mediathek-mcp 📺

mcp-name: io.github.mohammad-abbasi-sh/mediathek-mcp

Unofficial read-only MCP server for the German Mediathek via the free MediathekViewWeb API — search the programmes of ARD, ZDF, 3sat, ARTE, Phoenix, tagesschau24, KiKA and the regional channels. No key, no login.

Built by Mohammad Abbasi as part of the "Germany MCP factory" (Sepehr-style pipeline). Not affiliated with MediathekView, ARD or ZDF.

For AI agents

Add to your MCP client config (stdio):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mediathek": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["mediathek-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Or run locally: python -m mediathek_mcp.server (needs mcp<2, httpx).

Tools

Example output (mediathek_search_programmes / "Tagesschau"):

{"query": "Tagesschau", "channel": null, "total_results": 8823, "count": 3,
 "film_list_updated": "2026-11-09T10:19:00+00:00", "programmes": [
  {"id": "+sU90jI0m7KCrRqsj5aYEh9Owg7tr+3K9IRl39v+A8o=",
   "channel": "tagesschau24", "topic": "tagesschau in 100 Sekunden",
   "title": "tagesschau in 100 Sekunden",
   "description": "tagesschau in 100 Sekunden",
   "broadcast": "2026-11-09T04:43:00+00:00", "duration_seconds": 170,
   "duration": "2:50",
   "video_url": "https://tagesschau-progressive.ard-mcdn.de/video/2026/1109/TV-20261109-0445-5500.webxl.h264.mp4",
   "video_url_hd": "https://tagesschau-progressive.ard-mcdn.de/video/2026/1109/TV-20261109-0445-5500.webxxl.h264.mp4",
   "video_url_low": "https://tagesschau-progressive.ard-mcdn.de/video/2026/1109/TV-20261109-0257-3000.webm.h264.mp4",
   "subtitle_url": "", "website_url": "https://www.ardmediathek.de/video/...",
   "size_bytes": 40894464},
  ...]}

Notes:

• The film list holds ~700,000 programmes and is updated several times a day; results are newest first.
• "Latest broadcasts" searches the most common letter across title/topic/description — the API returns nothing for an empty query and has no wildcard, so this is effectively the newest programmes.
• Channel filtering in mediathek_search_programmes is applied client-side over the newest 50 text matches (the API has no AND query); mediathek_by_channel queries the channel directly.
• total_results is capped at 10,000 by the API for very broad queries.
• Video URLs are direct MP4 links (low / standard / HD); subtitle_url is empty when no subtitles exist.
• Data: MediathekViewWeb public API — no key, no login, read-only.

Development

python3 -m venv .venv && .venv/bin/pip install "mcp<2" httpx pytest
.venv/bin/python -m pytest tests/ -q

• tests/test_domain.py — offline, parses real captured API fixtures (19 tests)
• tests/test_live.py — cautious live requests against mediathekviewweb.de (6 tests)

Tests: 25/25 green (19 offline + 6 live, 2026-11-09).

License

MIT