Step by step installation

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Step-by-step installation (without knowing how to program)

This guide installs MonitorEO so you can ask Claude in natural language (for example, "Has the summer NDVI of Doñana National Park changed in the last 20 years?"), without knowing what Python is or how to program: you only have to copy and paste a few commands. You do it once and it takes about half an hour, most of it waiting for things to download.

Do you only want maps and charts, without talking to an assistant? The QGIS plugin needs no terminal or Python: install the plugin zip in QGIS (QGIS plugin) and it already computes with the shared account of MonitorEO. To use your account, do step 1 of this guide and, in the MonitorEO panel, sign in to Earth Engine through the browser with the Authenticate… button.

Do you want to ask for computations in natural language without Claude? The assistant for managers has an installer for Windows (double click) and macOS (double click or a single command in the Terminal), with nothing else to install.

What you are going to install

• An Earth Engine account, if you want: Google Earth Engine is where the satellite data are computed. Without an account of your own, MonitorEO computes with its shared account; with yours (free for non-commercial use), the computations count against your quota and you can export to Google Drive.
• Claude Desktop: the desktop application of Claude.
• Miniforge: it installs Python, the language MonitorEO is written in, in a folder of its own (miniforge3), without touching anything else on the computer.
• MonitorEO: the part that does the computations and that Claude uses as a tool (an "MCP server"). It updates itself.

Everything is done in a terminal: a window where you type commands instead of pressing buttons. For each command in this guide: copy it from the gray box (the copy button is at the right of the box), paste it in the terminal (Windows: right mouse button or Ctrl+V; macOS: Cmd+V) and press Enter. Wait for it to finish (the blinking cursor appears again, with no new text) before pasting the next one.

Step 1. Earth Engine account and project

Optional. Without this step, MonitorEO computes with its shared account: you can skip it and, in steps 5 and 6, follow what is indicated for the shared account. Do it to compute with your own quota or to export to Google Drive. The shared account belongs to a non-commercial project, so it is good for the same uses described in point 2: for the operational management of a public administration, commissioned work or the work of a company, use your own commercial project.

1. Sign in with your Google account at https://console.cloud.google.com/earth-engine. For personal use a Gmail account is fine; if you work in a public administration, Google requires the institutional Google account of your body.

2. Create a project (Create a Cloud project) and register it for non-commercial use (noncommercial, Unpaid usage) if it is for research, teaching, an NGO or personal non-profit use. You have to answer a few questions about the use; no credit card is needed. Details at https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/guides/access.

   Public administrations and companies. According to Google's terms, companies generally need a commercial project (Paid usage), and an administration can use Earth Engine for free only for academic research (papers, theses, reports), except those of less developed countries and indigenous governments. Operational management (ongoing monitoring, tools or products for management) and internal testing need a commercial project, and non-commercial use does not cover commissioned or paid work for administrations or companies either. Google reviews each case.

3. Write down the project ID (Project ID), for example my-ee-project: it is in lower case and with hyphens, and it can be different from the name you gave it. You will need it in steps 5 and 6.

If you already use the Earth Engine code editor, you already have a project: it is the one shown at the top right.

Step 2. Claude Desktop

Download Claude Desktop from https://claude.ai/download, install it and sign in with your Claude account.

Step 3. Python (Miniforge)

If you already have Anaconda or Miniforge, skip this step and follow the usual installation.

Windows

1. Download the installer Miniforge3-Windows-x86_64.exe and open it.
2. Accept the options that come checked (Next, I Agree, Just Me, Install). One exception: if your Windows user name has spaces, accents or special letters (C:\Users\José García), change the destination folder to C:\miniforge3.
3. Open the Miniforge terminal: Start menu, type Miniforge Prompt and open it. It is a black window that starts with (base). Use this window in steps 4, 5 and 6.

macOS

1. Open the Terminal application: Cmd+Space, type Terminal and press Enter.

2. Paste this command, which downloads the right installer for your Mac:

   curl -L -O "https://github.com/conda-forge/miniforge/releases/latest/download/Miniforge3-$(uname)-$(uname -m).sh"

3. And this one, which installs it in the miniforge3 folder of your user without asking questions:

   bash Miniforge3-$(uname)-$(uname -m).sh -b

   It takes a minute or two and ends with Transaction finished.

On Linux it is the same as on macOS.

Step 4. MonitorEO

In the same terminal as in step 3, this command downloads the list of what MonitorEO needs (on Windows, macOS and Linux):

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/monitoreo-obsnev/monitoreo/main/environment.yml

And this one installs it. Windows (Miniforge Prompt):

conda env create -f environment.yml

macOS and Linux:

~/miniforge3/bin/conda env create -f environment.yml

It takes several minutes: it downloads about 200 MB, which take a little over 1 GB on the disk. Among the last messages is conda activate monitoreo: it is the sign that it went well.

Step 5. Connect with your Google account and check

If you skipped step 1, skip earthengine authenticate too and check without --project (monitoreo parks "Sierra Nevada", or on macOS and Linux ~/miniforge3/envs/monitoreo/bin/monitoreo parks "Sierra Nevada").

This command opens the browser so you sign in with your Google account (the one of the project of step 1) and give permission to Earth Engine. When it finishes, the browser says you can close it.

