Tavily

Add to your client

Copy the config for your MCP client and paste it into its config file.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tavily": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "tavily-mcp@latest"
      ],
      "env": {
        "TAVILY_API_KEY": "<your-tavily-api-key>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Step-by-step guides: Add to Claude Desktop · Add to Cursor · Add to Windsurf

Before you start

• A Tavily API key from https://app.tavily.com (free account available, no credit card)
• For local use: Node.js v20 or later with npx
• An MCP-compatible client such as Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or Cursor

About Tavily

Tools & capabilities (4)

When to use it

• Use it when you want an agent to perform real-time web research with results tuned for LLM consumption.
• Use it when you need clean, structured content extracted from a known set of URLs.
• Use it when you want to crawl an entire site or section to gather context.
• Use it when you need a map of a website's URL structure before deciding what to fetch.
• Use it when you want a hosted, zero-install search backend reachable over HTTP.

Quick setup

1. 1Sign up at tavily.com and copy your API key from the dashboard.
2. 2For remote use, add it via the HTTP endpoint, e.g. `claude mcp add --transport http tavily https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp/?tavilyApiKey=<key>`.
3. 3For local use, configure your client to run `npx -y tavily-mcp@latest` with TAVILY_API_KEY set.
4. 4Optionally set DEFAULT_PARAMETERS to tune default search behavior.
5. 5Restart your MCP client and verify with a test tavily-search call.

Tavily FAQ