Sunbird AI MCP server

Quick start

Create a Sunbird API token

Sign in at api.sunbird.ai and create a token under API keys. Keep it private: it is the only credential this server needs from you.

Add the server to your agent

Run once in your terminal

claude mcp add --transport http sunbird … \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_SUNBIRD_TOKEN"

Add to .cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sunbird": {
      "url": "…",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_SUNBIRD_TOKEN" }
    }
  }
}

With the fastmcp client (pip install fastmcp)

import asyncio, os
from fastmcp import Client
from fastmcp.client.transports import StreamableHttpTransport

async def main():
    transport = StreamableHttpTransport(
        "…",
        auth=os.environ["SUNBIRD_API_TOKEN"],
    )
    async with Client(transport) as client:
        result = await client.call_tool(
            "sunbird_translate_text",
            {"text": "How are you?", "target_language": "lug"},
        )
        print(result.structured_content["translated_text"])

asyncio.run(main())

Explore the tools interactively

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector
# Transport: Streamable HTTP
# URL:       …
# Header:    Authorization: Bearer YOUR_SUNBIRD_TOKEN

Make a free call first

Ask your agent to run sunbird_check_connection. It confirms the token and shows the account it belongs to without spending anything. Then sunbird_list_languages gives you the language codes to use.

Tools

Eleven tools with typed inputs and structured outputs. Tools marked billed run inference on Sunbird and count against your account; the rest are free lookups.

Tool	What it does	Cost
Text
`sunbird_translate_text`	Translate between English and 67 African languages with Sunflower.	billed
`sunbird_chat_completion`	Chat and question answering in African languages (Sunflower 9B).	billed
`sunbird_identify_language`	Detect which language a text is written in.	billed
Speech
`sunbird_transcribe_audio`	Speech-to-text in 51 languages from a public URL, a local file or inline audio.	billed
`sunbird_generate_speech`	Text-to-speech with 48 voices in 17 languages. Returns a download URL by default, or a file or inline audio.	billed
`sunbird_generate_speech_batch`	Synthesise several texts in one request.	billed
`sunbird_refresh_speech_url`	Get a fresh download link for audio generated earlier.	free
Lookups and checks
`sunbird_list_languages`	Language codes per capability. Validate a code here before a billed call.	free
`sunbird_list_voices`	Voice identifiers, optionally filtered by language.	free
`sunbird_list_models`	Available models and what each is for.	free
`sunbird_check_connection`	Confirms your token and shows the account it belongs to.	free

Full parameter and output reference: docs/tools.md.

Authentication

There is no separate sign-up for the MCP server. Your Sunbird API token is the credential, sent as a bearer token on every request.

The server verifies the token with Sunbird, caches the result for a few minutes, and forwards the same token upstream only for your calls.
Requests without a valid token are rejected with 401 before any tool runs.
Tokens never appear in logs. Audit entries record the tool name, outcome, latency and your Sunbird username only.
Billable tools are never retried automatically after an ambiguous failure, so a timeout cannot silently double-charge you. If you retry, check first.

If your token is rejected, create a new one at api.sunbird.ai/keys and run sunbird_check_connection again.

Languages and limits

Capability	Coverage	Limit per call
Translation and chat	English and 67 African languages (Sunflower 9B)	5,000 characters of text; 50 chat messages
Speech-to-text	51 languages	25 MB of audio
Text-to-speech	20 languages, 48 voices in 17 of them	2,000 characters

Codes follow ISO 639-3, for example lug Luganda, ach Acholi, nyn Runyankole, teo Ateso, swa Swahili, eng English. Call sunbird_list_languages for the full matrix; it is free and always current.

Discovery

Agents and catalogues can find this server without hand-written configuration. These documents are public and describe how to connect; the tool list itself comes from the live server after you authenticate.

Server Card: Name, version, endpoint and the required header, served as application/mcp-server-card+json (SEP-2127).
AI Catalog: Domain-level index pointing at the Server Card (AI Catalog specification).
MCP Registry: Listed as ai.sunbird/sunbird-mcp in the official MCP Registry.
Health: /healthz and /readyz answer without a token and never call Sunbird.

Help and links

Sunbird AI API documentation: The upstream API this server wraps: models, pricing, tutorials.
Source code and self-hosting: Run the server yourself over stdio or HTTP, in Docker or on Cloud Run.
Client guides: Claude Code, Cursor, the OpenAI tool-calling bridge and CI usage, with worked examples.
Security model: Threat model, what is enforced where, and known limitations.
Report a problem: Bugs, missing languages, feature requests.

Sunbird AI for your agent