Vancam CLI

Real-world observation for AI agents.

Command-line client for the Vancam camera spatial search API (api.vancam.ai), giving developers and AI agents instant access to 1M+ live public cameras across 100+ countries — the same backend used by the MCP server and the vancam.ai web app.

Instead of relying on outdated web pages or user reports, Vancam provides fresh visual evidence from the physical world, letting AI systems answer location-based questions with confidence.

vancam REST API
   ├── vancam-mcp     (MCP server)
   ├── vancam-cli     (this project)
   ├── SDKs           (future)
   └── vancam.ai      (web app)

Install

pip install vancam

Setup

No setup required to try it — defaults to a shared, public key if VANCAM_API_KEY isn't set. That's one key used by every anonymous caller, so its 1 req/s / 500 requests/month limit is a collective pool shared across all of them, not 500 each. For a limit that's yours alone (5 req/s, 500 requests/month, not shared), get a free personal key from your account dashboard at vancam.ai/account:

cp .env.example .env
# edit .env, or export VANCAM_API_KEY directly

Usage

# N nearest cameras to a point
vancam nearest --lat 49.2827 --lon -123.1207 --limit 5

# Cameras within a radius (km)
vancam radius --lat 49.2827 --lon -123.1207 --radius 1

# Cameras along a route
vancam route --origin-lat 49.2827 --origin-lon -123.1207 \
             --dest-lat 49.2965 --dest-lon -123.0884 --buffer 100

# Cameras in a bounding box
vancam bounds --min-lat 49.2 --min-lon -123.2 --max-lat 49.3 --max-lon -123.0

# Single camera by ID
vancam get 30145

# Live image
vancam image 30145                    # prints the image URL
vancam image 30145 -o camera.jpg      # downloads it

All commands print JSON to stdout (--compact for single-line output), so this composes with jq:

vancam nearest --lat 49.2827 --lon -123.1207 --limit 1 | jq '.cameras[0].image_url'

Options

• --api-key — override VANCAM_API_KEY
• --compact — compact JSON instead of pretty-printed

Use Cases

• Verify road and traffic conditions
• Monitor infrastructure and public spaces
• Check border crossings and transportation hubs
• Build AI agents with real-world awareness
• Power MCP servers, automation, and LLM applications

Learn More

• Website: https://vancam.ai
• API: https://vancam.ai/api
• MCP Server: https://github.com/shughestr/mcp-vancam