARCHIVES_PDF_CACHE_MB
You need
- PyPIPython’s uv installed (for the uvx command)
Which app do you use?
Pick your app above. We remember it, so next time the button says “Install in …”.
Open Claude Desktop → Settings → Developer → Edit Config, and paste this into claude_desktop_config.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"german-archives": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"german-archives-mcp"
],
"env": {
"GERMAN_ARCHIVES_CACHE_DIR": "your-value",
"GERMAN_ARCHIVES_TIMEOUT": "your-value",
"GERMAN_ARCHIVES_MIN_INTERVAL": "your-value",
"GERMAN_ARCHIVES_CONTACT": "your-value",
"GERMAN_ARCHIVES_DOWNLOAD_DIR": "your-value",
"GERMAN_ARCHIVES_PDF_CACHE_DAYS": "your-value",
"GERMAN_ARCHIVES_PDF_CACHE_MB": "your-value"
}
}
}
}Run this in your terminal
claude mcp add german-archives --env GERMAN_ARCHIVES_CACHE_DIR=your-value --env GERMAN_ARCHIVES_TIMEOUT=your-value --env GERMAN_ARCHIVES_MIN_INTERVAL=your-value --env GERMAN_ARCHIVES_CONTACT=your-value --env GERMAN_ARCHIVES_DOWNLOAD_DIR=your-value --env GERMAN_ARCHIVES_PDF_CACHE_DAYS=your-value --env GERMAN_ARCHIVES_PDF_CACHE_MB=your-value -- uvx german-archives-mcpFill in the empty values before running it.
Or copy the settings yourself
Paste into .cursor/mcp.json in your project, or ~/.cursor/mcp.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"german-archives": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"german-archives-mcp"
],
"env": {
"GERMAN_ARCHIVES_CACHE_DIR": "your-value",
"GERMAN_ARCHIVES_TIMEOUT": "your-value",
"GERMAN_ARCHIVES_MIN_INTERVAL": "your-value",
"GERMAN_ARCHIVES_CONTACT": "your-value",
"GERMAN_ARCHIVES_DOWNLOAD_DIR": "your-value",
"GERMAN_ARCHIVES_PDF_CACHE_DAYS": "your-value",
"GERMAN_ARCHIVES_PDF_CACHE_MB": "your-value"
}
}
}
}Your browser asks to open the app, then the app shows the settings and asks you to confirm. Key values are left empty for you to fill in.
Or copy the settings yourself
Paste into .vscode/mcp.json in your project
{
"servers": {
"german-archives": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"german-archives-mcp"
],
"env": {
"GERMAN_ARCHIVES_CACHE_DIR": "your-value",
"GERMAN_ARCHIVES_TIMEOUT": "your-value",
"GERMAN_ARCHIVES_MIN_INTERVAL": "your-value",
"GERMAN_ARCHIVES_CONTACT": "your-value",
"GERMAN_ARCHIVES_DOWNLOAD_DIR": "your-value",
"GERMAN_ARCHIVES_PDF_CACHE_DAYS": "your-value",
"GERMAN_ARCHIVES_PDF_CACHE_MB": "your-value"
}
}
}
}Your browser asks to open the app, then the app shows the settings and asks you to confirm. Key values are left empty for you to fill in.
This one runs on your computer, and ChatGPT can only connect to servers on the internet. Pick another app.
Your choice stays on this device in a cookie; no account needed.
Values you fill in
GERMAN_ARCHIVES_CACHE_DIRenvDirectory for the on-disk response cache, and for the APERTUS volume PDFs kept for reading further pages.GERMAN_ARCHIVES_TIMEOUTenvHTTP timeout in seconds for one request. Image downloads get 120 s to read.GERMAN_ARCHIVES_MIN_INTERVALenvLeast seconds between two requests to one host. Never below 2; database searches and APERTUS volume downloads wait 10.GERMAN_ARCHIVES_CONTACTenvAn email address or URL appended to the User-Agent, so an archive can reach whoever runs the server.GERMAN_ARCHIVES_DOWNLOAD_DIRenvAn existing folder. When set, the image tools save only inside it; needed to save under ~/Library, such as an iCloud Drive folder.GERMAN_ARCHIVES_PDF_CACHE_DAYSenvDays a downloaded APERTUS volume PDF is kept for reading further pages (at most 30).GERMAN_ARCHIVES_PDF_CACHE_MBenvMost megabytes of APERTUS volume PDFs kept on disk; the least recently read go first (at least 100).
