Configuration

Weather MCP can be customized using environment variables in your Claude Desktop configuration file.

Environment Variables

NOAA_API_TOKEN

Type: string Required: No Default: None

Your NOAA API token for accessing weather data from the National Weather Service.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "weather": {
      "command": "weather-mcp",
      "env": {
        "NOAA_API_TOKEN": "your-token-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Without a NOAA token, Weather MCP automatically uses Open-Meteo as the weather data provider.

ENABLE_ANALYTICS

Type: boolean Required: No Default: false

Enable anonymous usage analytics to help improve Weather MCP.

{
  "env": {
    "ENABLE_ANALYTICS": "true"
  }
}

What we collect:

Tool usage counts (which tools are called)
Response times and success rates
Error types (no error details or user data)
Anonymous installation ID

What we DON'T collect:

Location searches or coordinates
Weather data requests
Any personally identifiable information
User prompts or conversations

Privacy First

Analytics are completely optional and disabled by default. See our Privacy Policy for full details.

CACHE_TTL

Type: number Required: No Default: 300 (5 minutes)

Time-to-live for cached weather data in seconds. Weather data is cached to reduce API calls and improve response times.

{
  "env": {
    "CACHE_TTL": "600"
  }
}

Recommended values:

Current conditions: 300-600 seconds (5-10 minutes)
Forecasts: 1800-3600 seconds (30-60 minutes)
Alerts: 300 seconds (5 minutes)

Setting CACHE_TTL too low may result in rate limiting from weather providers. Setting it too high may result in stale data.

LOG_LEVEL

Type: string Required: No Default: info

Control the verbosity of logging output.

{
  "env": {
    "LOG_LEVEL": "debug"
  }
}

Available levels:

error - Only log errors
warn - Errors and warnings
info - General information (recommended)
debug - Detailed debugging information
trace - Very verbose output

PREFERRED_PROVIDER

Type: string Required: No Default: auto

Choose which weather data provider to prefer.

{
  "env": {
    "PREFERRED_PROVIDER": "noaa"
  }
}

Options:

auto - Automatically select based on location and availability
noaa - Prefer NOAA (requires API token, US locations only)
openmeteo - Prefer Open-Meteo (worldwide coverage, no token required)

If the preferred provider is unavailable for a location, Weather MCP will automatically fall back to the alternative.

Complete Configuration Example

Here's a complete configuration example with all options:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "weather": {
      "command": "weather-mcp",
      "env": {
        "NOAA_API_TOKEN": "your-noaa-token",
        "ENABLE_ANALYTICS": "true",
        "CACHE_TTL": "600",
        "LOG_LEVEL": "info",
        "PREFERRED_PROVIDER": "auto"
      }
    }
  }
}

Provider-Specific Configuration

NOAA Configuration

NOAA provides highly accurate weather data for United States locations:

Coverage: United States only
Token Required: Yes (free)
Rate Limits: Generous (typically sufficient for personal use)
Data Quality: Excellent (official government source)

Get your token: NOAA API Registration

Open-Meteo Configuration

Open-Meteo provides global weather coverage:

Coverage: Worldwide
Token Required: No
Rate Limits: Generous for non-commercial use
Data Quality: Very good (uses multiple data sources)

No additional configuration needed - works out of the box.

Advanced Configuration

Custom Cache Directory

By default, Weather MCP stores cache files in your system's temp directory. To specify a custom location:

{
  "env": {
    "CACHE_DIR": "/path/to/custom/cache"
  }
}

Disable Caching

To disable caching entirely (not recommended):

{
  "env": {
    "CACHE_TTL": "0"
  }
}

Disabling caching will increase API calls and may result in slower response times or rate limiting.

Validation

After updating your configuration, Weather MCP will validate the settings on startup. Check Claude Desktop's logs if you encounter issues:

macOS/Linux:

tail -f ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp*.log

Windows:

Get-Content "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Claude\logs\mcp*.log" -Wait