RepeaterBook Python Client

Unofficial project. RepeaterBook Python Client is an independent, community-maintained library and MCP server, and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or officially supported by RepeaterBook.com. "RepeaterBook" is a trademark of its respective owner. For the official website and API, visit https://repeaterbook.com/.

Welcome to the RepeaterBook Python Client documentation!

RepeaterBook Python Client is an unofficial, third-party Python library and Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides a powerful and convenient interface to the RepeaterBook.com API — the world's largest database of amateur radio repeaters. Use it as a library to programmatically download, query, and analyze repeater data, or run the bundled MCP server to give AI agents and LLM tools the same repeater lookup capabilities.

Features

• Easy API Access: Download repeater data from RepeaterBook.com with a simple async interface
• Unofficial MCP Server: Ship repeater sync, geographic search, and lookup to any MCP client as three typed tools — see the MCP Server guide
• Local Database: Store repeater information in a local SQLite database for fast queries
• Geographic Queries: Find repeaters near a location using distance-based filtering
• Band Filtering: Query repeaters by frequency band (2m, 70cm, etc.)
• Digital Mode Support: Filter by DMR, P25, NXDN, and other digital modes
• Smart Caching: Automatic caching of API responses to reduce load and improve performance
• Type Safe: Fully typed with mypy for excellent IDE support
• Async/Await: Non-blocking I/O for efficient API operations

Quick Example

You need a RepeaterBook API token. No application registration required — this library is already registered as RepeaterBook Python Client (App #114). Log in to RepeaterBook, open API Applications, find App #114, and generate a token. Then expose it as the REPEATERBOOK environment variable (for example export REPEATERBOOK="rbuapp_..."). Keep the library's default User-Agent — see the Authentication guide.

import asyncio
import os
from repeaterbook import RepeaterBook, Repeater
from repeaterbook.services import RepeaterBookAPI
from repeaterbook.models import ExportQuery, Status
from repeaterbook.utils import LatLon, Radius
from repeaterbook.queries import filter_radius, square, band, Bands
import pycountry

async def find_nearby_repeaters():
    # Download repeater data
    api = RepeaterBookAPI(app_token=os.environ["REPEATERBOOK"])
    brazil = pycountry.countries.get(name="Brazil")
    repeaters = await api.download(query=ExportQuery(countries={brazil}))

    # Store in local database
    rb = RepeaterBook()
    rb.populate(repeaters)

    # Find DMR repeaters within 50km of São Paulo
    sao_paulo = LatLon(lat=-23.5505, lon=-46.6333)
    radius = Radius(origin=sao_paulo, distance=50)

    nearby = rb.query(
        square(radius),
        Repeater.dmr_capable == True,
        Repeater.operational_status == Status.ON_AIR,
        band(Bands.CM_70)  # 70cm band
    )

    filtered = filter_radius(nearby, radius)

    # Display results (filter_radius returns repeaters sorted by distance)
    from haversine import haversine
    for rep in filtered[:5]:
        distance = haversine(radius.origin, (rep.latitude, rep.longitude), unit=radius.unit)
        print(f"{distance:.1f}km - {rep.frequency:.4f} MHz - {rep.callsign}")

asyncio.run(find_nearby_repeaters())

Quick Example (MCP)

Prefer to drive RepeaterBook from an AI agent? The unofficial MCP server ships as the repeaterbook-mcp console script behind the mcp extra. Point your MCP client at uvx and nothing needs installing up front:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "repeaterbook": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--from", "repeaterbook[mcp]", "repeaterbook-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "REPEATERBOOK_WORKING_DIR": "~/.repeaterbook",
        "REPEATERBOOK_APP_TOKEN": "rbuapp_..."
      }
    }
  }
}

REPEATERBOOK_APP_TOKEN is the same App #114 token described above; the server won't start without it.

That exposes three tools — sync_repeaters, search_repeaters, and get_repeater — returning a stable, source-agnostic repeater spec. See the MCP Server guide for the full tool reference, filter vocabulary, and configuration options.

Documentation

• Getting Started - Tutorial for beginners
• Usage Guide - Comprehensive usage examples
• MCP Server - Run the unofficial MCP server for AI agents
• Examples - Real-world use cases
• Architecture - Understanding the internals
• API Reference - Complete API documentation
• FAQ - Common questions and troubleshooting

Read the full documentation

Read RepeaterBook.com's official API documentation for more information about the upstream API.

Use Cases

• AI Agents & Assistants: Let an LLM look up repeaters conversationally over MCP
• Trip Planning: Find repeaters along travel routes
• Emergency Communications: Identify emergency-capable repeaters
• Radio Programming: Generate codeplugs for DMR and other digital radios
• Coverage Analysis: Create coverage maps and statistics
• Network Analysis: Analyze repeater networks and infrastructure
• Mobile Apps: Build repeater directory applications
• Research: Analyze amateur radio repeater trends and distributions

Related Projects

• MicaelJarniac/opengd77 - OpenGD77 radio programming
• MicaelJarniac/ogdrb - OpenGD77 RepeaterBook integration

See Also

• afourney/hamkit - Ham radio toolkit
• desertblade/OpenGD77-Repeaterbook - OpenGD77 integration
• TomHW/OpenGD77 - OpenGD77 firmware

Installation

PyPI

repeaterbook is available on PyPI:

# With uv (recommended)
uv add repeaterbook

# With pip
pip install repeaterbook

# With Poetry
poetry add repeaterbook

MCP server

The MCP server lives behind the mcp extra. Most MCP clients should invoke it via uvx, with no install step at all:

# Run on demand, no install (what MCP clients should use)
uvx --from "repeaterbook[mcp]" repeaterbook-mcp

# Or install it persistently
uv tool install "repeaterbook[mcp]"

# Or add it as a project dependency
uv add "repeaterbook[mcp]"
pip install "repeaterbook[mcp]"

GitHub

You can also install the latest version of the code directly from GitHub:

# With uv
uv add git+https://github.com/MicaelJarniac/repeaterbook

# With pip
pip install git+https://github.com/MicaelJarniac/repeaterbook

# With Poetry
poetry add git+https://github.com/MicaelJarniac/repeaterbook

Requirements

• Python 3.11 or higher
• Dependencies are automatically installed:
  • aiohttp - Async HTTP client
  • anyio - Async compatibility layer
  • attrs - Immutable config classes
  • haversine - Distance calculations
  • loguru - Structured logging
  • pycountry - Country/region codes
  • pydantic - Data validation
  • sqlmodel - SQL ORM with type safety
  • tqdm - Progress bars
  • yarl - URL handling
• The optional mcp extra additionally installs fastmcp, pydantic-settings, and pydantic[email] (for the EmailStr contact setting)

Contributing

Pull requests are welcome. For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.

Please make sure to update tests as appropriate.

More details can be found in CONTRIBUTING.

Contributors ✨

Micael Jarniac 🐛 💻 🖋 🔣 📖 💡 🤔 🚇 🚧 📆 💬 🔬 👀 🔧 ⚠️ 📓

ada mancini 🐛 🤔 📓

aaronjbrown 💻 📖 🤔 ⚠️

Erica Morton 🐛 💻 📖 🔬 ⚠️

License

MIT

This project was created with the MicaelJarniac/crustypy template.