DINO-X-MCP

Official DINO-X Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that empowers LLMs with real-world visual perception through image object detection, localization, and captioning APIs.

57 stars TypeScriptAI & Machine Learning Updated Oct 13, 2025

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Documentation

DINO-X MCP Server

English | 中文

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:

Feature	STDIO (default)	Streamable HTTP
Runtime	Local	Local or Cloud
Transport	Standard I/O	HTTP (streaming responses)
Input source	`file://` and `https://`	`https://` only
Visualization	Supported (saves annotated images locally)	Not supported (for now)

Quick Start

1. Prepare an MCP client

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

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:

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dinox-mcp": {
      "url": "https://mcp.deepdataspace.com/mcp?key=your-api-key"
    }
  }
}

Option B: Use the NPM package locally (STDIO)

Install Node.js first

Download the installer from nodejs.org

Or use command:

bash

# 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:

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dinox-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@deepdataspace/dinox-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "DINOX_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here",
        "IMAGE_STORAGE_DIRECTORY": "/path/to/your/image/directory"
      }
    }
  }
}

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:

bash

# 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:

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dinox-mcp": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/DINO-X-MCP/build/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "DINOX_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here",
        "IMAGE_STORAGE_DIRECTORY": "/path/to/your/image/directory"
      }
    }
  }
}

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 `

Examples:

bash

# 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=`:

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dinox-mcp": {
      "url": "http://localhost:3020/mcp?key=your-api-key"
    }
  }
}

Using `AUTH_TOKEN` with a gateway that injects `Authorization: Bearer `:

bash

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

Client example with `supergateway`:

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dinox-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "supergateway",
        "--streamableHttp",
        "http://localhost:3020/mcp?key=your-api-key",
        "--oauth2Bearer",
        "my-token"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Tools

Capability	Tool ID	Transport	Input	Output
Full-scene object detection	`detect-all-objects`	STDIO / HTTP	Image URL	Category + bbox + (optional) captions
Text-prompted object detection	`detect-objects-by-text`	STDIO / HTTP	Image URL + English nouns (dot-separated for multiple, e.g., `person.car`)	Target object bbox + (optional) captions
Human pose estimation	`detect-human-pose-keypoints`	STDIO / HTTP	Image URL	17 keypoints + bbox + (optional) captions
Visualization	`visualize-detection-result`	STDIO only	Image URL + detection results array	Local path to annotated image

🎬 Use Cases

🎯 Scenario	📝 Input	✨ Output
Detection & Localization	💬 Prompt:`Detect and visualize the ``fire areas in the forest `🖼️ Input Image:!1-1	!1-2
Object Counting	💬 Prompt:`Please analyze this``warehouse image, detect``all the cardboard boxes,``count the total number`🖼️ Input Image:!2-1
Feature Detection	💬 Prompt:`Find all red cars``in the image`🖼️ Input Image:!4-1	!4-2
Attribute Reasoning	💬 Prompt:`Find the tallest person``in the image, describe``their clothing`🖼️ Input Image:!5-1	!5-2
Full Scene Detection	💬 Prompt:`Find the fruit with``the highest vitamin C``content in the image`🖼️ Input Image:!6-1	!6-3Answer: Kiwi fruit (93mg/100g)
Pose Analysis	💬 Prompt:`Please analyze what``yoga pose this is`🖼️ Input Image:!3-1	!3-3

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:

bash

npm run watch

Use MCP Inspector for debugging:

bash

npm run inspector

License

Apache License 2.0

Frequently asked questions

What is DINO-X-MCP?

DINO-X-MCP is Official DINO-X Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that empowers LLMs with real-world visual perception through image object detection, localization, and captioning APIs.

How do I install DINO-X-MCP?

Open the GitHub repository and follow its README. Most MCP servers are added to your client's MCP config, then called by your agent.

Is DINO-X-MCP open source?

Yes — it is hosted on GitHub at https://github.com/idea-research/dino-x-mcp and has 57 stars.

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