Bergauf

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that lets an LLM client plan hikes anywhere in Switzerland. Combines named SwitzerlandMobility routes, swisstopo elevation profiles, Open-Meteo weather, and Swiss public transport.

Single static binary, built with Bun. No API keys.

Tools

Tool	Purpose
search_location	Resolve a free-text place name (town, mountain, station, address) to WGS84 coordinates.
list_named_routes	List SwitzerlandMobility (Wanderland) routes. Optional WGS84 bbox filter.
get_named_route	Fetch one route by its feature id. Returns attributes and geometry (WGS84 GeoJSON).
get_hike_profile	Distance, ascent/descent, elevation samples, SAC/DAV walking time for a GeoJSON line.
nearest_stations	Nearest train/bus/tram stops to a WGS84 point.
plan_transit	Plan a public transport connection (departure or arrival time).
forecast	Hourly + daily weather for a WGS84 point (MeteoSwiss ICON seamless via Open-Meteo).

Each tool returns small JSON payloads with both content (text) and structuredContent. Coordinates are WGS84 lat/lon throughout.

Install

Homebrew (macOS)

brew tap lailo/tap
brew install bergauf

This puts bergauf on your $PATH. For Claude Desktop, point command at the plain binary name (see Claude Desktop config below).

Manual download

Pick the binary for your platform from the latest release. Each release also ships a SHA256SUMS.txt for verification.

macOS

# Apple Silicon → bergauf-darwin-arm64.tar.gz
# Intel         → bergauf-darwin-x64.tar.gz
tar -xzf bergauf-darwin-arm64.tar.gz
chmod +x bergauf
sudo mv bergauf /usr/local/bin/
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /usr/local/bin/bergauf   # clear Gatekeeper flag

Easier: use Homebrew above.

Linux

# x86_64 → bergauf-linux-x64
# arm64  → bergauf-linux-arm64
curl -L -o bergauf https://github.com/lailo/bergauf/releases/latest/download/bergauf-linux-x64
chmod +x bergauf
sudo mv bergauf /usr/local/bin/

No-sudo variant: mv bergauf ~/.local/bin/ (make sure ~/.local/bin is on $PATH).

Windows

Download bergauf-windows-x64.exe, drop it in a stable folder, and add that folder to PATH. From PowerShell:

$dest = "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\bergauf"
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $dest | Out-Null
Move-Item bergauf-windows-x64.exe "$dest\bergauf.exe"
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "$env:Path;$dest", "User")

Restart your shell. On first launch, SmartScreen may warn that the binary is unsigned — click "More info" → "Run anyway".

Claude Desktop config

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json.

If you installed via Homebrew:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bergauf": {
      "command": "bergauf"
    }
  }
}

Or, for a manually downloaded binary, point at the absolute path:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bergauf": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/bergauf"
    }
  }
}

For Bun-from-source during development:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bergauf": {
      "command": "bun",
      "args": ["run", "/absolute/path/to/bergauf/src/index.ts"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. The seven tools appear under the bergauf server.

Example prompts

• "Plan me a 4-hour day hike from Zurich this Saturday. I want to take the train there and back."
• "What's the weather like at the top of Säntis tomorrow?"
• "Show me the elevation profile for ViaJacobi between Rapperswil and Einsiedeln."

The LLM composes the tools: search_location → list_named_routes → get_named_route → get_hike_profile → forecast → nearest_stations → plan_transit.

Development

Requires Bun ≥ 1.2.

bun install
bun run dev          # MCP Inspector UI in the browser — call tools, inspect responses
bun run dev:stdio    # or the raw stdio server (for piping JSON-RPC by hand)

bun run dev wraps the server in MCP Inspector, which auto-discovers the seven tools, renders their Zod input schemas as forms, and shows both the pretty-printed and structured outputs side-by-side. First run downloads the Inspector via bunx; subsequent runs hit the cache.

Checks:

bun test          # unit tests (no live API calls)
bun run typecheck # tsc --noEmit
bun run lint      # biome check
bun run format    # biome format --write

API client tests stub fetch; no fixtures are committed. The Wanderland attribute schema and a few transport edge cases were verified with live probes during initial development — see src/tools/list-named-routes.ts for the SwitzerlandMobility route-number → category convention.

Build a compiled binary locally:

bun run build:darwin-arm64    # → dist/bergauf-darwin-arm64
bun run build:darwin-x64      # → dist/bergauf-darwin-x64
bun run build:linux-x64       # → dist/bergauf-linux-x64
bun run build:linux-arm64     # → dist/bergauf-linux-arm64
bun run build:windows-x64     # → dist/bergauf-windows-x64.exe
bun run build                 # all five

External APIs

All free, public, no auth:

• geo.admin.ch (api3) — search, Wanderland identify, elevation profile, point elevation. Fair use: 20 req/min average. GET only.
• transport.opendata.ch — Swiss public transport (locations, connections). Soft, undocumented rate limit.
• Open-Meteo — weather forecast. MeteoSwiss ICON seamless model for best Swiss coverage. CC BY 4.0 attribution.

Attribution

• Hiking data: swisstopo, SchweizMobil, Swiss Hiking Federation.
• Weather data: Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0), MeteoSwiss ICON seamless model.

License

MIT with Commons Clause — free to use, modify, and self-host; selling the software (including hosted/commercial offerings whose value derives substantially from it) requires a separate license. See LICENSE.