Tavily MCP Server

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The Tavily MCP server provides:
- search, extract, map, crawl tools
- Real-time web search capabilities through the tavily-search tool
- Intelligent data extraction from web pages via the tavily-extract tool
- Powerful web mapping tool that creates a structured map of website
- Web crawler that systematically explores websites

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- Tutorial on combining Tavily MCP with Neo4j MCP server
- Tutorial on integrating Tavily MCP with Cline in VS Code

Remote MCP Server

Connect directly to Tavily's remote MCP server instead of running it locally. This provides a seamless experience without requiring local installation or configuration.

Simply use the remote MCP server URL with your Tavily API key:

``
https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp/?tavilyApiKey=
`
Get your Tavily API key from tavily.com.

Alternatively, you can pass your API key through an Authorization header if the MCP client supports this:

`
Authorization: Bearer
`
Note: When using the remote MCP, you can specify default parameters for all requests by including a DEFAULT_PARAMETERS header containing a JSON object with your desired defaults. Example:


`json
{"include_images":true, "search_depth": "basic", "max_results": 10}
`

Connect to Claude Code

Claude Code is Anthropic's official CLI tool for Claude. You can add the Tavily MCP server using the claude mcp add command. There are two ways to authenticate:

#### Option 1: API Key in URL

Pass your API key directly in the URL. Replace with your actual Tavily API key:

`bash
claude mcp add --transport http tavily https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp/?tavilyApiKey=
`

#### Option 2: OAuth Authentication Flow

Add the server without an API key in the URL:

`bash
claude mcp add --transport http tavily https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp
`

After adding, you'll need to complete the authentication flow:
1. Run claude to start Claude Code
2. Type /mcp to open the MCP server management
3. Select the Tavily server and complete the authentication process

Tip: Add --scope user to either command to make the Tavily MCP server available globally across all your projects:

`bash
claude mcp add --transport http --scope user tavily https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp/?tavilyApiKey=
`

Once configured, you'll have access to the Tavily search, extract, map, and crawl tools.

Connect to Cursor


Click the ⬆️ Add to Cursor ⬆️ button, this will do most of the work for you but you will still need to edit the configuration to add your API-KEY. You can get a Tavily API key here.

once you click the button you should be redirect to Cursor ...

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Click the install button


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You should see the MCP is now installed, if the blue slide is not already turned on, manually turn it on. You also need to edit the configuration to include your own Tavily API key.

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You will then be redirected to your mcp.json file where you have to add your-api-key.

`json
{
"mcpServers": {
"tavily-remote-mcp": {
"command": "npx -y mcp-remote https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp/?tavilyApiKey=",
"env": {}
}
}
}
`

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The Tavily Remote MCP server supports secure OAuth authentication, allowing you to connect and authorize seamlessly with compatible clients.

#### How to Set Up OAuth Authentication

A. Using MCP Inspector:

* Open the MCP Inspector and click "Open Auth Settings".
* Select the OAuth flow and complete these steps:
1. Metadata discovery
2. Client registration
3. Preparing authorization
4. Request authorization and obtain the authorization code
5. Token request
6. Authentication complete

Once finished, you will receive an access token that lets you securely make authenticated requests to the Tavily Remote MCP server.

B. Using other MCP Clients (Example: Cursor):

You can configure your MCP client to use OAuth without including your Tavily API key in the URL. For example, in your mcp.json:

`json
{
"mcpServers": {
"tavily-remote-mcp": {
"command": "npx mcp-remote https://mcp.stage.tavily.com/mcp",
"env": {}
}
}
}
`

If you need to clear stored OAuth credentials and reauthenticate, run:

`bash
rm -rf ~/.mcp-auth
`

> Note:
> - After successful OAuth authentication, your default API key (if set) will be used for all operations; otherwise, the first available key will be used.
> - OAuth authentication is optional. You can still use API key authentication at any time by including your Tavily API key in the URL query parameter (?tavilyApiKey=...) or by setting it in the Authorization header, as described above.

Local MCP

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Before you begin, ensure you have:

- Tavily API key
- If you don't have a Tavily API key, you can sign up for a free account here
- Claude Desktop or Cursor
- Node.js (v20 or higher)
- You can verify your Node.js installation by running:
- node --version
- Git installed (only needed if using Git installation method)
- On macOS: brew install git
- On Linux:
- Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install git
- RedHat/CentOS: sudo yum install git
- On Windows: Download Git for Windows

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`bash
npx -y tavily-mcp@latest
`

Default Parameters Configuration ⚙️

You can set default parameter values for the tavily-search tool using the DEFAULT_PARAMETERS environment variable. This allows you to configure default search behavior without specifying these parameters in every request.

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`bash
export DEFAULT_PARAMETERS='{"include_images": true}'
`

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`json
{
"mcpServers": {
"tavily-mcp": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "tavily-mcp@latest"],
"env": {
"TAVILY_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here",
"DEFAULT_PARAMETERS": "{\"include_images\": true, \"max_results\": 15, \"search_depth\": \"advanced\"}"
}
}
}
}
``

Acknowledgments ✨

- Model Context Protocol for the MCP specification
- Anthropic for Claude Desktop