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:

• Clear, well-lit photos - avoid blurry or dark images

• Single product focus - crop to show just the product

• White/plain background preferred - reduces noise

• High resolution - at least 300x300 pixels

• No watermarks - they interfere with matching

Workflow Recommendations

Finding a product from an image

• Use extract_product_from_image to get AI analysis and search terms

• Use search_by_image for visual matching on Taobao and AliExpress

• Cross-reference results from both approaches for best accuracy

Finding the cheapest source

• Run search_by_image with platform: "all"

• Compare prices between Taobao and AliExpress results

• 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