Skip to main content
Kilo is an open source AI coding agent. It runs in VS Code, JetBrains, Cursor, Windsurf, and other IDEs, as a CLI, and in the Kilo Desktop app. Add Tavily’s hosted MCP server to give it live web search, extraction, crawling, and research (tavily_search, tavily_extract, tavily_crawl, tavily_map, tavily_research). Every surface shares the same MCP config. Install Kilo and get a Tavily API key.
1

Add the server

Add Tavily under the mcp key in your Kilo config. Use ~/.config/kilo/kilo.jsonc for all projects, or .kilo/kilo.jsonc in a project to scope it. The project file overrides the global one.
~/.config/kilo/kilo.jsonc
2

Authenticate

Open the MCP servers list in Kilo’s settings and click Sign in next to tavily, or run kilo mcp auth tavily in the CLI. Then sign in to Tavily in your browser. If Kilo doesn’t pick up the new config, restart it.
3

Try it

In Kilo chat, ask:
Use Tavily to find the official documentation for numpy.
Approve the tool call. Tavily tool calls and source links in the response confirm it worked.

​
Use an API key

To skip OAuth, send your key in an Authorization header and set "oauth": false. Kilo reads {env:TAVILY_API_KEY} from the environment it starts in, so set the variable before you launch Kilo.

​
Keyless access

For limited Search and Extract access without signing in, connect through the mcp-remote bridge, which sends the keyless header. It requires Node.js. See keyless access for limits and supported tools.

​
Install from the Marketplace

In the IDE extensions and Kilo Desktop, you can install Tavily from the UI instead of editing the config. In VS Code and other VS Code forks, open the Kilo sidebar first, then Kilo settings. In Kilo Desktop, open Settings.
1

Find Tavily

Go to Agent Behaviour → MCP Servers, click Browse Marketplace, and search for Tavily.
2

Install

Choose whether Tavily is available to this project or global, keep the NPX installation method, and enter your Tavily API key. Click Install and Kilo writes the server to your MCP config.
Kilo's Install Tavily dialog with the project and global scope options, the NPX installation method, and the Tavily API Key field
Kilo stores the key in the config file it writes. A project install writes .kilo/kilo.json, so don’t commit that file, or choose global instead. To sign in with OAuth and keep your key out of the file, use the remote server above.

​
Local MCP server

Run the Tavily MCP package locally. It still calls Tavily’s API.
1

Set your API key

Install Node.js 20 or later and set TAVILY_API_KEY in your environment.
2

Add the server

Add this to your Kilo config.
3

Verify

Confirm tavily-local shows as connected in Kilo’s MCP servers list, or run kilo mcp list.

​
Kilo CLI

The Kilo CLI reads the same config files, so the setups above work unchanged. You can also add the remote server from the command line, then sign in:
list shows whether tavily is connected or needs authentication. To switch Tavily accounts, run kilo mcp logout tavily, then kilo mcp auth tavily again. If sign-in fails, kilo mcp debug tavily traces the OAuth connection.

​
Example usage

Use Tavily to find three recent changes in this project’s main framework. Summarize the ones that affect our code and link each source.
Use Tavily to research how other open-source projects structure this pattern, then draft a plan for ours and cite the sources.

​
Troubleshooting

  • tavily needs authentication. Click Sign in in the MCP servers list, or run kilo mcp auth tavily. Restart Kilo if it still shows the old state.
  • tavily fails to connect. Run kilo mcp debug tavily, and check that the URL or command in your config is correct.
  • The API-key header is rejected. Check that TAVILY_API_KEY is set in the environment Kilo starts from, then restart Kilo.
  • OAuth uses the wrong key. Tavily uses the key named mcp_auth_default, so rename a key in the Tavily dashboard. See API key selection.

​
Resources