Plan a route
A to B on the water: miles, locks, lock-aware cruising time, a day-by-day plan with overnight moorings, and closures routed around with wait-vs-detour advice.
AI assistants & the Canal Nav MCP server
Plan canal routes from your AI assistant
Ask Claude, ChatGPT or any MCP-compatible assistant to plan you a canal cruise and it can answer with Canal Nav’s live engine – lock-aware timings, live closures from every GB navigation authority, boat-fit checks and tidal safety warnings. Free, read-only, and no account needed.
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Connect it in Claude
In Claude, open Settings, choose Connectors, then Add custom connector and paste the URL https://mcp.canalnav.com/mcp. That is it – no sign-in, no key. Canal Nav’s tools appear in your next conversation.
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Or any other MCP client
The same URL works in anything that speaks MCP over Streamable HTTP – ChatGPT connectors and developer mode, Cursor, and other MCP-compatible apps. Point the client at https://mcp.canalnav.com/mcp and you are connected.
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Ask real questions
Try “Plan me a week’s cruise from Braunston”, “Is the Oxford Canal open next month?”, “Will a 60ft narrowboat fit the Calder & Hebble?” or “Find a chandlery near Stone”. The answers come from the same engine that powers the app, with live data.
See what the app itself can do →
More Canal Nav
What your assistant can do
Six tools, straight from the Canal Nav engine
The MCP server offers your assistant these tools – the same live data the app uses.
Plan a round trip
Return-to-start cruises sized to your days: loops and rings where the network offers one, plus out-and-back and fewest-locks alternatives.
Get closures
Live closure and stoppage notices near a place or on a waterway, from every GB navigation authority – not just the Canal & River Trust.
Will my boat fit
Your boat’s length, beam, draught and air draught checked against the published limits for a named waterway, with a verdict per dimension.
Find a place
Looks up a place name on the waterway network – marinas, moorings, wharves and facilities – and returns matching locations with coordinates.
Search the directory
Canal Nav’s directory of waterside businesses – marinas, chandleries, boat hire, fuel, food and more – by name, category or place.
Free, read-only and fair to everyone.
The MCP server is a public service for boaters and their assistants. It plans routes and looks things up; it never touches an account and stores nothing about you.
- ✓ No account or key needed
- ✓ Read-only – it can only plan and look things up
- ✓ Rate-limited so agent traffic never slows real boaters
Prefer to see it on a map?
Everything the assistant can do, you can do on the live map – plan, navigate turn-by-turn and explore the network. The how-to guides cover it end to end.