MCP Server

The sound effects MCP server for AI assistants

Lotsofsounds has a hosted Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. AI assistants can search, inspect, and download thousands of royalty-free (CC0) sound effects. Use the connection that your client supports.

• API key endpoint: https://api.lotsofsounds.com/mcp
• OpenAI OAuth endpoint: https://api.lotsofsounds.com/mcp/openai
• OpenAI plugin directory endpoint: https://api.lotsofsounds.com/mcp/openai/plugin-directory
• Transport: Streamable HTTP (stateless)
• Auth: a Lotsofsounds API key or a connected Lotsofsounds account
• Free tier: browse_samples works with no key, so try it before you subscribe

Tools exposed

Example prompts

Once the server is connected, ask for sounds in plain words. The assistant turns your request into short keyword searches with tag and duration filters.

Add it to Claude

In Claude, open Settings → Connectors, add a custom connector, and use this URL:

https://api.lotsofsounds.com/mcp

Add a request header named x-api-key and enter your Lotsofsounds API key as its value.

For a local Claude Desktop configuration, you can also use mcp-remote. Add this configuration to claude_desktop_config.json, and then restart Claude:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "lotsofsounds": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://api.lotsofsounds.com/mcp",
        "--header",
        "x-api-key:${LOS_API_KEY}"
      ],
      "env": { "LOS_API_KEY": "los_your_key" }
    }
  }
}

Ask Claude "find me a short dramatic cinematic hit". Claude will call search_sounds for you.

Add it to Cursor

In ~/.cursor/mcp.json (or Settings → MCP → Add new server):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "lotsofsounds": {
      "url": "https://api.lotsofsounds.com/mcp",
      "headers": { "x-api-key": "los_your_key" }
    }
  }
}

Windsurf, VS Code with GitHub Copilot MCP, and other Streamable HTTP clients use the same URL and header values. Their configuration file format can be different.

Add it to Claude Code

claude mcp add lotsofsounds --transport http https://api.lotsofsounds.com/mcp \
  --header "x-api-key: los_your_key"

Use it with the OpenAI Agents SDK

The hosted MCP server works as a tool source for GPT agents:

from agents import Agent, Runner
from agents.mcp import MCPServerStreamableHttp

sounds = MCPServerStreamableHttp(
    params={
        "url": "https://api.lotsofsounds.com/mcp",
        "headers": {"x-api-key": "los_your_key"},
    }
)

agent = Agent(
    name="Sound assistant",
    instructions="Help the user find royalty-free sound effects.",
    mcp_servers=[sounds],
)

result = await Runner.run(agent, "Find a gentle notification chime under 2 seconds")
print(result.final_output)

Use it with ChatGPT

ChatGPT uses OAuth. It does not send a custom x-api-key header.

1. In ChatGPT, open Settings → Security and login → Developer mode and enable developer mode.
2. Open Settings → Plugins and select the add button.
3. Enter https://api.lotsofsounds.com/mcp/openai.
4. Sign in to Lotsofsounds and approve the connection.

The search_sounds, get_sound, and download_sound tools use the plan on the connected account. The public directory plugin uses a separate endpoint with the same tools and account rules.

Add it to Grok Build

Grok Build can use the API key endpoint with a fixed request header:

grok mcp add --transport http lotsofsounds https://api.lotsofsounds.com/mcp \
  --header "x-api-key: ${LOS_API_KEY}"

Grok also reads project MCP configuration from .mcp.json.

Add it to Gemini CLI

Use the Gemini CLI command and add the same request header:

gemini mcp add --transport http lotsofsounds https://api.lotsofsounds.com/mcp \
  --header "x-api-key: ${LOS_API_KEY}"

Gemini CLI stores the server configuration in its settings file.

How the paywall works

The MCP server is a thin client over the same REST API. It never widens access beyond a caller's plan. Without API-key or OAuth access, protected catalog tools ask the user to authenticate or point to pricing. The free browse_samples tool always works. This keeps the server safe to open-source and list in public MCP directories while the catalog stays behind the Pro tier.

Related

• Sound Effects API - REST quickstarts, endpoints, and machine-readable resources
• API Reference - authentication, filters, responses, and errors
• LLM & AI Agent Integration - function-calling without MCP
• Getting Started - get your API key
• Pricing - Pro and Enterprise plans