These settings are generated from the maker’s registry entry. If the README says otherwise, follow the README.
What it can do
Runs on your computer; the tool list appears in your AI app after you install it.
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 8, 2026
- ✓ Pass
Maker matches the repo
The registry name was verified with the GitHub account ianderso, which owns the repo
- … Not checked yet
Still maintained
We have not read this repo from GitHub yet
- … Not checked yet
Has a licence
We have not read this repo from GitHub yet
- – Not applicable
Endpoint responds
This one runs on your computer; there is no internet endpoint
- – Not applicable
Sign-in with OAuth
Runs on your computer and uses local settings instead
- … Not checked yet
No hidden instructions in tool descriptions
Runs on your computer; we can only read tool lists from internet endpoints
Compared with others in Otheri
- More stars than 0% of the other 18397 servers in this category
- Published to the registry more recently than 62% of the other 18397 servers in this category
- Basic checks equal to or better than 100% of the other 18397 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 German Archives (DDB; BW, NRW, Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse registers) safe?
It passed 1 of 1 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 on your computer. Your AI app starts it when needed, and data does not pass through the maker’s servers (unless it calls an online service itself).
Is it still maintained?
The GitHub repo last changed –, and the latest version (0.3.0) reached the registry 27 days ago.
Which apps can use it?
Apps that support MCP, such as Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor and VS Code. You also need Python (uv) on your computer.
What can I use instead?
In the same category: Spec Driven Development, Remote Desktop Commander, alalanet — check before you pay
Alternatives
Servers in the same category from other makers, sorted by stars.
Reading a card:★ GitHub starsiThree pillars: reviews · checks · usageiUpdated = latest version published to the registryi
Remote Desktop Commander
by desktop-commander
Remote Desktop Commander: use files, terminal and processes on your own computers from any AI app.
Runs in the cloud★ 211Updated 2 days ago
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alalanet — check before you pay
by alalanet
Check packages, MCP servers and x402 endpoints before agents install or pay. Signed.
Runs in the cloudUpdated today
Install
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.
german-archives-mcp
An MCP server for German archives' finding aids and the vital registers German state archives have put online: search what German archives, libraries and museums have described in the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek and its archive portal Archivportal-D, read one entry with its place in the archive's fonds, find the civil or church register of a place for a year at the Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg, the Landesarchiv Nordrhein-Westfalen, the Landesarchivverwaltung Rheinland-Pfalz or the Hessisches Landesarchiv, and download a page of it to read.
The DDB is Germany's counterpart of DPLA, and for archives its counterpart of ArchiveGrid as well: archives deliver their finding aids to it, item by item, with signatures (call numbers), dates and the fonds each item belongs to. Some deliver images. Its version 2 API answers without a key.
The server covers every fonds of vital registers the Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg has online (the Staatsarchiv Wertheim's civil-register duplicates, from 1870, are not yet in its online finding aids):
| Fonds | Department | What it holds |
|---|---|---|
| L 10 | Staatsarchiv Freiburg | Baden Standesbücher, south Baden: the civil duplicates of the parish registers, 1810-1870, one book per parish and confession for a span of years |
| 390 | Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe | Baden Standesbücher, north Baden |
| F 901 | Staatsarchiv Ludwigsburg | Duplicates of Württemberg's Catholic parish registers, 1808-1875, one volume per register |
| Wü 110 T 1 | Staatsarchiv Sigmaringen | Duplicates of the Protestant parish registers of Württemberg and Hohenzollern, 1808-1875 |
| J 386 | Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart | Films (1943-1945) of the registers of the Jewish communities of Baden, Württemberg and Hohenzollern, whose originals are lost |
| Dep. 1 T 37, Dep. 1 T 44 | Staatsarchiv Sigmaringen | Civil registers of the Standesamt Sigmaringen and Sigmaringen-Laiz, digitised for 1870-1899 |
The Landesarchiv Nordrhein-Westfalen has put its civil registers (Zivilstands- and Personenstandsregister) online: the Rhineland's from 1798, and Westphalia's and Lippe's with some of their church-book duplicates, as far as the protection periods allow (births 110 years, marriages 80, deaths 30). The server searches them through the Archive in NRW portal and reads their pages from the Landesarchiv's image server.
