Is the OpenRouteService API free?

Yes. ORS offers a free Standard plan with generous daily limits for all services (directions, isochrones, matrix, geocoding, and optimization). No credit card required. Higher rate limits are available through the Collaborative plan for non-profits, academics, and government organizations.

What routing profiles are supported?

ORS supports driving-car, driving-hgv (heavy goods vehicles), cycling-regular, cycling-road, cycling-mountain, cycling-electric, foot-walking, foot-hiking, and wheelchair. Each profile optimizes routes based on road network restrictions specific to that transportation mode.

Can I solve vehicle routing problems with time windows and capacity constraints?

Yes. The VRP optimization tool uses the VROOM solver. Define jobs with locations, service times, and time windows, then define vehicles with start/end locations, capacities, and operating hours. The solver returns optimized assignments and routes for your entire fleet.

OpenRouteService MCP Server for Claude Desktop 10 tools — connect in under 2 minutes

Name: OpenRouteService
Availability: InStock
Author: Vinkius

modelcontextprotocol.io/quickstart/user

Built by Vinkius GDPR 10 Tools IDE

Claude Desktop is Anthropic's native application for interacting with Claude AI models on macOS and Windows. It was the first consumer application to ship with built-in MCP support, making it the reference implementation for the Model Context Protocol standard.

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Vinkius supports streamable HTTP and SSE.

RecommendedModern Approach — Zero Configuration

Vinkius Desktop App

The modern way to manage MCP Servers — no config files, no terminal commands. Install OpenRouteService and 2,500+ MCP Servers from a single visual interface.

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Classic Setup·json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openrouteservice": {
      // Your Vinkius token — get it at cloud.vinkius.com
      "url": "https://edge.vinkius.com/[YOUR_TOKEN_HERE]/mcp"
    }
  }
}

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High SecurityEnterprise-grade

IAMAccess control

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DLPData protection

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Ed25519Audit chain

<40msKill switch

Stream every event to Splunk, Datadog, or your own webhook in real-time

* Every MCP server runs on Vinkius-managed infrastructure inside AWS - a purpose-built runtime with per-request V8 isolates, Ed25519 signed audit chains, and sub-40ms cold starts optimized for native MCP execution. See our infrastructure

About OpenRouteService MCP Server

Unlock the full power of OpenRouteService from a single conversation. Calculate driving routes, generate reachability maps, solve vehicle routing problems, and geocode addresses — all backed by OpenStreetMap data.

Claude Desktop is the definitive way to connect OpenRouteService to your AI workflow. Add the Vinkius Edge URL to your config, restart the app, and Claude immediately exposes all 10 tools in the chat interface — ask a question, Claude calls the right tool, and you see the answer. Zero code, zero context switching.

What you can do

Directions — Calculate optimal routes between multiple waypoints for car, bicycle, or pedestrian profiles with distance and duration
Isochrones — Generate reachability polygons showing areas accessible within a given time or distance from any point
Distance Matrix — Compute M×N duration and distance matrices between multiple origins and destinations
VRP Optimization — Solve multi-vehicle routing problems with jobs, vehicles, and capacity constraints using the VROOM solver
Geocoding — Forward and reverse geocode addresses using Pelias, with country boundary filters
GPS Snap — Clean noisy GPS traces by snapping coordinates to the nearest road segment
Elevation — Get altitude data for coordinate sequences using the elevation API

The OpenRouteService MCP Server exposes 10 tools through the Vinkius. Connect it to Claude Desktop in under two minutes — no API keys to rotate, no infrastructure to provision, no vendor lock-in. Your configuration, your data, your control.

How to Connect OpenRouteService to Claude Desktop via MCP

Follow these steps to integrate the OpenRouteService MCP Server with Claude Desktop.

Open Claude Desktop Settings

Go to Settings → Developer → Edit Config to open claude_desktop_config.json

Add the MCP Server

Paste the configuration above into the mcpServers section

Restart Claude Desktop

Close and reopen Claude Desktop to load the new server

Start using OpenRouteService

Look for the 🔌 icon in the chat — your 10 tools are now available

Why Use Claude Desktop with the OpenRouteService MCP Server

Claude Desktop by Anthropic provides unique advantages when paired with OpenRouteService through the Model Context Protocol.

