Reviewed overview
MCP server overview
What is the project about? BatchData - Real Estate - MCP Server is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that integrates BatchData.io property and address APIs, exposing address verification, geocoding, skip-tracing, and advanced property search/lookup functionality to Claude and other AI assistants or developer clients.
How to use the project?
- Quick install for Claude via Smithery: npx -y @smithery/cli install @zellerhaus/batchdata-mcp-real-estate --client claude
- Manual: git clone, npm install, create a .env with BATCHDATA_API_KEY, npm run build, npm start
- Docker: use docker-manage.sh (test/run/logs) or docker build/run with an env file; docker-compose up -d supported
- Configure Claude Desktop by adding an mcpServers entry pointing to the server script or docker exec command and set BATCHDATA_API_KEY in the env.
Key features
- Address operations: verify-address (USPS standardization), autocomplete-address, geocode-address, reverse-geocode
- Property operations: lookup-property (by address/APN), search-properties (rich filters), search-properties-by-boundary, count-properties
- MCP-compliant server for integration with Claude and other MCP clients
- Docker-first support: multi-stage builds, non-root user, health checks, resource limits, production-ready signal handling
- TypeScript + runtime validation (zod), robust error handling for invalid keys, rate limits, malformed requests
Use cases
- Real estate agents/analysts: find comps, pull property details, run market counts or geographic searches
- Data cleansing: USPS address verification and standardization at scale
- Location-based applications: geocoding and reverse-geocoding for mapping and proximity searches
- Lead generation/skip tracing: validated addresses and owner lookups
- Embedding property data into AI assistants (Claude) for natural language queries and workflows
FAQ from the project
- Q: Do I need an API key? A: Yes — set BATCHDATA_API_KEY (get from https://app.batchdata.com/settings/api).
- Q: Is this compatible with Claude? A: Yes — the server is an MCP server and includes configuration examples for Claude Desktop (node or Docker-based).
- Q: How do I run it in Docker? A: Use the included docker-manage.sh for build/run/test/logs or docker build -t batchdata-mcp-server:latest . and docker run --rm --env-file .env batchdata-mcp-server:latest. docker-compose is supported.
- Q: What are API rate limits? A: Address verification up to 5,000 (1,000 recommended per batch), geocoding ~90 (75 recommended per batch), property search up to 1,000 requests; follow BatchData.io limits per endpoint.
- Q: Is it production-ready and secure? A: It includes production-minded Docker features (multi-stage, non-root, health checks), error handling, and recommended resource limits, but you must secure the API key and host appropriately.
- Q: What license? A: MIT.
- Q: Common errors? A: Invalid/missing API key, exceeding BatchData rate limits, malformed requests, or network failures — the server returns descriptive errors for these conditions.