The Landesarchivverwaltung Rheinland-Pfalz's Personenstandsarchiv, part of the Landeshauptarchiv Koblenz, has put the civil registers of the state's north online in its virtual reading room APERTUS: Best. 657,001 onward, one fonds per Standesamt or Bürgermeisterei, mostly the former government districts of Koblenz and Trier, from 1798. About 59,000 birth, marriage and death registers have images there: by the archive's count (March 2026) some 32,000 whole registers, digitised district by district up to 1880 or 1895, and 28,000 registers of which only the name index is digitised. APERTUS delivers a register only as one PDF of the whole volume, so the server downloads a volume once, keeps it on disk for a few days, and takes each page asked for out of it.
The Hessisches Landesarchiv's Personenstandsarchiv keeps the secondary registers of every Standesamt in today's Hesse, from 1874 or 1876, in fonds HStAM 900 to 926, and has put them online to 1900 (births), 1930 (marriages) and 1965 (deaths). The server finds them in the catalogue of the Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS) and reads their pages from Arcinsys Hessen.
It works the way a careful genealogist does. A finding-aid entry says where a record is, not what it says: cite the archive and its signature, not the DDB. The page image is the evidence: read it before citing it, and cite the archive, the signature and the image number with the archive's permalink. A zero is not a negative: most German registers are not online, and many archives deliver nothing to the DDB.
Nothing here writes anywhere, and nothing here keeps a family tree. It sits beside dpla-catalog-mcp for American collections and snac-archives-mcp for finding which archive holds a family's papers.
This is an independent project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or supported by the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek, the Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg, the Landesarchiv Nordrhein-Westfalen, the Landesarchivverwaltung Rheinland-Pfalz, the Hessisches Landesarchiv, LAGIS, or any archive whose finding aids it reads.
Tools
The server publishes eleven tools. All but the four image tools are read-only; each of those writes one new file and never overwrites one (rlp_image also keeps the volume PDFs it downloads in the cache folder).
The Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek and Archivportal-D
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
ddb_search | Search finding aids and digitised objects. Each hit names the holding institution, its signature, the dates, where it sits in its fonds, and whether it has images. Filters: sector (archive, library, museum...), the holder's name, images only, years. |
ddb_item | One entry in full: every field the archive delivered, its path from the archive down through the fonds, what lies below it (for a fonds or series), links to its images on the holder's site, rights, and a citation naming the archive, signature and the archive's own page. |
The registers at the Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
labw_standesbuch | The books for a place, a year, a confession and (optionally) one fonds: signature (L 10 Nr. 510, F 901 Bd 1511, Wü 110 T 1 Nr. 4566, J 386 Bü 583), fonds, title, the parish heading, years, registers, confession, district court (Baden), permalink, whether it has images, and the image count. Villages filed under a larger place are included, and marked. |
labw_image | One page image, by signature or permalink and image number, saved as a new .jpg, with its citation: "Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg, Abt. Staatsarchiv Freiburg, L 10 Nr. 510, Bild 378" and the image's permalink. Works for any Landesarchiv item with images, given its permalink. |
The civil registers at the Landesarchiv Nordrhein-Westfalen
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
nrw_search | Search the Archive in NRW portal (the Landesarchiv's three departments, or every archive in the portal): title, archive, signature (PA 2104 Nr. 267, P 3 / 9 Nr. 260), dates, fonds, permalink, and for a digitised unit its METS address and whether nrw_image can read it. |
nrw_image | One page image of a Landesarchiv NRW unit, by its METS address and image number, saved as a new .jpg, with its citation: "Landesarchiv NRW Abteilung Rheinland, PA 2104 Nr. 267, Bild 12", the permalink and the URN. |
