Umbra open SAR archive MCP server

umbra-py

Search, preview, load, and convert Umbra open SAR data.

Umbra publishes 16–25 cm SAR as CC BY 4.0 open data, but no search API — only a 17+ TB S3 bucket and a static STAC tree. umbra-py is that layer: search, preview, download, and analysis-ready arrays without the usual 500 lines of glue. A community STAC API (umbra serve) and MCP server sit on the same host, so pystac-client and Claude can query the archive with nothing installed.

📖 Docs: umbra-py.space · Showcase: browse the archive in the browser (no install)

Status: v0.1.2. Discovery, download, xarray loading,

SICD → geocoded COG, change/timescan composites, chips, a STAC API

(umbra serve, with a community host), and an MCP server all ship. This is

not an InSAR toolbox (phase is not preserved through convert). Not

affiliated with Umbra Lab, Inc.

Install

pip install umbra-py              # core: search + download + metadata
pip install "umbra-py[load]"      # + xarray / rasterio
pip install "umbra-py[viz]"       # + quicklooks, maps, galleries
pip install "umbra-py[convert]"   # + SICD → geocoded COG
pip install "umbra-py[all]"       # convert + load + viz + export

Python 3.10+. Other extras (dask, serve, mcp, ai, langchain, llamaindex) are listed in the install guide.

Five minutes to a scene

Fetch the weekly catalog snapshot, then search and preview offline. A live walk of the bucket (umbra search without --local) works but is slow.

pip install "umbra-py[viz,load]"
umbra index fetch
umbra search --local --area Centerfield --product GEC --limit 3
umbra gallery --local --area Centerfield --limit 6 --out gallery.html --db

from umbra_py import CatalogIndex, to_xarray

with CatalogIndex.from_release() as index:
    item = next(iter(index.search(area="Centerfield", product_types=["GEC"], limit=1)))

# Stream a downsampled window over HTTP — no multi-GB download. Needs [load].
da = to_xarray(item, max_size=1024, db=True)
print(item.summary())

If the snapshot is missing, the same search against the live bucket is UmbraCatalog().search(...) / umbra search --area Centerfield.

What you can do

More detail, options, and caveats live in the docs.

Search by bbox, place name, polygon, or Umbra task (area=). --local reads the snapshot; omit it to walk S3.

from umbra_py import UmbraCatalog

for item in UmbraCatalog().search(area="Centerfield", product_types=["GEC"], limit=5):
    print(item.summary())

Preview without downloading the scene: umbra gallery, umbra quicklook --out scene.png --db, umbra view (full-res tiles), or umbra change --area Centerfield --out change.png.

Load a geocoded GEC into xarray or a GeoTIFF (toxarray, togeotiff, to_stack). Needs [load].

Shortened. The full README is on GitHub.