DINO-X MCP


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DINO-X Official MCP Server — powered by the DINO-X and Grounding DINO models — brings fine-grained object detection and image understanding to your multimodal applications.

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Why DINO-X MCP?

With DINO-X MCP, you can:

• Fine-Grained Understanding: Full image detection, object detection, and region-level descriptions.

• Structured Outputs: Get object categories, counts, locations, and attributes for VQA and multi-step reasoning tasks.

• Composable: Works seamlessly with other MCP servers to build end-to-end visual agents or automation pipelines.

Transport Modes

DINO-X MCP supports two transport modes:

Quick Start

1. Prepare an MCP client

Any MCP-compatible client works, e.g.:

• Cursor
• WindSurf
• Trae
• Cherry Studio

2. Get your API key

Apply on the DINO-X platform: Request API Key (new users get free quota).

3. Configure MCP

Option A: Official Hosted Streamable HTTP (Recommended)

Add to your MCP client config and replace with your API key:

*Configuration content*

Option B: Use the NPM package locally (STDIO)

Install Node.js first

• Download the installer from nodejs.org

• Or use command:

# macOS / Linux
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.40.1/install.sh | bash
# or
wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.40.1/install.sh | bash

# load nvm into current shell (choose the one you use)
source ~/.bashrc || true
source ~/.zshrc  || true

# install and use LTS Node.js
nvm install --lts
nvm use --lts

# Windows (one of the following)
winget install OpenJS.NodeJS.LTS
# or with Chocolatey (in admin PowerShell)
iwr -useb https://raw.githubusercontent.com/chocolatey/chocolatey/master/chocolateyInstall/InstallChocolatey.ps1 | iex
choco install nodejs-lts -y

Configure your MCP client:

*Configuration content*

Note: Replace your-api-key-here with your real key.

Option C: Run from source locally

Make sure Node.js is installed (see Option B), then:

# clone
git clone https://github.com/IDEA-Research/DINO-X-MCP.git
cd DINO-X-MCP

# install deps
npm install

# build
npm run build

Configure your MCP client:

*Configuration content*

CLI Flags & Environment Variables

• Common flags

  • --http: start in Streamable HTTP mode (otherwise STDIO by default)
  • --stdio: force STDIO mode
  • --dinox-api-key=...: set API key
  • --enable-client-key: allow API key via URL ?key= (Streamable HTTP only)
  • --port=8080: HTTP port (default 3020)

• Environment variables

  • DINOX_API_KEY (required/conditionally required): DINO-X platform API key
  • IMAGE_STORAGE_DIRECTORY (optional, STDIO): directory to save annotated images
  • AUTH_TOKEN (optional, HTTP): if set, client must send Authorization: Bearer <token>

  Examples:

# STDIO (local)
node build/index.js --dinox-api-key=your-api-key

# Streamable HTTP (server provides a shared API key)
node build/index.js --http --dinox-api-key=your-api-key

# Streamable HTTP (custom port)
node build/index.js --http --dinox-api-key=your-api-key --port=8080

# Streamable HTTP (require client-provided API key via URL)
node build/index.js --http --enable-client-key

Client config when using ?key=:

*Configuration content*

Using AUTH_TOKEN with a gateway that injects Authorization: Bearer <token>:

AUTH_TOKEN=my-token node build/index.js --http --enable-client-key

Client example with supergateway:

*Configuration content*

Tools

🎬 Use Cases

FAQ

• Supported image sources?
  • STDIO: file:// and https://
  • Streamable HTTP: https:// only
• Supported image formats?
  • jpg, jpeg, webp, png

Development & Debugging

Use watch mode to auto-rebuild during development:

npm run watch

Use MCP Inspector for debugging:

npm run inspector

License

Apache License 2.0