Visual Product Search

Find products by image across Chinese e-commerce platforms. Powered by Taobao Image Search, AliExpress Image Search, and Google Gemini Vision.

When to Use

• User shares a product photo and asks "where can I buy this?"
• User wants to find similar products from an image
• User has a screenshot of a product and wants to find it on Taobao/AliExpress
• User wants to identify a product from a photo (brand, price estimate, category)
• User provides a product image URL and asks to search

MCP Server Setup

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "visual-product-search": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@shopme/visual-product-search-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "TAOBAO_APP_KEY": "your-key",
        "TAOBAO_APP_SECRET": "your-secret",
        "TAOBAO_ACCESS_TOKEN": "your-token",
        "ALIEXPRESS_DS_KEY": "your-key",
        "ALIEXPRESS_DS_SECRET": "your-secret",
        "GEMINI_API_KEY": "your-gemini-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Available Tools

search_by_image

Search products using an image URL.

• imageUrl: Public URL of the product image
• platform: "taobao", "aliexpress", or "all"
• Returns: matching products with prices and similarity scores

search_by_image_upload

Upload a base64-encoded image and search.

• imageBase64: Base64 image data (no data URI prefix)
• platform: Target platform(s)
• Uploads to Taobao CDN first, then searches

extract_product_from_image

Analyze an image with AI to extract product information.

• imageUrl: Product image or screenshot URL
• language: "en" or "zh"
• Returns: product name, category, suggested search terms, detected text, price estimate

Image Quality Guidelines

For best search results:

1. Clear, well-lit photos - avoid blurry or dark images
2. Single product focus - crop to show just the product
3. White/plain background preferred - reduces noise
4. High resolution - at least 300x300 pixels
5. No watermarks - they interfere with matching

Workflow Recommendations

Finding a product from an image

1. Use extract_product_from_image to get AI analysis and search terms
2. Use search_by_image for visual matching on Taobao and AliExpress
3. Cross-reference results from both approaches for best accuracy

Finding the cheapest source

1. Run search_by_image with platform: "all"
2. Compare prices between Taobao and AliExpress results
3. Taobao results are in CNY, AliExpress in USD (1 USD ≈ 7.2 CNY)

Platform Comparison for Image Search

Feature	Taobao	AliExpress
Accuracy	High (Chinese products)	Good (branded items)
Speed	Fast	Moderate
Coverage	Best for Chinese brands	Best for international
Price Display	CNY	USD