Windows (Miniforge Prompt):

conda activate monitoreo
earthengine authenticate

macOS and Linux:

~/miniforge3/envs/monitoreo/bin/earthengine authenticate

Check that everything works, changing my-ee-project to the ID of your project. Windows:

monitoreo --project my-ee-project parks "Sierra Nevada"

macOS and Linux:

~/miniforge3/envs/monitoreo/bin/monitoreo --project my-ee-project parks "Sierra Nevada"

A table should appear with the protected areas called Sierra Nevada. If an error appears, see If something fails.

Step 6. Add MonitorEO to Claude Desktop

1. Copy the full path of MonitorEO, which this command gives. Windows (Miniforge Prompt, with monitoreo activated):

   where monitoreo

   it prints something like C:\Users\ana\miniforge3\envs\monitoreo\Scripts\monitoreo.exe. macOS and Linux:

   ls ~/miniforge3/envs/monitoreo/bin/monitoreo

   it prints something like /Users/ana/miniforge3/envs/monitoreo/bin/monitoreo.

2. In Claude Desktop, open the settings from the menu of the application, not from the conversation window: on macOS, the Claude menu at the top of the screen > Settings…; on Windows, the ☰ menu at the top left > File > Settings…. Go to the Developer tab and press Edit Config.

3. The folder of the file claude_desktop_config.json opens. Open the file with the text editor: on macOS, right button > Open With > TextEdit; on Windows, right button > Open with > Notepad.

4. If the file is empty or only has {}, replace all its content with this. macOS and Linux:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "monitoreo": {
         "command": "/Users/ana/miniforge3/envs/monitoreo/bin/monitoreo",
         "args": ["mcp"],
         "env": {
           "EE_PROJECT": "my-ee-project",
           "PYTHONNOUSERSITE": "1"
         }
       }
     }
   }

   Windows (the \ bars of the path are doubled):

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "monitoreo": {
         "command": "C:\\Users\\ana\\miniforge3\\envs\\monitoreo\\Scripts\\monitoreo.exe",
         "args": ["mcp"],
         "env": {
           "EE_PROJECT": "my-ee-project",
           "PYTHONNOUSERSITE": "1"
         }
       }
     }
   }

   Change the path in command to yours (the one from point 1) and my-ee-project to your project, without deleting the quotation marks. If you skipped step 1, delete "EE_PROJECT": "my-ee-project", (with its comma): MonitorEO will compute with its shared account.

   If the file already has content (Claude Desktop stores its preferences in it, under "preferences"), do not delete it: add the "mcpServers" block right after the first brace {, with a comma after its closing brace. For example, if the file was

   {
     "preferences": {
       "keepAwakeEnabled": false
     }
   }

   it becomes:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "monitoreo": {
         "command": "/Users/ana/miniforge3/envs/monitoreo/bin/monitoreo",
         "args": ["mcp"],
         "env": {"EE_PROJECT": "my-ee-project", "PYTHONNOUSERSITE": "1"}
       }
     },
     "preferences": {
       "keepAwakeEnabled": false
     }
   }

   If there is already an "mcpServers" block with other servers, add "monitoreo": {...} inside it, separated from the others by a comma.

5. Save the file.

6. Quit Claude Desktop completely and open it again: closing the window is not enough. On macOS, the Claude menu > Quit Claude (Cmd+Q); on Windows, the ☰ menu > File > Exit, or right button on the Claude icon next to the clock > Quit.

Step 7. The first question

In a new conversation, press the + button of the text box > Connectors: monitoreo should appear, switched on. Ask, for example:

Which protected areas are called Doñana? Then give me the monthly MODIS NDVI of 2023 in the National Park, with the chart and the CSV.

The first time Claude uses a MonitorEO tool it will ask your permission; if you always allow it, it will not ask again. The tables (CSV), charts (PNG) and maps (GeoTIFF) are saved in the MonitorEO folder of your user folder. More examples and advice in MCP server.

If something fails

What happens	What to do
conda, earthengine or monitoreo is not recognized (Windows)	Use the Miniforge Prompt, not the Command Prompt or PowerShell, and run conda activate monitoreo first
No such file or directory (macOS)	Check that step 3 ended with Transaction finished and step 4 without errors
The browser does not open with earthengine authenticate	Copy the address shown in the terminal and paste it in the browser
Project ... is not registered or Caller does not have required permission	The project ID is not the right one or is not registered in Earth Engine (step 1)
Claude Desktop warns of an error in the configuration when it opens	The file is missing or has an extra comma, quotation marks or brace. Compare it with the example
monitoreo does not appear in Connectors, or appears with an error	The path in command is not exactly the one of step 6.1, or Claude Desktop was not quit completely

If it still does not work, see Troubleshooting or open an issue with your system (Windows or macOS), the step where it fails and the error message (copied as text or as a screenshot).

Updating and uninstalling

• Updating: not needed. MonitorEO installs the latest version every time Claude Desktop opens.
• Uninstalling: delete the "monitoreo" block from claude_desktop_config.json and the miniforge3 folder of your user (on Windows you can also uninstall Miniforge from Settings > Apps).