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iNaturalist

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api.inaturalist.org

Community wildlife observations and taxonomy: what was seen, where, when and by whom.

Runs on your machine under the source's own terms

The crw MCP on your computer calls iNaturalist directly. Calls cost no credits and the data does not pass through fastCRW. Install it once for Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Windsurf, Gemini CLI or OpenCode, with your fastCRW API key in place of the placeholder:

Capabilities (28)

inaturalist/controlled-termsFree, runs locally

The controlled annotation terms used across iNaturalist - Life Stage, Sex, Plant Phenology, Alive or Dead and the rest - each with its id, allowed values and the taxa it applies to.

locale?
inaturalist/controlled-terms-for-taxonFree, runs locally

Only the annotation terms that are valid for one taxon, with their permitted values - plant phenology for plants, life stage for insects, and so on.

taxon_idlocale?
inaturalist/identification-detailsFree, runs locally

One identification event in full, with the identifier's profile, the taxon proposed, the body text and the complete observation it was made on.

id
inaturalist/identificationsFree, runs locally

Individual identification events: who proposed which taxon on which observation, when, whether it is still the current ID, and its category (leading, improving, supporting, maverick).

q?taxon_id?observation_taxon_id?user_id?user_login?place_id?quality_grade?category?current?is_change?rank?observation_rank?d1?d2?observed_d1?observed_d2?id_above?order?order_by?per_page?page?only_id?
inaturalist/observation-detailsFree, runs locally

The complete record for one observation: every identification and comment, all photos and sounds, annotations, project memberships, faves and the data-quality votes.

idlocale?preferred_place_id?
inaturalist/observation-field-valuesFree, runs locally

The controlled-vocabulary annotations people actually applied to the matching observations - life stage, sex, plant phenology and so on - each with a monthly histogram of its use.

taxon_id?place_id?project_id?user_id?d1?d2?lat?lng?radius?nelat?nelng?swlat?swlng?iconic_taxa?quality_grade?locale?
inaturalist/observation-histogramFree, runs locally

Observation counts bucketed over time - by month of year, week of year, day, month or year - for whatever observation filter you pass.

taxon_id?taxon_name?place_id?project_id?user_id?d1?d2?lat?lng?radius?nelat?nelng?swlat?swlng?iconic_taxa?quality_grade?captive?verifiable?date_field?interval?locale?
inaturalist/observation-identifiersFree, runs locally

The users who added identifications to the observations matching your filter, with how many identifications each contributed, ranked.

taxon_id?place_id?project_id?d1?d2?lat?lng?radius?nelat?nelng?swlat?swlng?iconic_taxa?quality_grade?per_page?page?
inaturalist/observation-observersFree, runs locally

The users who recorded the observations matching your filter, each with their observation count and species count, ranked.

taxon_id?place_id?project_id?d1?d2?month?year?lat?lng?radius?nelat?nelng?swlat?swlng?iconic_taxa?quality_grade?order_by?per_page?page?
inaturalist/observationsFree, runs locally

Individual wildlife sightings with coordinates, observed date, observer, photo URLs, the current identification and its quality grade.

q?taxon_id?taxon_name?place_id?project_id?user_id?user_login?d1?d2?created_d1?month?year?lat?lng?radius?nelat?nelng?swlat?swlng?iconic_taxa?quality_grade?photos?sounds?captive?threatened?introduced?native?verifiable?license?photo_license?updated_since?locale?preferred_place_id?order_by?order?per_page?page?id_above?
inaturalist/observation-species-countsFree, runs locally

The leaf taxa matching an observation filter with the number of observations of each, ordered by count descending - a ranked species list for the filter you gave.

q?taxon_id?place_id?project_id?user_id?user_login?d1?d2?month?year?lat?lng?radius?nelat?nelng?swlat?swlng?iconic_taxa?quality_grade?captive?threatened?introduced?native?rank?hrank?lrank?include_ancestors?locale?preferred_place_id?per_page?page?
inaturalist/observation-taxon-summaryFree, runs locally

For the taxon currently identified on one observation: its Wikipedia summary, the conservation status that applies at that location, and whether it is listed as native or introduced there.

id
inaturalist/place-detailsFree, runs locally

One place record with its type and admin level, ancestor places, bounding box, computed area and the full GeoJSON boundary polygon.

idadmin_level?
inaturalist/places-autocompleteFree, runs locally

Places whose names start with your text - parks, counties, countries, open-space preserves - each with its place id, type, bounding box and full boundary polygon.

qorder_by?per_page?
inaturalist/places-nearbyFree, runs locally

Places that intersect a bounding box, split into curator-approved 'standard' places and user-created 'community' ones, each with its geometry.

nelatnelngswlatswlngname?per_page?
inaturalist/postsFree, runs locally

Journal posts published on iNaturalist by users and projects, with full HTML body, cover image, author and publication date, newest first.

login?project_id?per_page?page?
inaturalist/project-detailsFree, runs locally

One project with its full rule set, the observation search terms it is built from, its admins, icon, banner, place and member count.

idrule_details?
inaturalist/project-membersFree, runs locally

The users who joined a project, with their role, their observation and identification counts inside it and whether they share hidden coordinates with it.

idrole?order_by?per_page?page?
inaturalist/projectsFree, runs locally

iNaturalist projects matching a query or a place, with each project's type, slug, icon, rules, admin list and member count.

q?place_id?lat?lng?radius?type?member_id?has_params?order_by?per_page?page?
inaturalist/searchFree, runs locally

One ranked list mixing taxa, places, projects and users that match your text, each result tagged with which type it is.

qsources?place_id?locale?preferred_place_id?per_page?
inaturalist/similar-speciesFree, runs locally

Species that identifiers attached to observations of your taxon, or that your taxon was proposed on, ranked by how often the mix-up happens, with the count behind each pair.

taxon_idplace_id?quality_grade?d1?d2?lat?lng?radius?
inaturalist/taxaFree, runs locally

Taxonomy records matching a query: scientific name, rank, ancestry ids, default photo, observation count and whether the name is still active.

q?id?rank?rank_level?parent_id?taxon_id?is_active?id_above?all_names?locale?preferred_place_id?order?order_by?per_page?page?
inaturalist/taxa-autocompleteFree, runs locally

Up to 30 taxa whose scientific or common names begin with your text, ordered for typeahead with exact and prefix matches first.

qrank?is_active?locale?preferred_place_id?per_page?
inaturalist/taxa-suggestFree, runs locally

Species that have actually been observed near a point, scored by how often they turn up there, with each suggestion's taxon record and the evidence count behind it.

latlngper_pagetaxon_id?observed_on?place_id?locale?preferred_place_id?
inaturalist/taxon-detailsFree, runs locally

The full taxon record: complete ancestor chain, children, Wikipedia summary and URL, conservation statuses, establishment means, the taxon photo set and listed places.

idlocale?preferred_place_id?all_names?
inaturalist/user-detailsFree, runs locally

One user's public profile: login, display name, join date, ORCID, icon, and their observation, identification, species and journal-post counts.

id
inaturalist/user-projectsFree, runs locally

The projects one user has joined, each as a full project record with its type, place and rules.

idrule_details?per_page?page?
inaturalist/users-autocompleteFree, runs locally

iNaturalist users whose login or display name matches your text, with their id, icon, site and lifetime observation count.

qproject_id?per_page?

Licence

Unless you specify otherwise when you post Content, you agree to license Content you contribute to the Platform under the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial license (CC BY-NC).

https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/terms

Attribution

Display this wherever you show the data. It arrives on every response as provenance.attributionText.

Source: iNaturalist