Edinburgh Fringe 2026 for machines — MCP server and JSON API

MCP server — use the Fringe inside ChatGPT, Claude or Grok

Add it to ChatGPT, Claude, Grok or Cursor

Every client takes the same thing: the URL above. Pick yours.

claude mcp add --transport http ed-fringe-guide https://edfringeguide.com/mcp

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ed-fringe-guide": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://edfringeguide.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

No account, no key, no OAuth — if a client asks for credentials, choose “no authentication”. Anything that speaks the Streamable HTTP transport will work; a client that only supports stdio needs a bridge such as mcp-remote.

Not currently possible in the consumer Gemini app or Qwen Chat, neither of which offers a custom-connector screen. Gemini CLI and Qwen Code both do, via the config file above.

What you can ask about the Fringe

Once connected, just ask normally — the assistant decides when to call the tools:

• “What’s on at the Fringe on the evening of 14 August, under £12, near Bristo Square?”
• “Find me free wheelchair-accessible comedy that’s still on sale.”
• “Build me a Saturday — four shows, nothing before noon, walking distance apart.”
• “Is there any way into [show] if it says sold out?”

Tools

Technical details

• Transport: Streamable HTTP, stateless. POST JSON-RPC to the endpoint; no session id needed.
• Tool results are plain text, written to be read by a model rather than parsed. Want JSON instead? That is what the REST API is for.
• All times returned are UK local. Prices are GBP.
• Rate-limited per IP, same as the rest of the site. Read-only: no tool writes anything.
• Machine-readable card: /.well-known/mcp/server-card.json

REST API — the same data as JSON

Read-only JSON over HTTPS. No key, no sign-up, CORS open to any origin. Every endpoint is a GET.

curl 'https://edfringeguide.com/api/v1/whats-on?date=2026-08-14&time_of_day=evening&max_price=12'

Endpoints

/api/v1 lists the endpoints, the valid values for every enumerated filter and the current limits. /api/v1/openapi.json is the OpenAPI 3.1 document, generated from the same constants the API validates against — so it cannot document one vocabulary and enforce another.

Filters

/shows and /whats-on take the same filters, combinable:

• query, venue, genre — text, partial match on the first two.
• date, time_of_day, start_after, start_before — UK local. Use start_after for “after 5pm”: it spans both the evening and late bands, which time_of_day cannot express in one call.
• max_price, free_only, two_for_one — money.
• available_only — at least one date still on sale centrally.
• rating, access_needs — repeat the parameter or comma-separate. Results carry an accessibility object naming which features each show has, split into permanent venue facilities and one-off access performances (captioned, signed, relaxed, audio described, touch tour). On a date query the access performances are those of THAT date.
• limit — 1–50, default 20. fields=description swaps snippets for full text.

Accessibility

Eight tags, from the Fringe’s own vocabulary: WHEELCHAIR_ACCESS, WHEELCHAIR_ACCESSIBLE_TOILETS, AUDIO_ENHANCEMENT_SYSTEM, CAPTIONING, AUDIO_DESCRIPTION, SIGNED_PERFORMANCE, RELAXED_PERFORMANCE, TOUCH_TOUR_PERFORMANCE. Filter with access_needs (all listed must be met); read back which ones apply from accessibility.facilities and accessibility.access_performances.

Things it will not do quietly

An unrecognised parameter, an unknown rating or an unknown access tag is a 400, never a silently dropped filter. The difference matters: a dropped filter returns a plausible list you cannot tell apart from a real result, and for access_needs that would mean sending someone who needs step-free access the unfiltered programme.

{
  "error": {
    "code": "invalid_parameter",
    "message": "Unknown access need \"STEP_FREE\". Valid values: WHEELCHAIR_ACCESS, ..."
  }
}

Technical details

• All times are UTC with an explicit Z; the festival runs entirely in BST, so UK local is +1. Prices are GBP.
• Responses are cached at the edge for 5 minutes (1 hour for venues). Errors are never cached.
• Rate limit: 300 requests per minute per IP, separate from the website's own budget.
• On a date query, everything under performance describes THAT date and everything under run describes the whole run. They are never merged into one field.
• Prefer plain files? /llms.txt and /llms-full.txt (the whole programme in one fetch), and every page on this site serves markdown to Accept: text/markdown.