The civil registers in Rheinland-Pfalz (APERTUS)
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
rlp_search | Search the Personenstandsarchiv's digitised units in APERTUS by place, Bürgermeisterei or Standesamt, register type and years: signature (Best. 657,377 Nr. 141), title (Sterberegister der Bürgermeisterei Cochem-Land), years, dates, permalink, and the item rlp_image takes. |
rlp_image | One page of a unit, by its item, permalink or signature and the page of its PDF, saved as a new .jpg, with its citation: "Landesarchivverwaltung Rheinland-Pfalz, Landeshauptarchiv Koblenz, Best. 657,349 Nr. 4 (...), PDF page 3" and the permalink. The first page of a volume downloads the whole volume's PDF (tens of megabytes, up to a minute); later pages come from disk. |
The civil registers in Hesse (LAGIS and Arcinsys)
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
hessen_search | Search LAGIS's catalogue of the Hessisches Landesarchiv's digitised registers by place (a village finds its Standesamt's registers), register type and year: title (Korbach, Geburtsnebenregister, 1880), Standesamt, years, signature (HStAM 922 Nr. 6013) and LAGIS link. |
hessen_image | One page image of a register, by signature or Arcinsys address and image number, saved as a new .jpg, with its citation: "Hessisches Staatsarchiv Marburg, HStAM 922 Nr. 6013 (...), Bild 2" and the Arcinsys permalink. Works for any Arcinsys Hessen unit of the three state archives with images. |
Housekeeping
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
cache_status | This session's requests, by host, the pacing, cache use and the volume PDFs on disk. Makes no request. |
Setup
You need Python 3.11 or later and uv. There is no key to request.
Without cloning. uvx fetches it from PyPI and runs it in one step:
uvx german-archives-mcpFrom a clone, which is what you want if you will change it:
git clone https://github.com/ianderso/german-archives-mcpcd german-archives-mcp uv sync uv run german-archives-mcp # stdio server, usually launched by the client
Either way the server speaks MCP over stdio, so you will normally let an MCP client start it rather than run it by hand.
Claude Desktop
{"mcpServers": { "german-archives": { "command": "uvx", "args": ["german-archives-mcp"] } } }
A desktop app does not always inherit your shell's PATH. If the server fails to start because uvx cannot be found, give the full path that which uvx prints as the command.
Claude Code
claude mcp add german-archives -- uvx german-archives-mcpConfiguration
Nothing is required. A .env file in the directory the server starts in supplies anything the environment does not; only that directory is read.
| Variable | Meaning |
|---|---|
GERMAN_ARCHIVES_CACHE_DIR | Response cache directory, and the home of the APERTUS volume PDFs (volumes/). Default ~/.cache/german-archives-mcp. |
GERMAN_ARCHIVES_TIMEOUT | HTTP timeout in seconds for one request. Default 30. Image downloads get 120 to read. |
GERMAN_ARCHIVES_MIN_INTERVAL | Least seconds between two requests to one host. Default 2, never below 2. Searches on the Archive in NRW portal, APERTUS and LAGIS, and APERTUS volume downloads, always wait at least 10. |
GERMAN_ARCHIVES_CONTACT | An email address or URL added to the User-Agent, so an archive can reach you if your use causes trouble. Optional, and courteous. |
GERMAN_ARCHIVES_DOWNLOAD_DIR | An existing folder. When set, the image tools save only inside it. Set it to save into an iCloud Drive folder, which lives under ~/Library. |
GERMAN_ARCHIVES_PDF_CACHE_DAYS | Days a downloaded APERTUS volume PDF is kept for reading further pages. Default 3, at most 30. |
GERMAN_ARCHIVES_PDF_CACHE_MB | Most megabytes of volume PDFs kept; past it the volumes read least recently are deleted. Default 1000, at least 100. A volume larger than this is not downloaded. |
An unusable value is reported on the first tool call as a not_configured result naming the variable.
How to read what comes back
- A DDB entry is a finding aid. The archive wrote it to say where a record is and roughly what it holds. It supports a research task (order the file, open the images), not a fact. Cite the archive and its signature (
citationinddb_item), and t
Only the beginning is shown; read the rest in the repo