The Avlok MCP connector
Avlok includes a built-in MCP connector so you can connect just about any AI assistant or agent to your personal photo and video library. MCP is the Model Context Protocol, the open standard that assistants like Claude and ChatGPT use to reach external tools. Because Avlok speaks standard MCP, it is not limited to one assistant: Claude Desktop, Claude on the web, and ChatGPT are verified and working today, and any MCP-compatible client or agent can connect too.
Once connected, your assistant can search your photos by describing them, in the same conversation you are already having. Your original, full-resolution photos never leave your device to make this work.
What the connector does
Section titled “What the connector does”Connect Avlok and your assistant gains a set of read-only tools it can call on your behalf:
- Search your photo library by description. “The whiteboard from last Tuesday’s meeting,” “red car on a rainy street,” “the kids at the beach in 2023.”
- Filter by date and place. “iPhone photos from Italy last summer,” “pictures from the Rome trip.”
- Find people you have named, and the trips and places Avlok worked out from your library.
- See results as a visual grid right in the conversation, with previews, no app switching.
The tools only ever find and describe your photos. They never modify, move, or delete anything. See the Tool inventory for the full list.
Two ways to connect
Section titled “Two ways to connect”Avlok exposes the same MCP tools over two transports, so you can choose how much stays on your machine.
Local, over stdio (free, nothing leaves your device). The bundled avlok_mcp server runs on your own computer and speaks MCP over standard input and output, the same transport Claude Desktop uses. This path is available on every tier, including Free, and sends nothing to our servers. Point your client at the binary; the exact path is filled into the snippet in Avlok’s Settings → AI Integration.
Cloud, over Streamable HTTP (Cloud AI Access, any device). With Cloud AI Access on (included with Pro and Family), Avlok serves your chosen folders from a hosted MCP endpoint over Streamable HTTP, authenticated with OAuth 2.1. Any client that supports a remote MCP server with OAuth can connect from any device. Clients that cannot run an OAuth flow can paste a token generated in your Cloud AI Access settings instead. The connector URL is shown in Settings → AI Integration.
Which assistants can connect
Section titled “Which assistants can connect”Your library stays yours
Section titled “Your library stays yours”The connector is built on Avlok’s privacy model, not bolted onto it:
- Full-resolution photos never leave your device, on either transport. The cloud path holds only small thumbnails and short text descriptions of the folders you choose to share.
- You choose what an assistant can reach. With Cloud AI Access you pick exactly which folders to include; the rest stay on your device and never sync.
- Private folders are excluded from every assistant, local and cloud.
- Every tool is read-only. Assistants and agents find and describe your photos; they never change your library.
See How Avlok handles your data for the specifics of each path.