Tavily MCP Server
Connect your AI agents to Tavily's web search, content extraction, and crawling via the official remote MCP server.
Updated
What is Tavily MCP?
The Tavily MCP server is a Model Context Protocol server that connects AI agents and assistants to Tavily's AI-optimized search API — giving them real-time web search, content extraction, crawling, and site mapping as callable tools.
Tavily runs the server as an officially hosted remote endpoint at https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp/, so there's nothing to install or self-host for the typical setup. You authenticate either with a Tavily API key (passed in the URL query string or an Authorization bearer header) or via a standard OAuth flow, which lets the client connect without exposing your key in config files. An open-source local server (npx -y tavily-mcp@latest) is also published for self-hosted setups.
Because search results are returned as clean, LLM-ready content rather than raw HTML, Tavily is a common building block for research agents, RAG pipelines, and any workflow that needs fresh information from the open web.
Tools the Tavily MCP server exposes
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| tavily-search | Real-time web search returning AI-ready, LLM-optimized results. |
| tavily-extract | Extract clean, structured content from one or more web page URLs. |
| tavily-crawl | Systematically crawl a website to gather content across its pages. |
| tavily-map | Build a structured map of a website's URL/page structure. |
Connect the Tavily MCP server
Claude Code
- 1
Add the remote server
Run: claude mcp add tavily --transport http https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp/
- 2
Authenticate
On first use, complete the OAuth flow in your browser (or append ?tavilyApiKey=<your-api-key> to the URL to use an API key instead).
- 3
Verify
Run /mcp in Claude Code to confirm the tavily server is connected and its tools (tavily-search, tavily-extract, tavily-crawl, tavily-map) are listed.
Cursor
- 1
Open MCP settings
Edit ~/.cursor/mcp.json (or the project .cursor/mcp.json).
- 2
Add the server
Add an entry under mcpServers using the mcp-remote bridge: "tavily": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp/?tavilyApiKey=<your-api-key>"] }
- 3
Reload and verify
Reload Cursor, then check Settings > MCP to confirm Tavily's tools are available to the agent.
Security & permissions
Tavily's remote MCP server supports OAuth authentication, so the client connects through a standard browser-based authorization flow without storing your API key in config files. With OAuth, Tavily selects an API key named mcp_auth_default from your dashboard (personal keys take priority over team keys). Alternatively you can authenticate with a raw API key via the URL query string or an Authorization: Bearer header.
The granted access is scoped to Tavily's own search/extract/crawl/map capabilities — the agent can issue web requests and consume your account's API credits, but it does not gain access to other accounts or systems. Treat your Tavily API key as a secret and prefer OAuth where the client supports it.
Using Tavily MCP with Gamut
In Gamut, you add Tavily as a tool on an agent and Gamut manages the OAuth connection to the hosted remote server, so the agent can call tavily-search, tavily-extract, tavily-crawl, and tavily-map as part of an automated, event- or schedule-triggered workflow. For example, a scheduled research agent can search the web for fresh developments on a topic, extract the most relevant pages into clean text, and pass that into a downstream summary or report step — all without a human in the loop. Usage draws on your Tavily API credits.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Tavily MCP server?
It's an officially hosted Model Context Protocol server from Tavily that exposes their AI search API to MCP-compatible agents and assistants as tools for web search (tavily-search), content extraction (tavily-extract), crawling (tavily-crawl), and site mapping (tavily-map).
Is the Tavily MCP server free?
The server software is open source and free, and Tavily offers a free "Researcher" tier with 1,000 API credits per month and no credit card required. Usage beyond that consumes paid Tavily API credits via pay-as-you-go or higher plans.
How do I connect Tavily MCP to Claude Code or Cursor?
For Claude Code, run claude mcp add tavily --transport http https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp/ and complete the OAuth flow (or append ?tavilyApiKey=<your-api-key>). For Cursor, add a server entry in mcp.json that runs npx -y mcp-remote against the same URL with your API key.
Is the Tavily MCP server hosted or self-hosted?
Both. Tavily officially hosts a remote server at https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp/ (the recommended, install-free option), and an open-source local server is published on npm (npx -y tavily-mcp@latest) for self-hosted setups.