How do I find my SolarAnywhere API Key?

Log in to your [**SolarAnywhere account**](https://api.solaranywhere.com/account), and you will find your API Key in your dashboard or profile settings. Copy and paste it below.

What irradiance parameters are provided?

The API provides Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI), Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI), and Diffuse Horizontal Irradiance (DHI) metadata.

Can the agent show historical typical year data?

Yes. The `get_typical_solar_year` tool retrieves TMY data for any coordinate pair to assist in long-term performance auditing.

SolarAnywhere API MCP Server for Claude Desktop 4 tools — connect in under 2 minutes

Name: SolarAnywhere API
Availability: InStock
Author: Vinkius

modelcontextprotocol.io/quickstart/user

Built by Vinkius GDPR 4 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.

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Vinkius Desktop App

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

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Classic Setup·json

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

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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 SolarAnywhere API MCP Server

Empower your AI agent to orchestrate your entire solar energy research and site auditing workflow with SolarAnywhere, the authoritative source for high-resolution solar irradiance data. By connecting the SolarAnywhere API to your agent, you transform complex meteorological searches into a natural conversation. Your agent can instantly retrieve real-time irradiance levels, audit typical meteorological year (TMY) data, and query specific site metadata without you ever touching a technical portal. Whether you are conducting renewable energy research or managing regional solar fleet constraints, your agent acts as a real-time solar consultant, ensuring your data is always verified and precise.

Claude Desktop is the definitive way to connect SolarAnywhere API to your AI workflow. Add Vinkius Edge URL to your config, restart the app, and Claude immediately exposes all 4 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

Irradiance Auditing — Retrieve real-time Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI) and Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI) data for any coordinate pair instantly.
Site Oversight — Audit all registered solar sites in your catalog to maintain a clear view of regional distribution and scale.
Weather Discovery — Query Typical Meteorological Year (TMY) data to understand long-term solar potential for your energy projects.
Atmospheric Intelligence — Retrieve temperature and irradiance metadata to assist in deep-dive solar performance classification.
Operational Monitoring — Check API status to ensure your solar research workflow is always operational.

The SolarAnywhere API MCP Server exposes 4 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 SolarAnywhere API to Claude Desktop via MCP

Follow these steps to integrate the SolarAnywhere API 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 SolarAnywhere API

Look for the 🔌 icon in the chat. your 4 tools are now available

Why Use Claude Desktop with the SolarAnywhere API MCP Server

Claude Desktop by Anthropic provides unique advantages when paired with SolarAnywhere API 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 Vinkius Edge network

SolarAnywhere API + Claude Desktop Use Cases

Practical scenarios where Claude Desktop combined with the SolarAnywhere API 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

SolarAnywhere API MCP Tools for Claude Desktop (4)

These 4 tools become available when you connect SolarAnywhere API to Claude Desktop via MCP:

check_api_status

Check if the SolarAnywhere service is operational

get_solar_irradiance

Get real-time solar irradiance data for a specific location

get_typical_solar_year

Get Typical Meteorological Year (TMY) solar data for a location

list_solar_sites

List all solar sites registered in your SolarAnywhere account

Example Prompts for SolarAnywhere API in Claude Desktop

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

"Get solar irradiance for latitude 34.0522 and longitude -118.2437 using SolarAnywhere."

"Show Typical Meteorological Year data for 'Napa Valley'."

"List all registered solar sites in my account."

Troubleshooting SolarAnywhere API MCP Server with Claude Desktop

Common issues when connecting SolarAnywhere API 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.

SolarAnywhere API + Claude Desktop FAQ

Common questions about integrating SolarAnywhere API 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.