AltTextGeneratorAI MCP server

Let your AI assistant write SEO-friendly, accessible alt text for images, and find the images that are missing alt text on any web page. It works with AltTextGeneratorAI.com, the AI alt text service used in Shopify, WordPress, DatoCMS, Contentstack, Chrome and 30+ other tools.

Ask your assistant things like:

• "Write alt text for https://example.com/photo.jpg in Spanish."
• "Write alt text for the image at ~/Desktop/product.png."
• "Scan https://mystore.com/products/shoes and tell me which images have no alt text."
• "Scan that page and write alt text for the first 10 images that are missing it."
• "How many credits do I have left?"

Get an API key

Create a free account at alttextgeneratorai.com/dashboard and copy your API key. New accounts get free credits. Credits are a one-time purchase, never expire, and are shared with every AltTextGeneratorAI integration.

Install

You need Node.js 18 or newer. The server is started on demand with npx, so there is nothing to install by hand.

Claude Desktop

Open Settings > Developer > Edit Config and add:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "alttextgeneratorai": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "alttextgeneratorai-mcp"],
      "env": { "ALTTEXTGENERATORAI_API_KEY": "your_api_key" }
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

claude mcp add alttextgeneratorai --env ALTTEXTGENERATORAI_API_KEY=your_api_key -- npx -y alttextgeneratorai-mcp

Cursor

Add the same JSON as above to ~/.cursor/mcp.json (or .cursor/mcp.json in a project).

VS Code

Add to .vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "alttextgeneratorai": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "alttextgeneratorai-mcp"],
      "env": { "ALTTEXTGENERATORAI_API_KEY": "your_api_key" }
    }
  }
}

Any other client that supports MCP servers over stdio works the same way: run npx -y alttextgeneratorai-mcp with the ALTTEXTGENERATORAI_API_KEY environment variable.

Tools

Tool	What it does	Credits
generate_alt_text	Writes alt text for an image at a public URL. Optional language.	1
generate_alt_text_from_file	Writes alt text for an image file on your computer (JPEG, PNG, GIF or WebP, up to 3 MB). Optional language.	1
audit_page	Reads a web page and lists the images that have no alt attribute, or an empty one. Free. With generate: true it also writes suggested alt text for them (max_images up to 25, default 5).	0, or 1 per image with generate
check_credits	Shows how many credits you have left.	0

Notes:

• Languages: pass the language name in English, for example spanish, french, german, japanese. 130+ are supported. The default is English.
• Empty alt text (alt="") is correct for purely decorative images, so audit_page reports those separately from images where the attribute is missing.
• Pages that load images with JavaScript may show fewer images, because the tool reads the page's HTML.
• The tool only reads and suggests. It never changes your website. Add the suggested text to your site yourself, or ask your assistant to do it in your code.

Configuration

Variable	Required	Description
ALTTEXTGENERATORAI_API_KEY	Yes, for generating and credits	Your API key. audit_page without generate works without it.
ALTTEXTGENERATORAI_ALLOWED_DIR	No	Folder (or several, separated by : on Mac and Linux, ; on Windows) that generate_alt_text_from_file may read. Default: your home folder and the temp folder.
ALTTEXTGENERATORAI_API_BASE_URL	No	Override the API address (for testing). Must be https, or http on localhost. Default https://alttextgeneratorai.com/api.

Safety

• audit_page only reads public web pages. Local and private network addresses (localhost, 192.168.x.x, 10.x.x.x, cloud metadata addresses) are refused, including after redirects. The address is checked at the moment the connection is made, so a hostname cannot point somewhere else the second time.
• generate_alt_text_from_file only reads real images, and only in allowed folders. By default that is your home folder and the temp folder. Choose other folders, or narrow it to one, with ALTTEXTGENERATORAI_ALLOWED_DIR. The file's contents are checked, not just its name.
• Your API key is read from an environment variable, sent only to the AltTextGeneratorAI API over https, and never written to logs. A custom API address must use https.
• Error messages are short and never include raw technical output.

Privacy

To write alt text, the server sends your API key, the chosen language and either the image's public address or the image file itself to AltTextGeneratorAI.com. When you give an image address (including with audit_page and generate: true), the AltTextGeneratorAI service downloads that image to describe it, and it only accepts public web addresses. audit_page downloads the page you ask about directly from your computer. Nothing else is sent. See the privacy policy.

Development

npm install
npm run build
npm test      # runs the server over stdio against a fake API

Support

[email protected] · alttextgeneratorai.com

License

MIT