Claude Desktop is the reference MCP client — it was designed alongside the protocol itself, ensuring the most complete and stable MCP implementation available

Zero-code configuration: add a server URL to a JSON file and Claude instantly discovers and exposes all available tools in the chat interface

Claude's extended thinking capability lets it reason through multi-step tool usage, chaining multiple API calls to answer complex questions

Enterprise-grade security with local config storage — your tokens never leave your machine, and connections go directly to the Vinkius Edge network

OpenRouteService + Claude Desktop Use Cases

Practical scenarios where Claude Desktop combined with the OpenRouteService MCP Server delivers measurable value.

Interactive data exploration: ask Claude to query DNS records, look up WHOIS data, and cross-reference results in a single conversation

Ad-hoc security audits: type a domain name and let Claude enumerate subdomains, check DNS history, and flag configuration anomalies — all through natural language

Executive briefings: generate comprehensive domain intelligence reports by asking Claude to compile findings into a formatted summary

Learning and training: new team members can explore API capabilities conversationally without needing to read documentation

OpenRouteService MCP Tools for Claude Desktop (10)

These 10 tools become available when you connect OpenRouteService to Claude Desktop via MCP:

calculate_directions

Identify precise active arrays spanning native Road network points

calculate_isochrones

Inspect deep internal arrays mitigating specific Reachability lines

calculate_matrix

Enumerate explicitly attached structured rules exporting active M * N logs

check_optimization_status

Retrieve explicit Cloud logging tracing explicit Optimization jobs

geocode_search

Identify bounded routing spaces inside the Headless OpenRouteService

get_elevation_line

Provision a highly-available JSON Payload parsing accessible Altitude lines

reverse_geocode

Perform structural extraction of properties driving active OSM boundaries

search_country_boundary

country` fetching strings rigidly ignoring maps spanning outside target ISO boundaries. Irreversibly vaporize explicit validations extracting local search filters

snap_gps_to_road

Retrieve the exact structural matching verifying Map snapping limits

solve_vrp_optimization

Dispatch an automated validation check routing explicit VROOM solvers

Example Prompts for OpenRouteService in Claude Desktop

Ready-to-use prompts you can give your Claude Desktop agent to start working with OpenRouteService immediately.

"Calculate a driving route from Berlin to Munich with estimated time."

"Show me all areas reachable within 15 minutes by car from Times Square."

"Calculate the distance matrix between our 3 warehouses and 5 customer locations."

Troubleshooting OpenRouteService MCP Server with Claude Desktop

Common issues when connecting OpenRouteService to Claude Desktop through the Vinkius, and how to resolve them.

Server not appearing after restart

Ensure the JSON is valid (no trailing commas). Check the file path: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\\Claude\\ (Windows).

Authentication error

Verify your Vinkius token is correct. Go to cloud.vinkius.com to regenerate it if needed.

Tools not showing in chat

Click the 🔌 icon at the bottom of the chat input. If it shows 0 tools, the server may still be connecting — wait a few seconds.

OpenRouteService + Claude Desktop FAQ

Common questions about integrating OpenRouteService MCP Server with Claude Desktop.

How does Claude Desktop discover MCP tools?

When Claude Desktop starts, it reads the claude_desktop_config.json file and connects to each configured MCP server. It calls the tools/list endpoint to fetch the schema for every available tool, then surfaces them as clickable options in the chat interface via the 🔌 icon.

What happens if the MCP server is temporarily unavailable?

Claude Desktop handles disconnections gracefully — if the server is unreachable at startup, the tools simply won't appear. Once the server becomes available again, restarting Claude Desktop will re-establish the connection. There is no timeout penalty or error loop.

Can I connect multiple MCP servers simultaneously?

Yes. You can add as many servers as you need in the mcpServers section of the config file. Each server appears as a separate tool provider, and Claude can use tools from multiple servers in a single conversation turn.

Is there a limit on the number of tools per server?

Claude Desktop can handle hundreds of tools per server. However, for optimal LLM performance, Vinkius servers are designed to expose focused, well-documented tool sets rather than overwhelming the model with too many options.

Does Claude Desktop support Streamable HTTP transport?

Yes. Claude Desktop supports both SSE (Server-Sent Events) and the newer Streamable HTTP transport that Vinkius uses. Simply provide the server URL — Claude auto-negotiates the transport protocol.